Participants develop unit plans and critique instructional activities. In this course we explore the various perspectives on constructivism from its roots in epistemology and developmental psychology. The course delves into the work of Piaget, Vygotsky, and Von Glaserfeld in particular in order to examine how their writings have influenced the field. Finally, the course looks at the implications for practice inherent in different constructivist perspectives. The focus of this course changes to represent the issues which are prominent in the field at the time.
Texts vary with issue discussed.
Construction of a methodology for applying various conceptions to science teaching is stressed. A conceptual framework will emerge from the synthesis of existing information. Synthesis of this literature will serve as a foundation for examining curriculum decisions. Setting goals and objectives, establishing priorities, undertaking a needs assessment for various kinds of short and long range planning. The historical emergence of program evaluations will be considered, the evaluation tasks will be identified and the policy issues attendant to evaluation will be exarnined.