Blog #4 Constructivism relating to Physical Education
Constructivism is an approach that could be used in physical education. Constructivism requires students to use prior knowledge to formulate and learn new concepts. This can be very useful in physical education because learning new motor skills requires students to build off of what they are already familar with and what they have gained so far in motor development. In motor development there are two types of skills: phylogenetic and ontogenetic. Phylogenetic are skills that we as humans naturally obtain by the process of maturation, and ontogenetic skills are those that must be learned for either practice or by another person showing them. Since everyone matures at a different rate, constructivism would be a great way for students to acquire motor development. Students would be learning on thier own and using thier prior experience to help develop these skills.
Constructivism seems as thought it would work great in a classroom, but there has been a debate as to whether students are still getting the same amount of physical activity time in the classroom. The following website conducted a study that addresses this debate http://aahperd.confex.com/aahperd/2005/preliminaryprogram/abstract_6976.htm
They found that students learning with the constructivism approach had the same amount of physical activity as those in a traditional setting. The students in the constructivisim classroom also gained more valuable knowledge than the other students.
I think that constructivism is a controversial issue in our society today. There are many different learning theories and there is not a single theory that will specifically cover every child’s needs. I think that this issue will continually be discussed in the on going future.
Technology and constructivism are interwoven to some degree. Technology can offer ways for the child to use thier pre-exisiting knowledge to learn more on thier own. Technology also provides many different perspecitives for the learner. A teacher could easily use technology in this type of classroom.
