Reflection 3:What is a Constructivist Lesson Plan?

As stated before, Lesson plans are very helpful and there are three main types of lesson plans: Behaviorist, Constructivist and Transpersonal Lesson Plans. As a teacher, one must choose the lesson plan that suit’s them best and that they enjoy best. Today I will be discussing the Constructivist lesson plan. The constructivist lesson plan is based on thoughts or thinking. Everyone is a learner, not just kids, and we all learn differently. Some people learn best by listening, others by watching and some by reading or writing; but not matter how you learn the thing is that you will learn. Learning is the way the mind works, if you see something you will have questions about it, you will start to wonder and eventually ask questions and you will be told answers and then come to the conclusion that the object of your interest has a purpose. Now once you learn that lets say, a cup for example, is to hold liquid and drink from, whenever you see a cup you will associate it with drinking when you’re thirsty. A few months later you see someone using a cup to put paint inside it to draw on a canvas, you obviously cannot drink paint because you will become very sick so you have now learned that a cup can be used for more than just when you are thirsty and want to take a drink. Constructivism is exactly like the example of the cup because it is based on a person’s perceptions, functions or prior knowledge and experiences and it is then updated for new knowledge or information. A constructivist lesson plan is used by teachers who want their kids to not only learn something new but to compare it to what they thought or what they have know previously; the children are then to interpret and compare both knowledge’s in their own words. Constructivist lesson plans are most helpful, in my opinion, with younger children because it helps them gain an understanding that not everything is how it seems. I think that the Constructivist lesson plan is something I will be using when I become a teacher because it not only helps the children to better understand their surroundings but it helps them problem solve and connect two alike situations. Also, the teachers gain more knowledge about how a child’s mind works because they get all different answers and, as teachers, they have to figure out if their constructivist methods are working well.