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Primary education 40
meaning, will allow children to begin the mental processing that ultimately leads to
understanding. Fourth, children need time and space to grapple with difficult concepts.
The pace of interactive teaching that characterises so many lessons in primary schools
does not allow for the thinking time needed for deeper understanding. When a teacher
asks a class whether they understand something and they chorus yes in return, each
child will understand in ways substantially or subtly different from every other child.
Concept development is closely related to children s age but also to their maturity and
life experiences. Pupils in the same class may be of similar age but have greater or less
understanding because of their educational and socialising experiences in and out of
school. Some young children have a profound grasp of moral dilemmas and societal
challenges that are normally equated with much older pupils. Other young children make
astounding progress in formal learning and tackle work that would tax someone a number
of years their senior. These variations in conceptual sophistication may be attributed to an
innate ability (i.e. a belief that some children are more able because they were born with
superior brains) or they may be seen as a consequence of a child s access to informed
adults and opportunities to benefit from a variety of enriching life experiences.
Further reading
Fontana, D. (1988) Psychology for Teachers, 2nd edn, Basingstoke: Macmillan, chapter 3.
Gunning, S., Gunning, D. and Wilson, J. (1981) Topic Teaching in the Primary School, London:
Routledge, chapter 1.
McGilly, K. (ed.) (1996) Classroom lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice,
London: MIT Press.
Merry, R. (1997) Cognitive development 7 11 , in N.Kitson and R. Merry (eds) Teaching in the
Primary School, pp. 48 64, London: Routledge.
CONSTRUCTIVISM
Constructivist theory suggests that pupils learn best when thought and experience
interact, resulting in the sequential development of more complex understanding (referred
to as cognitive structures). The most influential constructivist was Jean Piaget (1896
1980), the Swiss psychologist and teacher who argued that children accommodate their
existing thinking into new experiences and gradually assimilate aspects of the new
experience to construct a more detailed and accurate understanding. Piaget suggested that
the construction of these stages follows a distinctive sequence, characterised by the type
of thinking the child uses at each stage.
Pupils learning needs vary with age and are characterised in specific ways. Younger
primary children tend to learn through concrete (hands-on) experiences, be less aware of
other people s perspectives and the consequences of actions, and more egotistic. Older
primary children tend to be more flexible, accommodating of other people s opinions,
A-Z 41
sensitive to the way things relate to one another and able to extract principles from a
series of instances.
The impact of constructivist theory in classrooms has been to emphasise the need for
children to play, discover things for themselves and carry out practical investigations.
The notion of childcentred learning, the integrated day (where subject boundaries and
timetables are flexible) and stimulating classroom environments are, in part, based on
constructivist theory. Constructivism puts children into the role of active participants in
learning in which they exercise some choice about the work they do and how they carry it
out.
During the mid twentieth century one of the unfortunate consequences of
constructivist theory was in restricting the progress of more able primary children
because teachers did not consider them ready to progress to the next stage. In fact,
although conceptual sequencing is ordinal (i.e. sequential) children move through the
stages at different rates. Consequently, teachers now encourage pupils to reach their full
potential by giving them opportunity to progress as far and fast as possible, providing
their present understanding is secure and they know how to transfer it to new situations.
Constructivist theory is also associated with a form of teaching in which the teacher
takes on the role of facilitator in meeting the children s resource needs, advising them
about alternatives and steering them into new areas of learning. Critics point to this
teaching approach s lack of structure, the level of responsibility entrusted to the children
and the difficulty in monitoring subject coverage. Most recently, one casualty of this
widespread criticism has been a reduction in the amount that children have been allowed
to experiment with practical and cerebral ideas and learn through discovery. However, if
children are given the opportunity to construct their understanding through practical and
experiential means it stimulates their curiosity, enhances their motivation and can lead to
innovative approaches when solving problems.
Further reading
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