the N word as opposed to the V word–shares constructivism’s connotation of learning as “building knowledge structures” irrespective of the circumstances of the learning. It then adds the idea that this happens especially felicitously in a context where the learner is consciously engaged in constructing a public entity, whether it’s a sand castle on the beach or a theory of the universe (Papert, 1991)

Seymour, says Idit Harel in his obituary, coined the term to advance a new theory of learning, claiming that children learn best when they:

1. use tech-empowered learning tools and computational environments,
2. take active roles of designers and builders; and
3. do it in a social setting, with helpful mentors and coaches, or over networks.

Influencers:  John Dewey, Maria Montessori, and Paulo Freire, Jean Piaget with whom he worked in 1958 to 1963 in Switzerland.

He was also responsible for the academic work for  Logo programming language. He created the Logo Turtle, which was a physical turtle, and later became a virtual turtle which could be manipulated on screen by using the simple Logo programming language. MIT’s Epistemology and Learning Group, which Papert founded, has created many advanced technologies for learners including: robotics, system dynamics, multi-agent modeling, and digital fabrication. In 1985, he began a long and productive collaboration with the LEGO company, one of the first and largest corporate sponsors of the Media Lab. In the late 1990s, Papert moved to Maine and continued his work with young people there, establishing the Learning Barn and the Seymour Papert Institute in 1999

References

1. Papert, S., Harel, I., 1991. Situating Constructionism, Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1st chapter retrieved here: http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Constructionism (last accessed 09.08.2018)
2. Harel, I., 2016.  A Glimpse Into the Playful World of Seymour Papert. (obituary), IN EdSurge, 3rd August 2016, full text available here
3. http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Constructionism
4. http://idtoolbox.eseryel.com/seymour-paperts–constructionism.html
5. http://news.mit.edu/2016/seymour-papert-pioneer-of-constructionist-learning-dies-0801

Image available here

John Dewey

One important contributor to the development of pragmatism was John Dewey (1859–1952), whose philosophical interests spanned many areas, including psychology, education, ethics, logic and politics (…) Dewey’s pragmatism examines how the use of different ideas and hypotheses, concepts and theories affects the result of inquiry (…) One common misunderstanding is when educationalists associate pragmatism with ‘learning by doing’ or as mere ‘trial and error’ as this view separates action from thinking in turn preventing learning in an informed way (…) Dewey worked all his life on refining his notion of experience and defined it first as interactional and later as a transactional concept (…) Experience is the concept Dewey used to denote the relation between subject and worlds as well as between action and thinking, between human existence and becoming knowledgeable about selves and the worlds of which they are a part (…) This is why Dewey prefers the term ‘organic circle’ rather than ‘reflex arc’ as a metaphor for the relation between being and knowing (…) experience is a series of connected organic circles, it is transaction, and it is the continuous relation between subject and worlds. Experience is an understanding of the subject as being in the world, not outside and looking into the world, as a spectator theory of knowledge would imply

Five differences between a commonplace interpretation of experience and his own views:

• experience is usually used as an epistemological concept (purpose is production) while for Dewey is an ontological one and it is based on the transactional relation between subject and worlds. (remember difference of enjoying a painting because of its aesthetic value or studying it as an art reviewer) There are no experiences without some form of knowing but it does not solely depend on conscious thinking.
• experience is traditionally understood as an inner mental and subjective relation and thus trapped in in the privacy of subjects’ action and thinking. There is no experience without a subject experiencing it but it does not mean that experiencing is solely subjective and private.
• Third, experience is traditionally viewed in the past tense, the given rather
  than the experimental and future oriented. Dewey’s concept of experience,
  on the contrary, is characterized by reaching forward towards the unknown.
• experience is traditionally viewed as isolated and specific rather than as continuous and connected. For Dewey, however, experience is a series of connected situations (organic circles) and even if all situations are connected to other situations, every situation has its own unique character.
• Finally, experience has traditionally been viewed as beyond logical reasoning.
  Dewey argued, however, that there is no conscious experience without this
  kind of reasoning. Anticipatory thinking and reflection is always present in
  conscious experience by way of theories and concepts, ideas and hypotheses

