Constructive cognitivism is a theory of learning, proposed by Piaget and Vygotsky, where one gains knowledge due to interactions with the outside world and how those interactions are assimilated into pre-existing knowledge (Savery & Duffy, 2001).  Learning is active, social, and reflective.  When learning, the learner needs to be able to be a part of the process and engaged.  To remain engaged and motivated they need to feel that they have a chance at succeeding, which in turn builds confidence (Cheng & Yeh, 2009).  When the learner can do, they are better able to incorporate it into a schema and learning shifts from just covering material to working with the idea/material (Driscoll, 2002).  Learning is social.  Students need to be able to interact with others to make connections.  Interacting and communicating ideas strengthens the learner’s knowledge and schemas.  The saying you only get out of it what you put into it, sums up the reflective portion of learning.  Reflecting and revising on one’s mistakes and failures is a critical aspect of the process and strengthens learning (Driscoll, 2002). 

The learner gains knowledge through active doing rather than passive learning, with the teacher providing opportunities to learn rather than being the sole knowledge bank.  The teacher acts as a mentor or coach, facilitating learning and offering feedback when needed.  They will conduct instruction based on the students’ needs.  They are the experts in the subject and are available for consultation and resources.  The teacher and student are partners in learning with the teacher providing activities in context to the learning. 

Chemistry can be taught by having the teacher expound knowledge on the student or letting the student explore the concepts learned in class.  The following are examples created by myself and my chemistry team at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy to allow students to explore the concepts learned and begin to fit them into their world and see how the laws have real life implications.

The unit begins with students exploring different situations of temperature, pressure, and volume and developing mathematical relationships based on observation (American Chemical Society, 2006).  From there students explored stoichiometry of gases and applied it to determining how the stoichiometric ratio of acetic acid to sodium bicarbonate needed to launch the rocket after measuring the amount of pressure required.  During this lab, students were able to trouble shoot and varying the calculated ratio to see if it made a difference in the distance the rocket travels.

References

American Chemical Society. (2006). Chemistry in the Community (5 ed.). Macmillion.

Cheng, Y.-C., & Yeh, H.-T. (2009). From concepts of motivation to its application in instructional design: Reconsidering motivation from an instructional design perspective. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(4), 597-605.

Driscoll, M. P. (2002, October). How People Learn (and What Technology Might Have To Do with It). ERIC Digests.

Savery, J. R., & Duffy, T. M. (2001). Problem Based Learning: An instructional model and its constructivist framework. Bloomington: Center for Research on Learning and Technology.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xV8BSzkcQiokQjxw9Egks6iyjT1Ofdki/view?usp=sharing