Social Constructivism

As teachers we want our students to learn the curriculum but also want them to walk away with something more at the end of the year. By incorporating the social constructivist theories we enable our students to prosper in both academic and social learning. breaking students into unfamiliar groups gives them the opportunity to meet new people, learn to communicate, compromise and work with others that they normally would have little to no interaction with. It also provides students with the chance to show motivation and responsibility by completing tasks and working with a group. While also learning to problem solve and bounce ideas off of one another in order to find the best solutions and outcomes.

By incorporating technology we give students the chance to not only work with those in their own school and community but also with others from various schools, communities and walks of life. This is something else that students will need to be familiar with in the world outside of your classroom and school in general. Technology also gives the students the ability to earn a sense of Independence, by being able to complete task, review assignments and grades, as well as communicate with classmates during collaborative assignments.

By creating web quest and reviewing the web quest of my peers I have found that it can be very beneficial to create these, especially with group assignments. It allows the students to utilize all the elements of the social constructivist theory as well as responsibility and collaboration within a group setting.

Cognitive Learning Theory

I feel that the Cognitive Theory is extremely useful in the Art Classroom. Teacher aids, such as PowerPoint presentations can be used in the Art classroom to introduce a unit or the history behind a unit or even to show students a visual of various art processes and procedures. By including this visual element, you are more likely to catch the student’s attention and build motivation for an upcoming unit or assignment. Using technology to include student aids is a great way to get students motivated. It is also a way to give the students a tool or outside resource to use in order to gain a better understanding of an assignment, process or procedure.

The visual elements and graphic organizers can be helpful to both the student and the teacher. The student will be able to use the graphic organizers, worksheets, etc… to study, reference, and elaborate on certain topics of interest. The teacher will be giving the students these tools, to increase their motivation and can also use these graphic organizers and worksheets as an assessment tool. This gives the teacher a hard copy, proof of the students work and progress. Also if students have to miss class these PowerPoints, organizers and worksheets can give absent students the opportunity to review and complete the information that they missed, without the teacher having to take out as much time to re-explain or re-teach the information.

Even though the Cognitive Learning Theory, to me, has an obvious place in art; after reviewing my peers lesson plans, student & teacher aids I can see how this theory can be very useful in a variety of subject areas and age groups.