TITLE

Searching for Social Constructivism in Learning Environment Surveys and Social Interaction Coding Schemes (1995)

Author

Curtis Jay BONK, Ph.D. Indiana University

Open questions

Which learning environment measurement instruments could register social constructivism variables?

How can researchers put right new assessment scales?

Which are possible social interaction coding schemes in thecnological environments?

Questions to the author

The "Forty Question SCALE" is very complex: how often is it offered?

Are you going to prepare alternative instruments to use more frequently than SCALE, as a dynamic assessment of student learning?

Reading your article It seems to us that your tools like SCALE aim to automize assessement in comparative with learning communities experiences. This point of view seems to imply an objectivist reference of assessement, because who's evaluating stays out of the community; He also is looking for a greater number of variables to define the experience, even if He knows that every community of learners has its owns peculiarity. This approach seems to us something typical of the american culture, even if it is in contrast with the constructivist epistemology, in which learning is considered as situated. We know We are not expert in this field, but We think that tools like SCALE should be used just as a survey supports to collect useful informations for a following assessement." We ask ourselves why feelings, emotions and self-image constructs are not really considered, even though the power of learning environment seems to be interaction relationships. (Answer)

Key words

Social constructivism

C.L.E.S.(Constructivism Learning Environment Scale)

S.C.A.L.E. (Social Constructivism and Active Learning Environment)

Social interaction coding schemes

Learning environments

Quoted authors

Tharp, Gallimore, Wells, Vygotsky, Wertsch, Brooks, Rogoff, Bereiter, Scardamalia, Palincsar, Paris, Turner, Salomon, Brown, Collins, Duguid, Di Pardo, Freedman, Reeve, Wigginton, Harris, Pressley, Bodner, O`Loughlin, Fisher, Taylor, Malone, Neale, Entwistle, Tait, Cobb, Wood, Yackel, Nicholls, Wheatley, Trigatti, Perlwitz, Perry, Moore, Lacefield, Cole; Confrey, von Glaserfeld, Oyer, Medury, Taylor, Fraser, White, Meloth, Deering, Grannot, Grabner, Hansen, Lazar, Mirabelli, Selman, Collins, Newmann, Eisenhart, Borko.

ABSTRACT

Educational researchers agree with Vygotsky's ideas about the importance of social interaction in individual knowledge building process. But few instrument exist to measure the active nature of learning from a student or a teacher perspective. According to social constructivism point of view, the "cognitive apprenticeship" is very important. The focus is on "assisting" student learning, not in directing it; the teacher has to consider prior knowledge to class. Classroom environment research in the 1970's and 80's indicated that students' perception of their learning environments enhanced student achievement. Researchers need instruments to evaluate the new learning environments: important variables are student envolvement on discussion and the extent to which students help each other. The new epistemology led to C.L.E.S. (Constructivist Learning Environment Scale), a scale which measures students' perception of learning environments. CLES was revised according to the social constructivism framework: the S.C.A.L.E. (Social Constructivism and Active Learning Environments) assesses how resources avaliable to students are used in four different areas: self, teacher, tool and peer. Two versions of the SCALE were created, Perceived and Preferred, to investigate aspects of the gap between actual classroom instruction and student preferences. With the development of new technologies, researchers began to focus on how different electronic tools impact social interaction and student learning. After developing a coding scheme for student-student interaction in collaborative writing and in E-mail environments, researchers definied four basic categories: a more specific coding of dialogue proved difficult, and some dialogue exchanges required multiple codes. We need to create evaluation instruments to assess degree of constructivism in learning environments. Social constructivist psychology is rapidly influencing educational theory and research, but new approaches are needed before it can impact educational reform.