Social Constructivism: Games, Simulations, Cases, and Problem Solving

All four of the instructional approaches covered in this section involve students in interesting, "real" activities. We say "real" even though many games are clearly not realistic. Rescuing a downed spaceship on the planet Zork is not a REAL activity. We use the term real in another sense. All of these approaches involve students in learning about, playing in, or solving problems in an environment that has rules or patterns. Games have rules, simulations respond in certain ways when you do this or that, cases tell a story about some situation or event and students try to understand why certain things happened as they did, and problems presented to students can be solved by thinking through ways of tackling it. We are not saying that there is only one way to solve a particular problem, or only one strategy that can win a particular game. Life, and the instructional approaches discussed here, are much too complex for that. What we are saying is that all these approaches involve students making decisions in situations where the results are not simply random events. There are patterns to figure out, associations and links between this strategy and that result, and so on.

Why are these approaches all placed under social constructivist? Because most of the time, when they are used in classrooms they involve groups of students working and playing together. Let's look at each approach in more detail.

 

Social Constructivism: Games and Simulations

A more traditional, instructionist approach in the classroom treats a student as an empty vessel to be filled with facts. In contrast, constructivism stresses that knowledge is constructed by children from their own experiences. One way of providing with interesting experiences is via games and simulations.

Games challenge students. They are fun, and many educational games also call for collaboration and group action. The increased use of games and simulations in education in recent years reflects the change in teaching styles toward a more constructive way of learning. Students are allowed to make independent choices, and to quickly see the results of those choices. All games and simulations are not constructivist, however. Some are really little more than tutorials or drill activities that allow the student to make only limited choices. Others, based on constructivist models of learning, are quite open. They give students a great deal of flexibility in how the game or simulation is played. Many also let the students make decisions about what is to be accomplished.

Consider the examples below. Which would you consider to be "traditional" games or simulations that give the student relatively little flexibility. Which would you consider "constructivist" games or simulations because they give students choices both in terms of both deciding what they want to do and how they do it? You can read the explanation of how these programs work or, in some cases, download a version of the program to try it out on your computer.


Examples

The Incredible Machine v 3.0

This programs allows users to construct clever cause-and-effect contraptions with working pulleys, levers, and conveyor belts.

The next screen is the main menu of this demo program. From this menu, learners may choose to go to the "head-to-head" menu, get on-line help, go the the puzzle creation menu, or simply listen to the solution to the puzzles.

In this software there are a few features that allow users to customize to their likes. For example, the following control panel gives the ways to display and choose sounds and pictures, and the volume control. The response to a correct answer is set to be "Yeee Haaa!!" for this example.

As shown on the following player preferences panel, learners may choose different configuration setups such as ambient animation shown, scenery parts displayed, and background on.

With the Incredible Machine, learners may try out or create bouncing, spinning, floating, falling, squirting, exploding, jumping, and sparking puzzles. Children have to use their ingenuity to solve over 150 different puzzles.

Learners may also decide to play in the "Free Form" mode to build their own puzzles with the parts provided as shown on the following screen. With over 100 animated parts, there's no limit to what they can create once they get started. Children can use their imagination to construct clever cause-and-effect contraptions with working pulleys, levers, conveyor belts -- even gravity and air density, while gain knowledge and common sense at the same time. Afterwards, they can challenge friends and family with the puzzles they have created.

Learners may decide to challenge their friends "head-to-head" in a "crazy solution" competition as shown on the following screen capture. It displays the time used and other information for children to compete with each other on the computer.

To try out this demonstration program you must click on timdem.exe in the programs/machine/  subdirectory on ET-IT CD-ROM through File Manager or Windows Explorer.

Click here to know about  installation.

Math Munchers Deluxe

This software program combines essential math content with gamelike adventure for young children.

As shown on the following screen, learners may choose to explore whole numbers, fractions, decimals, geometry, or simply take up challenges from the computer. They may also choose from difficulty level three through six. Multiple levels of difficulty and customizable content mean kids of different ages and abilities can choose the appropriate content for themselves. Players decide how much, how fast, and in what sequence they will fulfill the task. Learners must munch or be munched in this fast-paced interactive game. The action and fun with Muncher and Troggle helps to builds confidence.

To use this program, learners simply move a lively Muncher around a 3-D grid while avoiding six "wild ‘n’ wacky" Troggles (or play "Troggle-free" to hone those math skills). Math facts answered correctly can accrue points for a spot in the Hall of Fame.

This program has the content that parents demand and the great graphics, animation, and sound-effects kids love. Multimedia can aid students in working out their own mental models after playing one educational games after another. Designed to let players learn science and history while having fun, Math Munchers Deluxe is a good game for this purpose.

