A Reflection on Reading a Story and Constructivist Theory

Definitions

Constructivist Theory:   A theory which states that children construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.

Physical knowledge: Physical knowledge is discovered using one’s senses to explore objects and notice their qualities. It forms the basis of logical-mathematical knowledge.

Logical-Mathematical Knowledge:  Logical-Mathematical Knowledge is constructed by each individual, inside his or her own head. It cannot be taught.  It cannot be seen, heard, felt or told.

Social Knowledge:  Social Knowledge must be told or taught by others.

A second reflection on the construction of knowledge.

In an interaction with two children, age 3.5 year old, one male and one female,  the female grabbed a book off the shelf. She brought it to the chair I was sitting in, she thrust it into my lap and hoisted herself into my lap as well. She simply stated, “read this”.

Before I could read the book, she looked at, it opened it up and set it right side up (physical knowledge). She told me what the book was about by naming objects on the cover. I began to read the book. She interrupted with comments and an occasional question.

I continued to read the book adding a little commentary (social knowledge) to which she responded, “no, no not like that”.  (logical –mathematical knowledge)  I remembered to ask open ended questions and require her to find her own answers to which she did not respond.

I observed that the community culture of how to read a book must be an experience of turning pages then talking about the illustrations on the page and expecting certain answers. It seemed as though she had an expected answer for each page as she turned it. She answered her own questions and asked me for a confirmation from me and then she turned the page.

I occasionally added to her vocabulary (social knowledge). In actuality, she was reading the book, not I.     I pictured in my mind what “reading” meant to her at this age and what “reading” means to me. Again, I was reminded to accept the child’s discovery of a book on her own terms. She was constructing a knowledge of reading and I was constructing a new knowledge of “reading a book”.

Upon continued reflection I thought about how many times I stopped learning from happening. My past cultural expectation is that we sit quietly listening to a reader read a book.  My former community culture was to “sit quietly” which was a constraint of my mind only. The worry about interruption or “finishing the story” did not allow for authentic interactions and learning. The constraint of listening did not allow for the child’s meaningful, purposeful task.

The idea of not interrupting children’s learning is coming into the forefront of my observations of myself and other educator’s.

I am constructing new knowledge scaffolding on the old and accommodating a new idea into my practice. I accept the challenge of figuring out when to add social knowledge and when it is not necessary to interrupt what he child is constructing.

I recognize that this is an ongoing quandary since we are always imposing our own timeframe, observation, prejudice and bias to create our community culture. How do we know that the moment that we chose to speak or move is the precise moment that the child is on the edge of his/her own assimilation of knowledge. Are we scaffolding or interrupting? This is my current inquiry.