Constructionism in Practice

Constructionism in Practice PDF Author: Yasmin B. Kafai
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136491422
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
The digital revolution necessitates, but also makes possible, radical changes in how and what we learn. This book describes a set of innovative educational research projects at the MIT Media Laboratory, illustrating how new computational technologies can transform our conceptions of learning, education, and knowledge. The book draws on real-world education experiments conducted in formal and informal contexts: from inner-city schools and university labs to neighborhoods and after-school clubhouses. The papers in this book are divided in four interrelated sections as follows: * Perspectives in Constructionism further develops the intellectual underpinnings of constructionist theory. This section looks closely at the role of perspective-taking in learning and discusses how both cognitive and affective processes play a central role in building connections between old and new knowledge. * Learning through Design analyzes the relationship between designing and learning, and discusses ways that design activities can provide personally meaningful contexts for learning. This section investigates how and why children can learn through the processes of constructing artifacts such as games, textile patterns, robots and interactive devices. * Learning in Communities focuses on the social aspects of constructionist learning, recognizing that how people learn is deeply influenced by the communities and cultures with which they interact. It examines the nature of learning in classroom, inner-city, and virtual communities. * Learning about Systems examines how students make sense of biological, technological, and mathematical systems. This section explores the conceptual and epistemological barriers to learning about feedback, self-organization, and probability, and it discusses new technological tools and activities that can help people develop new ways of thinking about these phenomena.

Constructionism in Practice

Constructionism in Practice PDF Author: Yasmin B. Kafai
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136491422
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
The digital revolution necessitates, but also makes possible, radical changes in how and what we learn. This book describes a set of innovative educational research projects at the MIT Media Laboratory, illustrating how new computational technologies can transform our conceptions of learning, education, and knowledge. The book draws on real-world education experiments conducted in formal and informal contexts: from inner-city schools and university labs to neighborhoods and after-school clubhouses. The papers in this book are divided in four interrelated sections as follows: * Perspectives in Constructionism further develops the intellectual underpinnings of constructionist theory. This section looks closely at the role of perspective-taking in learning and discusses how both cognitive and affective processes play a central role in building connections between old and new knowledge. * Learning through Design analyzes the relationship between designing and learning, and discusses ways that design activities can provide personally meaningful contexts for learning. This section investigates how and why children can learn through the processes of constructing artifacts such as games, textile patterns, robots and interactive devices. * Learning in Communities focuses on the social aspects of constructionist learning, recognizing that how people learn is deeply influenced by the communities and cultures with which they interact. It examines the nature of learning in classroom, inner-city, and virtual communities. * Learning about Systems examines how students make sense of biological, technological, and mathematical systems. This section explores the conceptual and epistemological barriers to learning about feedback, self-organization, and probability, and it discusses new technological tools and activities that can help people develop new ways of thinking about these phenomena.

Designing Constructionist Futures

Designing Constructionist Futures PDF Author: Nathan Holbert
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262361094
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
A diverse group of scholars redefine constructionism--introduced by Seymour Papert in 1980--in light of new technologies and theories. Constructionism, first introduced by Seymour Papert in 1980, is a framework for learning to understand something by making an artifact for and with other people. A core goal of constructionists is to respect learners as creators, to enable them to engage in making meaning for themselves through construction, and to do this by democratizing access to the world's most creative and powerful tools. In this volume, an international and diverse group of scholars examine, reconstruct, and evolve the constructionist paradigm in light of new technologies and theories.

Social Constructionism

Social Constructionism PDF Author: Andy Lock
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139487361
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 403

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Book Description
Social Constructionism: Sources and Stirrings in Theory and Practice offers an introduction to the different theorists and schools of thought that have contributed to the development of contemporary social constructionist ideas, charting a course through the ideas that underpin the discipline. From the New Science of Vico in the 18th century, through to Marxist writers, ethnomethodologists and Wittgenstein, ideas as to how socio-cultural processes provide the resources that make us human are traced to the present day. Despite constructionists often being criticised as 'relativists', 'activists' and 'anti-establishment' and for making no concrete contributions, their ideas are now being adopted by practically-oriented disciplines such as management consultancy, advertising, therapy, education and nursing. Andy Lock and Tom Strong aim to provoke a wider grasp of an alternative history and tradition that has developed alongside the one emphasised in traditional histories of the social sciences.

Social Construction and Social Work Practice

Social Construction and Social Work Practice PDF Author: Stanley L. Witkin
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231530307
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
Social construction addresses the cultural factors and social dynamics that give rise to and maintain values and beliefs. Drawing on postmodern philosophies and critical, social, and literary theories, social construction has become an important and influential framework for practice and research within social work and related fields. Embracing inclusivity and multiplicity, social construction provides a framework for knowledge and practice that is particularly congruent with social work values and aims. In this accessible collection, Stanley L Witkin showcases the innovative ways in which social construction may be understood and expressed in practice. He calls on experienced practitioner-scholars to share their personal accounts of interpreting and applying social constructionist ideas in different settings (such as child welfare agencies, schools, and the courts) and with diverse clientele (such as "resistant" adolescents, disadvantaged families, indigenous populations, teachers, children in protective custody, refugee youth, and adult perpetrators of sexual crimes against children). Eschewing the prescriptive stance of most theoretical frameworks, social construction can seem challenging for students and practitioners. This book responds with rich, illustrative descriptions of how social constructionist thinking has inspired practice approaches, illuminating the diversity and creative potential of practices that draw on social constructionist ideas. Writing in a direct, accessible style, contributors translate complex concepts into the language of daily encounter and care, and through a committed transnational focus they demonstrate the global reach and utility of their work. Chapters are provocative and thoughtful, reveal great suffering and courage, share inspiring stories of strength and renewal, and acknowledge the challenges of an approach that complicates evidence-based evaluations and requirements.

