Prior Knowledge and Constructivist Teaching
Did you ever hear a small child call a cat a “doggie” or a dog a “kittie”? That’s an example I use when I try to teach my students about constructivist learning. When my daughter was first learning to talk, our only house pet was a Siamese cat, so my daughter didn’t often see dogs. One day, when she was about nine months old, she pointed out the car window and said “Kittie”; she was pointing at a dog. Why did she say “kittie” instead of “doggie? She was constructing knowledge.
Prior to this experience, ever four-legged creature she had seen was a cat. So, when confronted with a new species, she applied her existing knowledge to it. If she had seen a horse, she would have said “kittie.” If she had seen a cow, she would have said “kittie.” But, as she saw different animals, she had to broaden her definition and her vocabulary. In other words, she had to rearrange what she already knew to make a place for the new knowledge.
Let’s assume you are beginning a unit on Native Americans. Try this with your students. Ask them to draw a picture of the kind of houses Native American used to live in. Chances are they will draw a tepee. Then, on your classroom computer, go to this website in the Library of Congress” American Memory collection and ask them describe what they see.
They will have to rearrange their idea of “Native American house.”
Or, ask them to describe – on paper or aloud – what an Indian looks like. After some discussion, take them to this web address, also in the American Memory collection:
Then, as if anyone knows where Indian Hills is in the Chicago area and why it is called that. You can then explain that the Indians depicted in the first picture lived where Chicago is now, and that Chief Robinson, depicted in the second picture, lived where Indian Hills Forest Preserve is now.
What you have done is two-fold: to some extent, you have activated the prior knowledge children have about Native Americans in general and, secondly, you have spurred them to begin reconstructing what they know. Now you are ready to teach them about Native Americans.