MODULE 5- Constructivist Learning Theories

Gestalt Theories
I. Learning Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, you are expected to be able to:
a. explain the different Constructivist learning theories;
b. describe the different gestalt principles;
c. list ways of applying Gestalt psychology in the teaching-learning process;
d. demonstrate appreciation of the usefulness of Gestalt principles in the
teaching- learning process; and
e. make a plan using the cooperative and experiential learning.

II. Learning Topics:

 Jerome Bruner’s Constructivist Theory, Gestalt Theory, and David
Ausubel’s Subsumption Theory
 Cooperative and Experiential Learning

III. Learning Content:

Jerome Bruner’s
Constructivist Theory Jerome Bruner

American psychologist and educator who

developed theories on perception, learning,
memory, and other aspects of cognition in
young children that had a strong influence on
the American educational system and helped
launch the field of cognitive psychology.

Constructivism
 is an epistemological belief about what "knowing" and how one "come to know."
 “Learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts
based upon their current/past knowledge.”
 - major theme in the theoretical framework of Bruner.
According to Bruner, the learning process includes:
 selection and transformation of information,
 decision-making,
 generating hypotheses,
 and making meaning from

Categorization
- involves perception, conceptualization, learning, decision- making, and making
inferences.
-“To perceive is to categorize, to conceptualize is to categorize, to learn is to form
categories, to make decisions is to categorize.”

Bruner (1966) emphasized four major aspects to be addressed during the teaching
and learning process. These aspects moderate the process of learning.
1. Predisposition toward learning
-“readiness to learn”
2. Structure of Learning
“Knowledge can be most readily grasped by the learner”
3. Effective Sequencing
“Learning through increasing difficulty”
4. Reinforcement
“Rewards and punishment in a proper way”

Bruner postulated three stages of intellectual development in his constructivist

theory.
1. Enactive (birth to age 1)
- A child learns about the world through actions on physical objects and the outcomes of
these actions.
2. Iconic ( 1-6 years old)
- Using models and pictures to obtain learning.
3. Symbolic (7 years and older)
- Developing the ability to think in abstract terms.

Instructional Scaffolding
Based on Vygotsky‘s ideas about the Zone of Proximal Development, Jerome Bruner
and other educational psychologists developed the important concept of instructional
scaffolding. This refers to the process through which able peers or adults offer supports for
learning.

Bruner’s Principles of Instruction

1. Readiness
- Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and contexts that make the student
willing and able to learn.
2. Spiral Organization
- Instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by the student.
3. Going beyond the information given
- Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and or fill the gaps.

Gestalt Theory

WHAT IS GESTALT THEORY?

 Gestalt is a decisive trend in psychology history.
 Also called “gestaltism” German term as pattern or configuration.
 It was born in Germany at the beginning of 20th century.
 A school ofthought that believes all objects and scenes can be observed in their
simplest form.
WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GESTALT?
 Its main predeessors of gestalt theory are philosophers.
 We must treat people as a whole.
 The complexity of the human mind cannot be reducerd.
 We are active in understanding reality.
 Mental representation do not correspond completely, we construct them ourselves.
 They opposed the predominant schools in their time.
 Gestalt theory's main study area is perception.
 Its main predeessors of gestalt theory are philosophers.
 We must treat people as a whole.
 The complexity of the human mind cannot be reducerd.
 We are active in understanding reality.
 Mental representation do not correspond completely, we construct them ourselves.
 They opposed the predominant schools in their time.
 Gestalt theory's main study area is perception.
 HOW ABOUT THE MAIN CONTRIBUTIONS?
 Gestalt Theory Laws
 Problem Solving
Max Wertheimer

 German Psychologits
 Believed that a whole is more than just the totality of its parts.
Wolfgang Kohler

 eminent psychologists and phenomenologist

 born on Estnia on 1887
Kurt Koffka
  born in Berlin on 1886
 had a great interest in laws as well as in interpretation and developmental
pyschology

GESTALT THEORY LAWS

1. Law of Proximity
 The elements closest to each other tend to form a group as if they were one set.
2. Law of Similarity
 Similar figures seem to have the same shape. Due to the fact that they same color,
shape or any other characteristics.

4. Law of Good Continuity

 We prefer to ignore the abrupt changes in an image we are seeing. Generally
speaking, we pay more attention to the characteristics of a stimulus that allow us to
perceive a smooth continuity.

5. Law of Closure
 Elements that seem to move together towards a certain orientation are perceived
as a whole.

6. Common Fate Law

 Elements that seem to move together towards a certain orientation are perceived
as a whole.

7. Law of Pragranz
 Perception tends to organize the elements in the simplest possible way. Our brain
prefers harmonious compositions. Mental processes are not infinite, we cannot
dictate time and resources to everything around us

8.Figure-Ground Law
 We have all seen the Rubin's glass at one time or another, it is best known example
of this phenomenon. we will have realized that it is imposibble to perceive the faces
and the cup at same time.

Gestalt help us in...

Problem Solving
 Gestalt psychologists believed that the circumstances are composed of several
components that interact with each other. If we want to solve a problem we have to
recognize its components to discover a new solution. This idea can be explorated
to all areas of our life.
 WHAT WO WE HAVE TO DO EVERY DAY TO SOLVE A PROBLEM?
 Wertheimer proposed the difference between productive thinking, which consists in
carrying out creative reorganizations of the elements of the problems in order to
solve them, and reproductive thinking, which is limited to applying the previous
knowledge in a mechanical way.
 This term refers to the eureka moment, which takes place when we suddenly
realize what the answers to our difficulties is.