The Sage Handbook of Social Constructionist Practice

The Sage Handbook of Social Constructionist Practice PDF Author: Sheila McNamee
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 152973844X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 1016

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Book Description
The SAGE Handbook of Social Constructionist Practice is the first major survey of innovations in professional practice emerging from a social constructionist orientation to social science. This key perspective has been unique in its stimulation of pioneering practices over a broad number of professions. This volume offers insights into the latest developments in theory, showcases the range and variations in practical outcomes, while pointing to emerging directions of development. The Handbook focuses on hands-on practices, while offering the theoretical tools for further enriching their application. The authors are leading figures in their fields, including organizational development, therapy, healthcare, education, research, and community building. The volume will be particularly useful for students, scholars, professional practitioners, and change makers from across the globe. PART ONE: Introduction PART TWO: Research Practices PART THREE: Practices in Therapeutic Professions PART FOUR: Practices in Organizational Development PART FIVE: Practices in Education PART SIX: Practices in Healthcare PART SEVEN: Community Practices

Social Constructionist Psychology

Social Constructionist Psychology PDF Author: David Nightingale
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)
ISBN: 0335232426
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
How can ideas about the social construction of reality be reconciled with the material and embodied aspects of our being? In what ways can a realist framework inform social constructionist research? What are the limits of social constructionism? This accessible text draws together for the first time a wide range of emerging issues, ideas and discussions in constructionist psychology. It shows how these issues are relevant to everyday life, using carefully-chosen examples to illustrate its arguments, and provides a coherent and challenging introduction to the field. The book explores the growing conviction that dominant 'discursive' trends in social constructionism - which deal with the analysis of language and discourse to the exclusion of the material world, embodiment, personal-social history, and power - are inadequate or incomplete and risk preventing social constructionism from maturing into a viable and coherent body of theory, method and practice. In highlighting what are seen as deficiencies in current constructionist approaches, it inevitably takes a somewhat critical stance. However, the contributing authors are committed to a constructionist analysis of the human condition - into which they seek to reintegrate the material and embodied aspects of our nature. As a result, the completion of social constructionism is brought a step closer and its continued importance is underlined.

Social Constructionism

Social Constructionism PDF Author: Vivien Burr
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040166342
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
The fourth edition of this seminal work introduces students to social constructionism. Using a variety of examples from everyday experience and from existing research in areas such as personality, sexuality and health, it clearly explains the basic theoretical assumptions of social constructionism. Drawing on a range of empirical studies, the book clearly defines the various approaches to social constructionist theory and research and explores the theoretical and practical issues they raise. It presents and analyses key debates, such as the nature and status of knowledge, truth, reality, and the self, in an accessible style. The new edition has been updated with relevant and contemporary references to aid understanding of key theoretical and methodological issues. The author additionally utilises new illustrative examples from research and contemporary life, such as the #MeToo movement, BlackLivesMatter, and Post-Truth politics. The updated work has also been expanded to include an extended discussion of affect and embodiment and a number of exercises to help illustrate important concepts. Social Constructionism extends and updates the material covered in previous editions and will be an invaluable and informative resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students of Psychology, Sociology, Education, and other related disciplines.

Constructionism

Constructionism PDF Author: Idit Harel
Publisher: Greenwood
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 540

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Book Description
In 1985 the Media Lab was created at MIT to advance the idea that computation would give rise to a new science of expressive media. Within the media lab, the Epistemology and Learning group extends the traditional definition of media by treating as expressive media materials with which children play and learn. The Group's work follows a paradigm for learning research called Constructionism. Several of the chapters directly address the theoretical formulation of Constructionism, and others describe experimental studies which enrich and confirm different aspects of the idea. Thus this volume can be taken as the most extensive and definitive statement to date of this approach to media and education research and practice. This book is structured around four major themes: learning through designing and programming; epistemological styles in constructionist learning, children and cybernetics; and video as a research tool for exploring and documenting constructionist environments.

An Introduction to Social Constructionism

An Introduction to Social Constructionism PDF Author: Vivien Burr
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134849079
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 155

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Book Description
An invaluable, clear guide to social constructionism for all perplexed students who want to begin to understand this difficult area. Introduction to Social Constructionism is a readable and critical account of social constructionism for students new to the field. Focusing on the challenge to psychology that social constructionism poses, Vivien Burr examines the notion of 'personality' to illustrate the rejection of essentialism by social constructionists. This questions psychology's traditional understanding of the person. She then shows how the study of language can be used as a focus for our understanding of human behaviour and experience. This is continued by examining 'discourses' and their role in constructing social phenomena, and the relationship between discourse and power. However, the problems associated with these analyses are also clearly outlined. Many people believe that one of the aims of social science should be to bring about social change. Vivien Burr analyses what possibilities there might be for change in social constructionist accounts. She also addresses what social constructionism means in practice to research in the social sciences, and includes some guidelines on doing discourse analysis.

Handbook of Constructionist Research

Handbook of Constructionist Research PDF Author: James A. Holstein
Publisher: Guilford Publications
ISBN: 1462514812
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 834

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Book Description
Constructionism has become one of the most popular research approaches in the social sciences. But until now, little attention has been given to the conceptual and methodological underpinnings of the constructionist stance, and the remarkable diversity within the field. This cutting-edge handbook brings together a dazzling array of scholars to review the foundations of constructionist research, how it is put into practice in multiple disciplines, and where it may be headed in the future. The volume critically examines the analytic frameworks, strategies of inquiry, and methodological choices that together form the mosaic of contemporary constructionism, making it an authoritative reference for anyone interested in conducting research in a constructionist vein.