By on the one hand stressing that experience is not primarily an epistemological matter, and on the other hand claiming that the systematic process of knowledge is one form of experience, Dewey wanted to show how inquiry is the only method for having an experience. Inquiry is triggered by difficult situations, and inquiry is the means through which it is possible to transform these situations through the mediation of thinking and action.Further, experience and inquiry are not limited to what is mental and private. (Elkjaer, 2009)

Traditional concept of experience v Dewey’s concept of experience
Experience as knowledge/Knowledge as a subset of experience
Experience as subjective/ Experience as both subjective and objective
Experience as oriented to the past/ Experience as future oriented (consequence)
Experience as isolated experiences/Experience as united experiences
Experience as action/ Experience as encompassing theories and concepts and as such a foundation for knowledge

References

Elkjaer, B., 2009. Pragmatism: A learning theory for the future. In Contemporary Theories of Learning Learning theorists … in their own words, Knud Illeris (ed.), London & New York: Routledge, pp. 74-89

Image available here

cumulative: mechanical learning, isolated formation, most common during the first years of life, later occurs only where one must learn something with no context, it is referred to as conditioning in behaviorist psychology

assimilative: learning by addition, new element is linked as an addition to a scheme or pattern that is relatively easy to recall and apply it when one is mentally oriented towards the field in question (Piaget: general sound and normal everyday learning)

accommodative: transcendent learning, when something takes place that is difficult to immediately relate to any existing scheme or pattern, one breaks down an existing scheme and transforms it so that the new situation can be linked in. results of that learning can be recalled and applied in many different relevant contexts (again Piaget: general sound and normal everyday learning, see also zone of proximal development)

significant/expansive/transitional/transformative: learning that involves the changing of the organization of the self, it demands a lot of mental energy, occurs only in situations of profound importance for the learner

References

Illeris, K., 2009. A comprehensive understanding of human learning. In Contemporary Theories of Learning: Learning theorists … in their own words, Knud Illeris (ed), London & New York: Routledge (pp. 7-20)

Image available here

Behavioral theories

• mode of learning: learning as a change in rate, frequency of occurrence, or form of behavior or response, which occurs primarily as a function of environmental factors (teachers therefore should arrange the environment so that students can respond properly to stimuli)
• learner profile: less importance to learner differences.
• key words: reinforcement history (the extent to which the individual was reinforced in the past for performing the same or similar behavior) and development status (what the individual is capable of doing given his or her present level of development).
• memory: neurological connections established as a function of behaviors being associated with external stimuli (forgetting as caused by lack of responding over time).
• motivation: motivated behavior is increased, or continued responding is produced, by reinforcement.
• transfer: depends on identical elements or similar features between situations.
• self regulation: involves setting up one’s own contingencies of reinforcement

Cognitive theories

• mode of learning: through the formation of mental structures, and the processing of information and beliefs, it is an internal phenomenon (teachers make learning meaningful taking into account the learners’ perceptions of themselves and their learning environments).
• learner profile: more importance to learner differences. What students do with information—how they attend to, rehearse, transform, code, store, and retrieve it—is critically important. The ways that learners process information determine what, when, and how they learn, as well as what use they will make of the learning.
• memory: has a prominent role in cognitivism, learning via encoding or storing knowledge in an organized meaningful fashion. information is retrieved from memory in response to relevant cues that activate the appropriate memory structures.
• motivation: one can be motivated and not learn; one can learn without being motivated/ motivation can help to direct attention and influence how information is processed. when reinforcement history conflicts with present beliefs, people are more likely to act based on their beliefs.
• transfer: it occurs when learners understand how to apply knowledge in different settings.
• self regulation: the key element is choice. For self-regulation to occur, learners must have some choice in their motives or methods for learning, time spent learning, criterion level of learning, the setting where learning occurs

References

Schunk, D.H., 2012. Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective. (Sixth Edition), Boston: Pearson

Image available here