Education
Students should be more than just data recorders and learn to look for ways to
solve their difficulties on their own. Practically all the contributions of the Gestalt can be
integrated into the field of education. From their insights into mental processes to their
ideas about therapy, they enable students to progress both academically and personally.

Communication
People linked to the world of communication and creativity, such as artists,
designers or publicists, must know Gestalt Theory very well in order to attract the attention
of their audience. Knowing how we interpret images is essential for them to be able to
create works that allow them to transmit messages and establish and effective dialogue
with their audience.

What can Gestalt theory give us?

 We can apply everything we have read in this article to our daily life. The great
advantages o Gestalt's Theory are its application to everyday fields and the
simplicity of its approaches.
 Your ideas help us to better understanding how we process and interpret reality.
For example, they explain some optical illusions or our behavior when we do down
the street and group the various elements together instead of paying attention to
each one.

In addition, Gestalt can help us in daily challenges as common as problem-solving ,

encouraging us to be more creative and organized. On the other hand, we can follow some of
the indications of Gestalt Therapy to promote our personal growth.
Major Principles:
 The learner should be encouraged to disc the underlying nature of a topic or a
problem.
 Gaps, ingconruities, disturbances are an essential stimulusfor learning.
 Instructions should be based upon the laws of organization: similarity, proximity,
continuity, and closure.
Subsumption Theory

Subsumption Theory
 Emphsizes how individuals learn large amounts of meaningful material from both
verbal and textual presentations in a school setting.
Advance Organizers
 enable the learner to see a general picture of the concept even before looking into
its details or parts.
Cognitive Structure
 It consists of all the person learning experiences that make up his knowledge of
facts, concepts, and other data.

The 4 Learning Processes of Subsumption Theory

 Derivative Subsumption
 A new concept learned is an example of a concept that you have already
learned before.
 Correlative Subsumption
 A new concept learned is an extension or modification of a previously
learned information.
 Superordinate Subsumption
 What was learned are specific examples of a new concept
 Combinatorial Subsumption
A new concept is combined with a prior known concept to enrich both concepts.
Cooperative and
Experiential Learning

´ Cooperative Learning, sometimes called small-group learning, is an instructional

strategy in which small groups of students work together on a common task.
´ Cooperative learning is an educational approach which aims to organize
classroom activities into academic and social learning experiences.
´ Cooperative learning changes students' and teachers' roles in classrooms.

Cooperative learning has the following features:

´ 1. Students are actively engaged, thus developing in each member
their cooperative spirit.
´ 2. Each member is challenge to give his or her best because it can
create a healthy and competitive spirit.
´ 3. It allows learners creativity innovation because they can interact with
people.
´ 4. It develops positivity like open-mindedness, humility and give and
take attitude as well as listening skills.
 ´ 5. It reduces pressure from work and creates a positive classroom
atmosphere.

Three stages in Cooperative learning

´ Teachers assign learners to groups
´ Tasking is a vital component of cooperative learning
´ The working time and task collaboration should be an active process.

What is Experiential Learning?

Experiential learning integrates cognitive and behavioral learning theories as an
applied approach to "learning by doing" that enables learners to gain experience in the
application of learning concepts.

´ Experiences that are direct and purposeful are still the learners’ best opportunity to
master s concept or a skill.
 Ideas
 Concepts
 Generalizations
´ Realities can be brought to the classroom through the planned activities of the
teacher.
´ What being learned is a part of their real-life situations.
´ Contrived experiences are substitutes for real things, objects or situation.
´ Substitutes such as these can also bring near-to-real experiences to the learners.
´ Experiential Learning can also take the form of dramatized experiences like
 Plays
 Pageants
 Tableau
 Pantomime
 Puppets
 Role-playing
Types of experiential learning
´ Field-based learning
is the oldest and most established form of experiential learning, having been
integrated into higher education in the 1930s. Field-based learning includes internships,
practicums, cooperative education, and service learning.
´ Classroom-based experiential learning
can take a multitude of forms, including role-playing, games, case studies,
simulations, presentations, and various types of group work.

IV. LEARNING TASKS:

Activity 1: On the space provided before each item, write “YES” if the statement is true
and “NO” if it is false.

1. Constructivism is one among the instructional deliveries of RA 10533. It means that

learners should be active in creating knowledge.
Answer:
2. According to Ausubel, before a new set of knowledge can be learned, a person’s
cognitive structure should be strengthened.
Answer:

3. Categorization involves perception, conceptualization, learning, decision-making, and

making inferences.
Answer:

4. One of the Gestalt’s law of grouping is similarity, which means that elements near to
each other are grouped together.
Answer:

5. Superordinate subsumption means that a new concept is combined with a prior known
concept to enrich both concepts.
Answer:

6. Ausebel : Subsumption :: Bruner : Gestalt

Answer:

7. An advance organizer is a tool used to introduce the lesson topic and illustrate the
relationship between what the students are about to learn and the information they
have already learned.
Answer:

8. Enactive stage of cognitive strategy is the representation of knowledge through visual

summarization of images.
Answer:

9. The symbolic stage refers to the development of the ability to think in abstract terms.
Answer:
10. Subsumption means to put or include something within something larger or more
comprehensive.
Answer:

Activity 2: Answer as best as you can. Fill in the columns with what is being asked for.

BRUNER’S CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY

The main emphasis of the In what actual classroom My reflection….
theory situation can this theory be
applied?

GESTALT THEORY

SUBSUMPTION THEORY
Activity 3

1. In classroom how does language play an important role to increase the ability to deal
with abstract concepts?
Answer:

2. How does constructivism become a learner-centered strategy in 21 st century

classroom?
Answer:

3. What is the essence of knowing and applying the tenets of constructivism in

implementing the K to 12 Curriculum?
Answer: