After all that I have read and researched for my educational foundation courses thus far, I can conclude that Constructivism = Common Sense. Now I can see why I have been so drawn to the entire philosophy and instructional design practice. Duffy states in Chapter 1 that Constructivism was rooted in objectivism, which makes perfect sense considering how the foundational aspects of both are so closely related and even utilized today in so many ways.
Like my classmates, I also had the "shiny" rainbow vision of education when I was going through college and even after I graduated. I thought that this "thing" that we call teaching would just fall upon me and I would just know what to do and it would be magical. However, what I found out was that instead of rainbows, my time teaching public high school was reminiscent of the Normandy Beach scene in Saving Private Ryan. Lots of casualties, craziness, and causes all going on at one time with me trying to make some sense out of all the chaos.
Instead of fighting to keep my head above water, I should have taken the time to think about what I had learned about constructivism and built upon the foundational knowledge of students, and used this to build a framework that would be relevant and meaningful to my students. Inherently, I am drawn to the technical side of education, and I feel like constructivism has been there, lurking, all along....I just didn't know what to call it. As we learn in our readings and gain a better understanding of the idea, constructivism is proven to be an even greater tool for us as educators to improve our teaching, and make sure our students relate and retain the knowledge we pass along to them. We just have to make sure, like builders, to provide them with an adequate framework to support and hold together the pieces of their lessons.
I'm thinking our cohort's mascot should be a construction worker!
