Una’s Blog

In the article Sandcastles Go Digital, (2003), Harel emphasises the importance of “playing to learn and learning to play”. He draws the connection between playing and constructionist learning. As discussed in class today, constructionist learning is a sub-strand of constructivist learning, and a theory pioneered by Seymour Papert. Constructionist teaching highlights the importance of students constructing and not only being instructed (LAMS and webquests are examples of instructional use of technology). In terms of using technology this means that students are encourage and able to design, create, express, reflect, as well as publish, share, and celebrate their work. Some programs that we talked about that do this were Scratch, Comic Life, and Garageband.

In class we had a short time to discover and explore Scratch and Comic Life. They were internesting programs, and ones that I can see being effectively used in a primary classroom. It certainly fits in with the constructionist view of students creating and doing. Honestly, at first i found the program a little confusing, and I think the more time spent exploring and practicing on it, the better. Some of the published products on the Scratch website were quite impressive.

Image From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spacetrucker/94209642/sizes/s/