Constructivism

Constructivism:The basic premise is that an individual learner must actively "build" knowledge and skills (e.g., Bruner, 1990) and that information exists within these built constructs rather than in the external environment. [See Ullman (1980) versus Gibson (1979) for an overview of this controversy within the cognitive perspective.] However, all advocates of constructivism agree that it is the individual's processing of stimuli from the environment and the resulting cognitive structures, that produce adaptive behavior, rather than the stimuli themselves (Harnard, 1982).
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/construct.html

After researching on each site the views of constructivism I actually like google.com the best, it gave me the clearest description. I was unaware of the dept of the theories of constructivism. After reading the different information and learning about constructivism I found out that I teach using some of the theories of constructivism without even knowing it.

Picture this, a classroom where instead of sticking to a very strict curriculum we base our lessons off of our students knowledge. We the teachers would take what the students know and add to their knowledge, enriching their learning experience.

Picture this, a student sharing an experience with the whole class and then the teacher using that experience to build knowledge on that experience rather then just listening and moving onto the next step in their lesson because there are certain time frames that we need to complete certain lessons in.

Picture this a classroom filled with students work that showcases their creativity instead of test grades and standards.

Picture this, lessons based of the students experiences and not based on teaching to the test. I think if we teach lessons based on students prior knowledge and experiences then in the end the students will actually do better of those test because they have been learning all the correct things in order to pass the test but it was based on their own knowledge and experiences.

The more and more I write about this subject the more and more I really enjoy the theories of constructivism and I wish that I could implement them into my school district.