Constructivist Learning Design: Key Questions for Teaching to Standards

Build student-centered learning into your standards-based curriculum and instructional practice!

Educators expect learners to solve problems, think critically, communicate effectively, and collaborate well. These complex processes require an approach to learning that is much more than memorizing facts. To truly succeed, young learners need to engage in active learning and understand that their own experience is the foundation for new learning. Constructivist Learning Design for the Standards-Based Classroom balances the required learning of facts and concepts with the hands-on learning of experience.

The Constructivist Learning Design (CLD) model uses six fundamental elements to provide a different way of thinking about learning and teaching:

o Situation: develop goals, tasks, and curriculum standards

o Grouping: group students and materials, and cooperative learning

o Bridge: recall prior knowledge using students' cognitive maps, skills, values, motivation, and expectations

o Task: use higher level thinking skills and problem-based learning

o Exhibit: arrange student portfolios and work samples

o Reflection: synthesize critical thinking and knowledge

With clear classroom applications and ready-to-use planning templates, this excellent resource will guide teachers through the complex process of aligning constructivist learning with standardized outcomes and goal-centered curriculum. Engage students in tasks, help them think for themselves, and support them in making meaning of their learning!