The between game breaks as shown on the following screen capture are fun to play.

To try out this trial program you must click on mathmund.exe in the programs/mathm/  subdirectory on ET-IT CD-ROM through File Manager or Windows Explorer.

Click here to know about installation.
 


Additional Information

WebQuest: Substantiating Education in Edutainment through Interactive Learning Games

This web page describes how at the Center for LifeLong Learning and Design, researchers' use of technology in education has focused on blending constructionist systems, in the form of interactive simulations, with the support of network media, such as the World Wide Web.

URL: http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~corrina/WebQuest/

Electric Origami Shop

This is IBM's site for puzzles and games. Many of these can be used in constructive ways.

URL: http://www.ibm.com/stretch/eos/index.html

 

 

Social Constructivism: Case-based Instruction

A case is a written or video summary of an activity, situation, event, or process. For example, many business schools and law schools use cases heavily in their programs. To illustrate the way a certain aspect of international business law works, for example, the professor might assign a case that describes a particular lawsuit in which the points of law under discussion were crucial. Students study the case then discuss it in class. In a similar way, teacher education students studying something like how long to pause after asking a question might watch a video case of one or more teachers asking questions in their classrooms and then discuss that teacher's approach.

The links below provide much more information on case-based instruction.



Examples

Project Cape Town : A Multimedia Teaching Case

Project Cape Town is a multimedia teaching case to take advantage of the World Wide Web as a medium to make cases available to teacher education centers worldwide. Although this case is for preservice teacher training, the same format can be applied to other areas in education.

Different data types, including text, still images, sound, and full motion video,  have been used to describe four actual teaching scenarios in schools in Cape Town, South Africa. Three schools undergoing a transition from apartheid to racially integrated student populations provide the material for the case. Users may click on  the buttons on next screen to see other perspectives on the case.

This Web project also offers exercises designed to develop or enhance one's approach to educational problem solving. Throughout the case, the web project urges the reader to consider the following as they reach conclusions:

  • What issues are involved
  • Different perspectives and values represented
  • Relevant knowledge and research
  • Possible courses of action
  • Predicting results of actions

Each event ends with a section called "Professional Practice Questions" that provides opportunities
for individuals to record their ideas various aspects of the case.

Teachers in this new integrated system in Cape Town are facing children whose cultures are different from their own. Understanding issues these teachers have been challenged may help teachers in the U.S.  to view multicultural issues in a new light.

URL: http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/capetown/intro.html


 Additional Information

What are the central issues in case-based reasoning?

This web page from the Engines for Education (http://www.ils.nwu.edu/~e_for_e/nodes/I-M-INTRO-ZOOMER-pg.html)  mentions two central issues in case-based reasoning:

This first issue in case-based reasoning is that a case should be important either because it
contains important facts (perhaps it changed history), it is unusual (there is little to which to
compare it), or it is paradigmatic (it represents a class of things that occur repeatedly).

The second issue is labeling. We cannot find what we haven't properly labeled. The significance of a case is an important part of the labeling of that case. Labeling determines what case will be found to be most relevant when we might need it, so how we label what we experience is critical to any future reasoning.

Other case-based teaching related pages on the Engines for Education site include:

URL: http://www.ils.nwu.edu/~e_for_e/nodes/NODE-192-pg.html

A Multiple-Case-Based Approach to Generative Environments for Learning

This on-line article explains case-based instruction as following:

Case-based instruction uses cases or problems as anchors for learning. It emphasizes collaborative student-centered learning rather than teacher-directed learning. In CBI, students solve the problem and justify their solution process. This may require the use of theory, causal models, or other appropriate evidence. The problems used in CBI are ill-structured. The data are embedded in the problem itself and are often emergent as the problem is explored.

URL: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/cogsci/edutech/cases&problems/philo_mcbagel.html

 

 

 

Social Constructivism: Problem Solving

Problem solving activities help students develop the ability to think critically, analyze problems, and find and use appropriate learning resources. Problems also situate or provide a context for learning basic skills. It is one thing to memorize the steps in solving a particular type of math problem. It is quite another to learn to solve that type because you are the teller in the classroom bank and being a banker requires you to do that type of math.

The examples below illustrate some of the types of problem solving programs available today. You can read the explanation of how these programs work or click on the links to take a closer look at the projects.


Examples

Puzzle Now!

In this parallel problem solving activity, middle school students on the statewide educational telecommunications network in Virginia (VaPEN) participated in an interdisciplinary project called "Puzzle Now!" Using this activity structure, a similar problem is presented to students in several locations. They solve the problem separately at each site, then share their problem-solving methods electronically. Students from 25 sites within the state solved a common puzzle each week for 8 weeks, comparing not only solutions, but, more importantly, multiple methods for working the problem.

