Unit 2:

Constructivism
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 Topics to be discussed:
● Constructivism in Teaching Mathematics

● Teaching for Understanding in Mathematics Teaching

● Dale’s Cone of Experience

● Constructivism Strategies in Teaching Mathematics

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 01
Constructivism in Teaching Mathematics
Constructivist philosophies focus on what students can
do to integrate new knowledge with existing knowledge
to create a deeper understanding of mathematics.
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 Constructivism
● can be defined as a learning theory
that perceives that people acquire
knowledge through their experiences,
interaction with the outside world and
their ideas of the world around them.

● It was conceptualized by educational

theorist Jean Piaget

● Piaget believed that young children

learn by constructing knowledge from
experiences.
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 Types of Constructivism
Cognitive

This method work to help students in

learning new information by connecting it to
things they already know, enabling them to
make modifications in their existing
intelligence to accommodate the new
information.
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 Types of Constructivism
Social

Knowledge develops from how people

interact with each other, their culture, and
society at large. Students rely on others to
help create their building blocks, and learning
from others helps them construct their own
knowledge and reality.
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 Types of Constructivism
Radical

It is the idea that all learning must be

constructed, and there is no utility or meaning
in instruction that is teacher or textbook
driven. Radical constructivism is often referred
to in reference to mathematics, but it can be
difficult to understand and enact.
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 Constructivist learning is described as follows:
● Learning builds on the learner’s prior knowledge and the approach
is a constructivist process.
● Learner involves in the process to ensure self regulated and self-
directed process.
● Learner is grounded in the context of the learners and
fundamentally social process.
● Learning is more than the acquisition of knowledge, it is
collaborative.
● The learning process do not only require cognitive but also
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motivation and emotional domains.

 Constructivist Mathematics Class
● Pose problems that is relevant to the learners
● Use big concepts than segmented or disjoint topics
● Create situations that will reveal the learner's point of
view
● Use authentic assessment
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 02
Teaching for Understanding in
Teaching Mathematics
What is understanding?

Understanding is being able to think and act flexibly

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with a topic or concept.

 “
Understanding and Doing Mathematics
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 2000) identifies the process
standards of problem solving, reasoning and proof, representation, communication,
and connections as ways to think about how students should engage in learning
mathematics content as they develop both procedural fluency and conceptual
understanding.

By engaging in these processes, students learn mathematics by doing mathematics.

Consequently, the process standards should not be taught separately from but in
conjunction with mathematics as ways of learning mathematics.
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 (National Research Council, 2001), an influential research review on how students
learn mathematics, identifies the following five strands of mathematical proficiency
as indicators that someone understands (and can do) mathematics:

● • Conceptual understanding:
Comprehension of mathematical
concepts, operations, and
● relations
● • Procedural fluency: Skill in carrying
out procedures flexibly,
accurately, efficiently, and
appropriately
• Adaptive reasoning: Capacity for logical
thought, reflection, explanation, and
justification
• Productive disposition: Habitual
inclination to see mathematics as
sensible, useful, and worthwhile,
coupled with a belief in diligence and
one’s own efficacy

● • Strategic competence: Ability to

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formulate, represent, and

solve mathematical problems
 The Common Core State Standards (CCSSO, 2010) outline the
following Eight Standards for Mathematical Practice:
1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
4. Model with mathematics.
5. Use appropriate tools strategically.
6. Attend to precision.
7. Look for and make use of structure.
8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning
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 Relational Understanding Instrumental understanding

is having a mathematical is having a mathematical

rule, knowing how to use it rule or procedure and has
and knowing why it works. the ability on how to use
it.
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 Mathematics Classrooms that Promote Understanding

The following features of a mathematics classroom that promotes understanding:

● Students’ ideas are key.

● Opportunities for students to talk
about mathematics are common.
● Multiple approaches are encouraged.
● Mistakes are good opportunities for
learning.
● Math makes sense.
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 03
Dale’s Cone of Experience
Experience is the accumulation of knowledge or skill
that results from direct participation in events or
activities; the content of direct observation or
participation in an event; something personally lived
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through or encountered.
 Edgar Dale (April 27, 1900 – March 8, 1985)
• He was a U.S. educationist who developed the famous Cone of Experience.
• He theorized that learners retain more information by what they do as
opposed to what is heard, read or observed.

Today, this “learning by doing” has become known as

“experiential learning” or “action learning.”
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 Dale’s Cone of Experience

- is a visual model that is composed

of eleven (11) stages starting from
concrete experiences at the bottom of the
cone then it becomes more and more
abstract as it reaches the peak of the
cone.

