Educational Philosophies that resonate with my personal teaching style

Jerome Bruner, published his work in 1966, he proposed the key principles of constructivism in

his text Toward a Theory of Instruction (p.225). He was one of the most important people

pushing for the cognitive change in education.

He discussed the principles as:

1. Readiness- Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and contexts that make

the student willing and able to learn

The learner in this context is based on what the students know and what is the realm of their

experiences, if we are going to be sharing an example of how people cope up with snow and life

of am na in Alaska, with a student who is living in the equatorial region, the student will begin to

make very feeble connections and these are superficial, to say the least. Hence a better way may

be to start with what is known and saying,”how do we cope with the weather in the place where

we stay?” from there the students will make connections with how in other places people also

need to cope up with the weather.

As an IB educator, this part speaks to me the most and I feel that I have learned that all students

are at different paths of learning, thus to see if they are at the point where we can take them

further depends on us by understanding that we have to see if they are ready for this learning as a

logical next step. This is always done in any unit planned for the IB, the use of formative

assessments or the diagnostic tests that we may have for assessing the child’s learning is crucial.

The IB has introduced the global contexts in the IB and from “local to global” is the way IB
wants the student learning to be organized. In the standards and practices by IB too, the teachers

are asked how they sue the local expertise and resources for engaging students.

2. Spiral organisation- This had two parts: Structure and Sequence

a. Structure: The content must be structured so that it can be grasped by the learner.

The structure of the content should be age appropriate and should keep in mind the age

and needs of the child for promoting learning.

b. Sequence: Material must be presented in the most effective sequences

For the above kind of learning to happen students need to be provided with the materials

in logical sequences. If we look at the way the content is organized then the above

example provided the idea to the students, that it flows from the known to the

exploration, thus proceeding in logical steps that spiral outwards.

3. Generation- Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and or fill in the

gaps

The whole instruction design is for the students to be a creator of his or her own personal

knowledge and to create the same to fill in gaps as he or she explores meaning in the content

they are interacting with.

These basic principles were extended by Driscoll (1994), he outlines five conditions for learning

(p.382-3)

4. Providing complex learning environments that incorporate authentic activity- learners

should learn to solve the types of complex problems they will face in real life.

The real life situations are presented for the learning to happen and the learner to explore. Thus

the relation of why they are learning something is made evident by showing where they might
use it. The learners are thus able to start with the appreciation of why that bit of knowledge was

created in the first place. They start with the understanding of why we need that knowledge and

then develop what that knowledge is and then they apply that knowledge. This way, they are the

seekers of that knowledge.

The IB plays a lot of importance on how the students are made to see the relevance of the

knowledge. This means that the teachers have to ensure that they use the context that is real for

the students. Many times the teachers are asked to create learning situations or use the GRASPS

style for creating assessments that require authentic setting and audience.

5. Providing for social negotiation as an integral part of learning- Bruner (1986) explains

that learning is a cultural interchange between group members

Education is a social experience and we are learning from each other as well as with each other,

this shows that true reality of how humans have developed knowledge as a collective endeavor,

rather than as an individual exploit at all times. Thus there is a balance in what we learn through

our self and then with others, striking both styles.

The students in an IB classroom are always part of group activities, using the “thinking hats”, by

DeBono or using other such collaborative exercises is a usual part of the day. The students are

involved in giving feedback to peers as well as do peer-assessments.

6. Support multiple perspectives and the use of multiple modes of representation-

constructivists believe that to achieve complete understanding the learner must examine

the material from multiple perspectives.

This is most important, it involves students being shown multiple perspectives, for example if we

look at cutting of the trees in the rain forests, the local community has been doing it since the

very early times, but this has been used by the commercial companies because of the demand

from the consumers. The local people, had a way of looking after the forest too, but this is lost

for the commercial companies. So exploring both sides of such an issue is vital for complete

understanding.

The same is also about how the students presents the understanding gained, this can be presented

in a number of ways rather than everybody writing an essay, some could make a presentation, a

video etc.

This is a huge part of the IB mission statements as well, that, we appreciate people who may

have views different than ours as well. The teachers have in the criteria a requirement that the

students analyze multiple or different perspectives. This has to be thought of by the teachers

beforehand.

7. Nurture reflexivity- Duffy and Cunningham (1996) characterise reflexivity as “the ability

of students to be aware of their own role in the knowledge construction process.” (p.172).

It could also be described as the learner taking ownership of their own thinking and

learning processes.

If the child is responsible for the learning happening then they are not passive consumers of

knowledge, hence they are involved in hands on learning happening around them. Not just being

fed facts to consume and then say that they are learning. They need the time and space for

reflecting and making sense of what they learned, how well they learned and what they can do to

be better.
The IB requires that the students are “reflective” this is an IB learner profile and a part of the

MIssion statement of the IB as well, that the students are life-long learners and they value the

process of reflection as a tool for their own learning, The ATL skills that we are to develop in the

students has a whole range of skills to improve their learning. The students create their own

inquiry questions and in many schools these are used by the teachers to take the inquiry further.

Students within the same line of inquiry can take different views and inquires, for example if we

are looking at the ecosystems- some may look at the ocean, some forests and other some any

other. Hence they take on the learning in the direction they want.

8. Emphasise student-centred instruction- Bruner (1966) calls this “discovery learning”. By

obtaining knowledge by themselves, learners select and transform information, construct

knowledge, and make decisions in the context of a cognitive structure that provides

meaning and organisation to experiences and allows the individual to “go beyond the

information given1”.

They are involved in the learning process, hands on learning is used by the teachers and

facilitation of asking questions and using the skills to develop deeper understanding is with the

students taking the lead, the teachers may construct the initial experience or context of the issue

or problem.

As an IB teachers, the student centered model has been in place for the IB programmes. Where

they are involved in deciding what they want to learn and how they want to learn as well. The

students are presented with the contexts and they then design their lines of inquiry and inquiry

questions as well. The PYP exhibition is a true reflection of this entire model. The MYP and the

1
(2018, April 16). Retrieved from https://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/constructivism-3-principles-
constructivism/
DP look at the Projects and the Extended Essay, here the child will have took at learning that

he/she wants to pursue and design the whole learning.

My personal teaching and learning engagement align with this philosophy as well. I feel that we

are looking for humans to be engaged and be passionate about what they are elarni, this will only

happen if we are asking them to be a part, an “active part”. Passive thinking is not what will

engage people, I have changed my teaching style many times over the years. This resulted in me

being the knower in the class to be the inquirer as well, taking on the challenge that we will

follow the learning as it goes and giving the freedom of exploration in the hands of the students

was a big milestone. I came to the class to guide and facilitate and not to teach. This meant that I

had to seek “why” and place this as the main context before I used to answer the question, “What

will I teach?”now I can say, “I know how I will teach and why I am going to explore something”

but I cannot say, “this is the topic my students will know” because not they “know “ much more

and in greater detail too, as they explore the questions they raise. Hence my personal teaching

style has become more of guided inquiry and I feel that students can see that they are responsible

for their learning. I equip them with the skills as I teach IB ATL (approaches to learning) as

skills, telling them how the skill gets refined, not where to use that skill. This is their reflection

and they become better at applying these. My self assessment too has the same result as I have

the most marks in the students centered approaches and Constructivism leads the way for me.
 References

(2018, April 16). Retrieved from https://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/constructivism-3-

principles-constructivism/

Sikhauli, S. (0AD). M.A. Edu. Philosophy. Retrieved from

https://www.academia.edu/34327764/M.A._Edu._Philosophy