Integrating+Theory+and+Practice

=INTERGRATING THEORY AND PRACTISE=

**__ SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVIST __** **Dewey and Vygotsky – both theorists view learning as social, collaborative and active**

// ‘’Children need to explore how they learn and how knowledge develops by asking questions and then actively seeking answers” // Hill pg. 3 2012

The theory of Dewey (1964) focuses on the process of inquiry and the importance of educators by which they carefully listen to their students, followed by giving them direction through activities. He believes that children are ‘best prepared when engaged in a process of self-directed learning, guided by the cultural resources provided by teachers’.

The theory of Vygotsky (1978) focuses on how children develop and how adults influence children’s early development at school. Vygotsky had five main ideas in social constructivist learning - Children construct knowledge - Learning leads development - Learning occurs in a social context - Language plays a central role in intellectual development - The zone of proximal development All of which relate to their ideas of children actively learning.

Hill (2012) also discusses the scaffold approach to literacy where “there is a place for the teacher to model, share and guide and encourage independence in reading and writing”. These approaches include - Modelled reading and writing - Guided reading and writing - Shared reading and writing - Independent reading and writing



In the six literacy lessons observed in prep-grade two classes there are numerous similarities of the approaches listed above as well as approaches to teaching related back to Dewey and Vygotskys theories of learning. In relation to Dewey and Vygotskys theories of learning, there was evidence of activities in the literacy lesson where the children were always active and hands on. All the lessons involved the children completing activities through technologies such as the smart board, there was use of an interactive television as well as music and video clips to keep the children engaged constantly.

The graph below demonstrates that modelled, shared and guided reading were the primary focuses in the classroom, whereas independent reading was limited particulary for the prep grades.
 * || **Class 1** || **Class 2** || **Class 3** || **Class 4** || **Class 5** || **Class 6** ||
 * **Modelled reading** || Yes || Yes || Yes || Yes || Yes || Yes ||
 * **Shared reading** || Yes || yes || yes || yes || yes || Yes ||
 * **Guided reading** || yes || yes || yes || yes || yes || Yes ||
 * **Independent reading** || yes || yes || no || no || yes || yes ||