Constructivist Learning Design: Key Questions for Teaching to Standards

"Very practical and user-friendly . . ."
--Linda R. Kroll, Professor
Department of Education, Mills College

Build student-centered learning into your standards-based curriculum and lesson plans!

Educators expect learners to solve problems, think critically, communicate effectively, and collaborate well. These complex processes require young learners to engage in active learning and to understand that their own experience is the foundation for new learning. They also require teachers to move from the traditional role of "sage on the stage" to the new role of "guide on the side."

Constructivist Learning Design offers teachers a six-step framework for lesson planning and assessment:

• Situation: develop goals, tasks, and curriculum standards
• Grouping: group students and materials, and use cooperative learning
• Bridge: recall prior knowledge using students′ cognitive maps, skills, values, motivation, and expectations
• Task: use higher-level thinking skills and problem-based learning
• Exhibit: arrange student portfolios and work samples
• Reflection: synthesize critical thinking and knowledge

With clear classroom applications and ready-to-use planning templates, this research-based resource guides teachers through the complex process of aligning constructivist learning events with standards-based curriculum. Engage students in tasks, help them think for themselves, and support them in making meaning of their learning!

George W. Gagnon, Jr. is the Director of K-12 Partnerships in the College of Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He works with teacher and parent partners to support students who would be the first generation in their family to be engineers or scientists. George uses Math Models he has designed to support students in developing a conceptual understanding of mathematics. George has studied learning for thirty years as a teacher, principal, and teacher educator. Now he applies his research on constructivist learning design, appropriate assessment, and learning communities to encourage educational equity in urban public schools. George and Michelle live in Oakland, California, and are actively involved with the neighborhood public schools their children attend.

Michelle Collay is a School Coach for the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES) in Oakland, California, a private non-profit organization supporting urban small school initiatives.  She supports school leader development and coordinates classroom-based teacher inquiry for the purposes of improving student achievement. Previously, she worked as a faculty member and administrator in teacher preparation and graduate teacher education in public and private universities.  Collay conducts seminars and workshops about professional learning communities, constructivist learning design, and portfolio development. Before completing doctoral studies in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Oregon, she taught music and mathematics in elementary and junior high school and continues to play the bassoon in local ensembles. She and her husband, George Gagnon, write, teach, and parent together and are parent leaders in their children’s neighborhood school in Oakland.