- the arrangement in the cone is not

based on its difficulty but rather based on
abstraction and on the number of senses
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involved.
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 Experiences on Stages of Dale’s Cone
Direct Purposeful Experiences.
These are first hand experiences which serve as the foundation of learning. In this
level, more senses are used in order to build up the knowledge. Also, in this level,
the learner learned by doing things by him/herself.
The Contrived
In thisExperiences.
level, representative models and mock-ups of reality are being
used in order to provide an experience that as close as reality. This level
is very practical and it makes learning experience more accessible to the
learner.
The Dramatized
In this Experiences.
level, learners can participate in a reconstructed
experiences that could give them better understanding of
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the event or of a concept.

 Experiences on Stages of Dale’s Cone
The Demonstrations
It is a visualize explanation of important fact, idea, or process through the use of
pictures, drawings, film and other types of media in order to facilitate clear and
effective learning. In this level, things are shown based on how they are done.
The Study Trips
This level extends the learning experience through excursions and visits
on the different places that are not available inside the classroom.

The Exhibits
In this level, meanings ideas are presented to the
learners in a more abstract manner. This experience
allows student to see the meaning and relevance of
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things based on the different pictures and

representations presented.
 Experiences on Stages of Dale’s Cone
The television and motion pictures etc.
For television and motion pictures, it implies
values and messages through television and
films.
The Visual symbolic and Verbal
symbolic
These two levels are the most complex
among all the components of the Cone of
Experience. In the visual symbolic level,
charts, maps, graphs, and diagrams are
used for abstract representations. On the
other hand, the verbal symbolic level does
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not involve visual representation or clues to

their meanings.
 Modes of Learning in Cone of Experience
In Edgar Dale introduced the Cone of Experience demonstrate a progression from
direct, first-hand experience to pictorial representation and on to purely
abstract, symbolic expression.
The Cone of Experience corresponds with three major modes of learning:

● Enactive (direct experience)

● Iconic (pictorial experience)

● Symbolic (highly abstract experience)

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 04
Constructivism Strategies in Teaching
Mathematics
Teaching math through constructivist methods allows students
to deepen their knowledge beyond rote memorization,
develop meaningful context to comprehend the content, and
take command of the learning process as an active participant
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rather than a sit-and-get observer.

 “
The CRA Model
The CRA (concrete-representational-abstract) model is a powerful strategy for teaching new
math concepts. It is a three-part constructivist process that transitions students from hands-
on instruction to symbolic math.
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 “
The CRA Model
Concrete. In this phase, manipulatives are selected to demonstrate, model and
allow students to explore a new concept.

Representational. This phase transfers concrete models into visual

representations using drawings and images.

Abstract. The abstract phase is the symbolic level. Using operations and
mathematical symbols, this phase would depict fractions numerically
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 Mathematical Modeling Method
Mathematical modeling is a teaching technique that focuses on the
investigation of real-world problems using mathematics as a tool to make
sense of the situation and map out possible solutions.

Benefits of using mathematical modeling method:

For the fun of it.
Celebrating different approaches.
Improve understanding.
Productive struggle.
Cooperative learning.
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 The 5 E’s Lesson Model

● Developed in 1987, the 5E model

is the cornerstone of
constructivist learning.
● The 5E model is often associated
with inquiry-based learning,
active learning, experiential
learning, discovery learning, and
knowledge building.
● This approach helps students
build knowledge from prior
understandings via context-
building activities and
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differentiated learning.
 The 5 E’s Lesson Model

Engage.

The goal is to create interest and

generate curiosity in the topic of
study; raise questions and elicit
responses from students that will
give you an idea of what they
already know.
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 The 5 E’s Lesson Model

Explore

Students should be given

opportunities to work together
without direct instruction. Teacher
should act as a facilitator who helps
the students to frame questions by
asking and observing.
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 The 5 E’s Lesson Model

Explain

In this stage, students should be

encouraged to explain concepts in
their own words, ask for evidence
and clarification of their explanation,
and listen critically to one another's
explanation and those of the
teacher.
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 The 5 E’s Lesson Model

Elaborate

Students should apply concepts and

skills in new (but similar) situations
and use formal labels and
definitions. Remind students of
alternative explanations and to
consider existing data and evidence
as they explore new situations.
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 The 5 E’s Lesson Model

Evaluate

Evaluation should take place

throughout the learning experience.
You should observe students'
knowledge and/or skills, application
of new concepts and a change in
thinking.
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 The 5 E’s Lesson Model

Students develop increasingly

complex mathematical structures,
move further into the abstract, and
become more capable of solving a
wider array of math problems
through a wider range of methods.
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 “The principal goal of education in
the schools should be creating men and
women who are capable of doing new things,
not simply repeating what other generations
have done.”

- Jean Piaget
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 Thank you for listening!
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