URL: http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/Activity-structures/Collaborative-Problem-Solving/index.html#parallel-problem-solving

Jasper Woodbury Problem Solving Series

The Jasper Woodbury series of adventures, which were created by a group at Vanderbilt University, tell interesting stories in which there are problems to be solved.

The series is designed for middle grades, and the problems require and understanding of math concepts that are generally taught in the middle grades. Currently The Adventures of Jasper Woodbury series consists of 12 different videodisc-based adventures (plus video based analogs, extensions and teaching tips).

Jasper series represents an example of anchored instruction (and also of problem-based learning). The Jasper adventures go well beyond the "word problems" typically found in math textbooks for the middle grades. Jasper adventures use a visual story format to present problems. Students watch video segments from a videodisc to understand the situation and the problem. The materials available to the students also have "embedded data" and "embedded teaching" to seed the environment with ideas relevant to problem solving.

The General is Missing is one of the episodes. In this episode, Larry, Emily and Jasper find a note saying Grandpa has been called away on business, but Grandpa doesn't have a business.

They rush to solve the algebra equations Grandpa enclosed with his note. They graph the equations and place the resulting shape over Grandpa's letter. The kids finally find out that the letter says that Grandpa has been kidnapped. Grandpa asks the teenagers to prepare SMART Tools created using algebra so they can easily interpret the data and use it to find his location on the map. The challenge for the students in the classroom is to design the SMART Tools to decipher the directions that Grandpa sent to Larry, Jasper and Emily. In creating the SMART Tools, students learn how to measure the speed of sound, compare various rates of travel, show the relationship between a circle's circumference and its diameter, and determine the height of a hill by the horizontal distance traveled and the rate of the hill's incline.

URL: http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/projects/funded/jasper/Jasperhome.html

The Voyage of the Mimi

The Voyage of the Mimi, which was developed by Bank Street College of Education, involves students as the crew on an ocean voyage of the 72-foot ketch, Mimi, a converted French tuna trawler outfitted as a modern ocean-going vessel.

The purpose of the voyage is to study whales. It is also intended to help students develop science and mathematics skills. To successfully complete the first voyage, students must learn and use navigation principles, map reading, and many other skills.

The First Voyage of the Mimi series consists of twenty-six 15-minute programs. In the adventure story, two scientists and their teenage research assistants embark on a seagoing expedition to study humpback whales. Each drama (episode) is paired with a 15-minute documentary (expedition) that develops a scientific or mathematical concept presented in the drama. Seven videodisks support this program with video clips that illustrate different phases of the voyage as well as simulated trips to museums, aquariums, and other places where scholars study the marine life.

The Second Voyage of the Mimi, which involves a voyage to Mexico. It continues the adventure with Mimi wintering off Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, chartered by archeologists intent on studying Maya civilization. It combines dramatic episodes and documentary expeditions to develop mathematical and scientific concepts in grades 4-8. This series consists of twenty-four 15-minute programs. The Second Voyage of Mimi also uses laser disks.

Many types of support materials are available from the distributor, Sunburst. They include language arts activity guides for the voyages as well as theme guides, a whales database, student books, a social studies resource kit, wall charts, posters, and much more. The following screen capture is Sunburst's we page (http://www.sunburstonline.com:80/mimi.html)  for The Voyage of the Mimi.

URL: http://www.sunburstonline.com:80/ports_call.html

 Click here to view detailed The Voyage of the Mimi Program Descriptions (http://www.ket.org/Education/Videos/Science/VoyageoftheMimi.html).
 


Additional Information

Using Videotape Vignettes to Teach Problem-Solving Skills

This on-line article discusses the development and use of videotape vignettes, portraying real-life problem scenarios, to teach concepts and problem-solving skills in environmental education. Videotaped vignettes offer an unique interdisciplinary advantage for teaching environmental problem solving by combining different areas. Such problem-solving macrocontexts offer a richer and more complex environment than text by itself. They are also more representative of actual real-world problem solving experiences.

The author also argues that the cognitive-networking process can be achieved by combining teaching strategies based on cooperative learning, and anchored instruction. Cooperative learning offers strategies for students to interact with their peers such as structured peer-group discussion, problem-solving team pairs, peer coaching, and role-based laboratory activities, while anchored instruction provides a motivational focus that "anchors" students to the learning task. Videotape anchors can be used as a learning environment within which students seek out and apply relevant knowledge, establish new connections, and build cognitive structures that result in more efficient problem-solving and better conceptual understanding.

URL: http://www.edu.uleth.ca/ciccte/naceer.pgs/pubpro.pgs/Pathways/pubfiles/IV.ConfPres/StrandII/DerrickL.htm