POST #4: Piaget's Constructivism.

As we have seen so far in class, the Swiss and pioneer of the constructivist theory, Jean Piaget has been extremely influential in developing educational and teaching practises. According to him, children are born with a basic mental structure (genetically inherited) on which all learning and knowledge is based. He believes in the idea that children experience a process of accommodation and assimilation to construct their knowledge. He also points out that children learn best through doing and actively exploring.

His theory of cognitive development introduces us to a series of stages. Piaget proposed four stages of cognitive development: the sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational period. Given that I will be discussing and reflecting on primary school pupils and the different strategies we could follow in order to facilitate our teaching, I think it is correct to go straight to the third stage, concrete operational, since it lasts from 6 or 7 years until about 11. 
In the stage mentioned before children begin to think logically but remain very concrete in their logic. Classification is another achievement of this period. This means that children acquire the skills they lead to the ability to describe things by terms of classes, numbers and series. Egocentric thought diminishes but it is still present in this stage.

Every time we picture a classroom, it is important to have in mind that curiousness and acceptance to receive new ideas will be welcome. A great way that I can imagine to use their curiousness and catch their attention is through discovery learning, instead of providing activities and knowledge based only in grammar and structures. In other words, less grammar and more meaning is what children need, it is essential to remember that we are in a stage where children need to explore, that is why I reckon teachers should provide a variety of activities designed to promote exploration and discovery. Some examples of discovery learning activities could include art, puzzles, games, etc. Knowing that the youngest in the concrete operational stage learn how to use language and represent objects using words and big picture books, we could use those images to implement memory games. It would easily catch their attention and they would be developing listening and concentration skills plus these games can help them to learn new vocabulary. 

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However, we shouldn't forget that children are also easily distracted and egocentric in this stage, therefore we should be careful with group work in primary school. Teachers should have clearly defined tasks and group roles, otherwise it would lead to some negative side effects. In my opinion, considering children's egocentrism, to start off we should probably opt for cooperative activities so that students can develop cooperative skills first.
For instance, they could sit in groups of three, all of them having roles assigned. The person on left takes one position on a certain topic, the person on right takes the opposite position, and the person in the middle takes notes and decides which side is the most convincing and provides an argument for his or her choice, this way they wouldn't reject each other's opinion, they could all participate and speak their minds.

I understand that group work won't always be possible, that is why it is crucial to remember that sometimes teachers need to take the role of a "monitor" in class. That means they should, for example, walk slowly round the classroom and listen to their conversations, check how they behave, communicate, listen, supervise and even sit down with them and help them if needed.