Implementing Innovative Constructivism: An Architected Approach to Enhancing STEM Education
(Room S320D)
29 Nov 17
2:30 PM
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3:00 PM
Constructivism in education is a well recognized approach to teaching science, but often fails to achieve its goals, especially among students who have not been inculcated with cultural norms that emphasize the importance of aggressive inquiry and the challenge of existing dogma. The primary author has developed and implemented an approach, founded in constructivist theory, which provides a carefully architected framework in which the students can learn by engaging in scientific inquiry, rather than memorizing facts in a didactic environment. The need for and benefits of the architected framework are laid out. The applicability of this approach to DoD education, ranging all the way from the DoD Education Activity up to the Staff Colleges, is discussed and justified. The authors’ assert that modern warfare has driven the need for pervasive education into all ranks. The initial instantiation of the method was conducted in Biology classes in a school district in the Los Angeles basin, whose student population was extremely diverse, in both ethnicity and socio-economic status. The authors present the basic method implemented, discuss its development, adduce data on its impact on students and comment on its maintenance over time. Further, they discuss the extensibility to other sciences, to other educational levels and to DoD education. A short review of current parallel efforts to improve science education is presented, with analyses as to the compatibility of this approach with others. The issue of the potential requirement of a charismatic “hero teacher” for success of various approaches is considered. Acknowledging the move toward serious games and on-line instruction, the authors present their experience in distributed simulations and the utility of them in educational contexts. The implementation of this approach in either the serious game or on-line education environment is explored. On-going and future research is outlined and various options are analyzed.