Constructivist Facilitation

"CHEEEEM MAN!!!"

I bet that's what you're thinking right now.

But no worries, the words may sound cheem, but the concepts are actually very simple.

Constructivist, or constructivism, comes from the word construct, which is just another way of saying build. They call it constructivism because education "experts" like to use big words to impress us.

In education, constructivism is the opposite to instructivism (yet another big word).

In instructivism, the teacher instructs or lectures or teaches the students, standing in front of the class going yak yak yak... The knowledge travels from the teacher to the student (ideally).

For constructivism, there's no teacher - there's only the facilitator (the final big word - I promise). The facilitator is just someone who helps the group to learn on their own. The role of the facilitator is to help and guide the learners build knowledge and concepts in their own minds. This is done through activities, asking questions and so on.

This is all talk, but tomorrow, you guys will experience and learn constructivist facilitation for yourself.

See you guys tomorrow, especially our Extreme Dominoes friends!

Further reading:
Wikipedia: Facilitator
Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning