On a personal level, if it is and can be forever incorporated effectively within the classroom environment, I believe social constructivism is one of the most effective methods of student development in the educational world. It has been studied by many educational psychologists who are quite concerned with its implications and effects on teaching and learning in the 21^st century. It extends the knowledge of constructivism by including the role of others and culture within development (students build knowledge from the inside whilst interacting with others socially). I believe that in the classroom it can work quite well as students are helping one another.

After doing some extensive research on the subject I found that studies on increasing the use of student discussions in classrooms both support and are grounded in theories of social constructivism. With this, a full range of advantages may emerge in the classroom. For example, one could be that ground discussions allow students to generalize and transfer their knowledge of classroom learning amongst each other and may help to build a strong foundation for communicating ideas orally and visually. Also, wouldn’t you think that allowing students to discuss and argue their ideas plays a vital role in increasing student ability to test their concepts, synthesize and digest the ideas of others and build deeper understand of the subject?

Many studies found that large and small group discussions offer students the same ability to exercise self-determination, self-regulation and give students the desire to persevere with tasks at hand. This may also increase student motivation, collaborative skills and the ability to problem solve by working as a unit.

It is clear that with the opportunity to talk with one another and discuss ideas and concepts should increase the students’ abilities to support their individual thinking, develop reasoning and justification skills, and to successfully argue their opinions respectfully and persuasively. Furthermore, I believe that is it also important for students to feel a sense of community and collaboration in classrooms which should also allow for more chances for students to talk together, connect as a cohort and feel safe and comfortable in their learning environment.

Although there are numerous advantages that result from discussion, it is surprising that this is not used more often amongst schools these days. Many teachers state that they rarely choose classroom discussion as an instructional format and many students claim that they are not regularly accustomed to participating in academic discourse. In 1996 a three-year study was conducted in Australia focusing on 2,400 students in 60 different classrooms. Results discovered that the typical classroom educator allowed 3 minutes an hour for students to discuss and communicate with one another. Even within this time frame, most discussion is not true as it depends highly on teacher directed questions and predetermined answers as well as attentiveness and/or distractive talk.

I personally believe that teachers who educate their students as if they truly value them will ultimately create successful learners. Discussion and interactivity in the classroom ultimately promotes learning and gives students the opportunity to develop independent thoughts and ideas.

An example of classroom discussion and group work of which was apart of my unit of study this semester was in one of my Education tutorials several weeks ago. As part of a small group (5 students) we were required to come up with an ICT program which could be incorporated in all Queensland State Schools to engage students to want to learn. My individual ideas were mandatory for the progression and transformation of new concepts, but working with and amongst other students allowed for bigger and better work to be created. It was also a great way to engage in conversation with people I otherwise did not communicate with, learn more about myself and to work co-operatively as part of a team.

My opinion: social constructivism is of grave importance for the successful development of students of today's generation.

Bibliography

Howell, J. (2012). Teaching with ICT: Digital Pedagogies for Collaboration and Creativity. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Orey, M. (2011) Learning, Teaching & Technology, Retrieved May 20, 2013, from http://www.coe.uga.edu/epltt/SocialConstructivism.htm

Sequeira, P. (2013) Social Constructivism. Retrieved May 20, 2013, from http://web.ist.utl.pt/~pedro.sequeira/phd/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=409:social-constructivism&catid=39:q-u&Itemid=69