Socio-constructivism

Definition

Socio-constructivism are variants of constructivist learning theory. The term is also used to design certain pedagogic strategies, instructional design models, etc.

This article is a very short overview piece that should at some point be expanded quite a lot ... On the other hand, writing an introduction for educational technologists is almost meaningless, since there are so many variants both in learning theory and pedagogical designs.

Socio-constructivist learning theory

Incorporating influences traditionally associated with sociology and anthropology, socio-constructivism emphasizes the impact of collaboration, social context (situatedness), and negotiation on thinking and learning. A central notion in socio-constructivism is assisted learning (See below).

Socio-constructivism can be defined as an approach according to which interpersonal knowledge can only be achieved by social construction of it. Especially relevant in this respect are the communication processes occurring in the situations where there are at least two persons trying to solve a problem. The social world of a learner is central concept in socio-constructivism. It includes the people that directly affect that person, including teachers, friends, students, administrators, and participants in all forms of activity. This takes into account the social nature of both the local processes in collaborative learning and in the discussion of wider social collaboration in a given subject, such as science.

Many of the authors that identify with social constructivism trace their ideas back to Vygotsky (1978), who focussed on the roles that society played in the development of an individual. Assisted learning for example, occurs in the now-familiar zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978) where more able others actively scaffold the individual's performance at a level beyond which the individual could perform alone. Contemporary cognitive theorists have expanded this notion to give nonsocial aspects of the environment an active role in the individual's learning as well. Rather than a solitary process, these newer perspectives assume that effective learning occurs via interaction with and support from people and objects in the world.

Cobb (1994) examines whether the "mind" is located in the head or in social action, and argues that both perspectives should be used in concert, as they are each as useful as the other. What is seen from one perspective as reasoning of a collection of individuals mutually adapting to each other's actions can be seen in another as the norms and practices of a classroom community (Cobb, 1998). This dialectic is examined in more detail by Salomon and Perkins (1998), who suggest ways that these "acquisition" and "participation" metaphors of learning interrelate and interact in synergistic ways. They model the social entity as a learner (for example, a football team, a business or a family), compare it with the learning of an individual in a social setting, and identify three main types of relations:

• Individual learning can be less or more socially-mediated learning.
• Individuals can participate in the learning of a collective, sometimes with what is learned distributed throughout the collective more than in the mind of any one individual.
• Individuals and social aspects of learning in both of these senses, can interact over time to strengthen one another in a 'reciprocal spiral relationship'.

Research on collaborative learning is particularly interested in learning mechanisms that are triggered by specific collaborative activities.

Pedagogic models

Teaching strategies using social constructivism as a referent include teaching in contexts that might be personally meaningful to students, negotiating taken-as-shared meanings with students, class discussion, small-group collaboration, and valuing meaningful activity over correct answers (Wood et al, 1995). Cobb (1994) contrasts the approach of delivering mathematics as "content" against the technique of fostering the emergence of mathematical ideas from the collective practices of the classroom community. Emphasis is growing on the teacher's use of multiple epistemologies, to maintain dialectic tension between teacher guidance and student-initiated exploration, as well as between social learning and individual learning.

Key functionalities of a socio-constructivist learning environment are:

• Reflection & Exchange
• Scaffolding & Storyboarding
• Facilitation & Content
• Monitoring & Assessment
• Production, Investigation etc.
• Psychological support & Community.

In the last few years, socio-constructivism is often associated with scandinavian pedagogical reform. E.g. Manninen defines criteria for innovations (in vocational training) on the basis of "good learning" defined in “cognitive learning model (Engeström 1988), constructivism (eg. Duffy & Jonassen 1992), Self-Directed Learning, Open and Contextual Learning Environments (Kauppi 1995, Manninen 2000), Web-based Learning Environments and Computer Mediated Communication (eg. Paulsen 1995, Matikainen & Manninen 2000), Collaborative Learning (Johnson & Johnson 1987), Problem Based Learning (Hakkarainen & al. 1999), Transformative Learning (Mezirow 1991), Developmental work research and Activity Theory (eg. Engeström 1999), Project Based Learning (Miettinen & al. 1999), Learning at Work -approaches, and models based on Cognitive and Collective Development of Expertise (Bereiter & Scardamalia 1993, Lave & Wenger 1991).”

and then present the following table which in our opinion also can be used to measure "innovative" constructivist learning in other settings than vocational training.

Ordinary vs. Innovative Teaching does not pay much attention to how the subject matter is integrated in the existing knowledge structures of the studentTeaching and learning are clearly based on the learners active construction process and on the creation of higher level knowledge structuresLearning environment does not support nor require the learner\u2019s own active role in the learning processLearning environment is based on the learner\u2019s active role and commitmentLearning takes place mainly aloneLearning is based on cooperative and collaborative principles and takes place in groupsLearning takes place in an institution and/or is separated from the concrete situation of application of the knowledgeLearning takes place in a simulated or real-life situation, which equals the actual context where the knowledge will be appliedStudy objectives are based on study subjects in a traditional way, and cut into separate units in the curriculumLearning approach is problem based and investigative

Criteria
Constructiveness
Activeness
Cooperativeness
Contextuality
Problem based

Tools

See various more specialized entries below for the moment.

See Also

Look at pages that point to this page or pages that point to to constructivism, situated learning, constructionism (most constructivist theories and educational designs do have a social/collaborative, situated/authentic and constructivist flavor).

• social cognitive theory, cognitive apprenticeship, situated cognition, Situated learning, distributed cognition
• project-based learning, problem-based learning, inquiry learning, WebQuest, discovery learning,
• collaborative learning, computer-supported collaborative learning, ubiquitous learning, shared space
• community of practice

References

• Cobb, P. (1994) Where is the mind? Constructivist and Sociocultural Perspectives on Mathematical Development, Educational Researcher, 23(7), pp 13-20

• Cobb, P. (1998) Analyzing the mathematical learning of the classroom community: the case of statistical data analysis, In: Proceedings of the 22nd Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education 1, pp 33-48, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

• Dougiamas, M. (1998). A journey into Constructivism, HTML

• Hickey, D.T. Motivation and Contemporary Socio-Constructivist Instructional Perspectives Vanderbilt University HTML

• Manninen, J., Nevgi, A., Matikainen, J., Luukannel, S. & Porevuo, M. (2000).

Ohjelman tuottamat pedagogiset ja teknologiset innovaatiot, Leonardo da Vinci Report PDF (Includes an English summary).

• Salomon, G. and Perkins, D. (1998) Individual and Social Aspects of Learning, In: P. Pearson and A. Iran-Nejad (Eds) Review of Research in Education 23, pp 1-24, American Educational Research Association, Washington, DC

• Theoretical Corner-Stones and Applications of Socio-Constructivism in Virtual Learning. HTML

• Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

• Wood, T., Cobb, P. & Yackel, E. (1995). Reflections on learning and teaching mathematics in elementary school. In L. P. Steffe & J.Gale (Eds) Constructivism in education (pp 401-422). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.