Reflections Journal 5

Applying Constructivism in the Classroom

Today I read a new article listed below about the history of Constructivism and I thought I would use what I learned from it as part of my journal post. The article "Constructivism: Pre-historical to Post-modern" by William Warrick really got me thinking about how I apply the constructivism theory in my own classroom. I teach Food and Nutrition and Culinary Arts in a high school setting. I have always believed that children learn best by using real experiences. Real experiences bring classroom concepts to life for students. Help them not only understand material but also remember it. I have the pleasure of teaching a class where we apply learning objectives to real hands on experiences a few times a week. So I mix traditional methods with nontraditional methods such as constructivism.
After thinking about how my teaching methods might apply to the idea of constructivism I then decided to start thinking about how I can use these types of methods but include technology. We have done video taping of cooking labs but I feel I use technology most in my class as a tool for me and not the students. So my next challenge will be to look for new innovative ways to use technology to that applies to my foods curriculum. I am open to suggestions but will be spending time the next few days finding resources for my class.