Constructivism and Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education

This course is designed to help participants examine the implications of constructivism for learning and teaching in science, mathematics, and technology focused areas. Course readings, discussions, and assignments will examine constructivist views of learning, research on students' ideas and idea-based interactions, research on instructional approaches taking student ideas into account, and challenges in implementing constructivist perspectives in instruction.

• Course Orientation
• You will become familiar with the course, your classmates, and our learning environment. The orientation will also help you obtain the technical skills required for the course.
• Module 1: An Introduction to Constructivism
• This module introduces constructivism and looks at some implicit assumptions that are questioned by a constructivist perspective on learning.
• Module 2: Student Ideas
• Constructivism has a strong focus on students’ ideas. This module looks at a number of examples of student ideas and explores the nature of these ideas.
• Module 3: Helping Students Develop their Ideas
• This module looks at a number of examples of constructivist learning environments and explores important aspects of these learning environments.
• Module 4: Implementing Constructivist Learning Environments
• This module explores some critical challenges in implementing constructivist learning environments and looks at resources for facing these challenges