1. Knowledge Construction
Chapter Seven
Educational Psychology: Developing Learners 6th edition
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod

2. Constructive Processes
Learning involves constructing one’s own knowledge from one’s experiences.
Our current knowledge influences what we learned, what we expect to learn, what we can store, and what we can retrieve.
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

3. Constructive Processes
Meaning of new knowledge is constructed with prior knowledge.
It can be an independent venture (individual constructivism) or a social process.
Different people can construct different meanings from the same stimuli or events.
Even our memory is constructive
Reconstructive error is an error in which a student constructs a logical but “incorrect” memory.
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

4. Social Constructivism
Socially constructed knowledge: knowledge jointly constructed by two or more people
Often leads to a better understanding of the subject matter
E.g., two students working together to better understand a homework assignment
May be constructed by an entire culture
Literature, music, fine arts
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

5. Social Constructivism
Learners engage in distributed cognition.
Students work together to share ideas and draw conclusions or develop solutions.
There are many positives associated with distributed cognition, including:
Greater understanding and increased use of elaboration
Exposure to others’ ideas and greater respect for diversity
Identification of flaws and inconsistencies in thinking
Higher-level thinking
More effective interpersonal skills
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

6. Organizing Knowledge
Knowledge organization occurs via concepts, schemas, scripts, and theories.
Concepts: mental grouping of similar events, objects, ideas, or people which consist of attributes or distinctive features
E.g., bird: feathers, beak, has a nest
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

7. Organizing Knowledge Concepts Concepts are interconnected.
Overgeneralization and undergeneralization are common occurrences.
Overgeneralization: Including objects or events that aren’t true members of the category
Undergeneralization: Too narrow a view about which objects or events the concept includes
Concepts are interconnected.
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

8. The Nature of Concepts
Concepts can be learned as a feature list, prototype, or set of examples.
Defining features: Characteristics that must be present in all positive instances of a concept
Prototypes: Mental representations of a “typical” positive instance
Exemplars: Specific examples that are part of a learner’s general knowledge and understanding of a concept
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

9. Teaching Concepts
Present examples and non-examples before discussing attributes and definitions
Show a wide variety of examples to avoid undergeneralization or overgeneralization
Have students use the concept
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

10. Teaching Concepts Identify concrete and observable characteristics
Show students how various concepts are related to one another
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

11. Schemas & Scripts Schema Script
Organized body of knowledge about a specific topic
E.g., what is typically true about an object?
Script
Schema that involves a predictable sequence of events related to a common activity
E.g., what happens when you go to the doctor?
Culturally influenced
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

12. Theories
Students already have beliefs about how the world operates before formal schooling begins.
Theory: Integrated set of concepts and principles developed to explain a particular phenomenon
Naïve theories: Early and often incorrect theory developed by a child, based on limited knowledge and understanding
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

13. Promoting Effective Knowledge Construction
Provide opportunities for experimentation
Present ideas of others and encourage discussion
Emphasize conceptual understanding, knowledge acquired in an integrated and meaningful fashion
Challenge naïve theories
Be organized
Relate new information to previously learned information
Show how isolated facts are part of greater whole
Encourage peer tutoring
Use authentic activities
Activities similar to ones that students are apt to encounter in the outside world
Create a learning community
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

14. What Is a Learning Community?
Teachers and students consistently work to help one another learn.
Students are active participants in classroom activities.
Discussion and collaboration are necessary parts in learning.
Diversity is respected.
Learning is emphasized more than grades.
Both students and teachers provide guidance and direction for classroom activities.
Everyone is a potential resource.
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

15. Conceptual Change
Teachers present new information expecting it to replace any erroneous beliefs.
Students will often hold on to misconceptions even when faced with contradictory information.
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

16. Promoting Conceptual Change
Teachers should:
Identify existing misconceptions before instruction begins
Convince students that their existing beliefs are inadequate
Motivate students to learn correct explanations
Preserve students’ self-esteem and not ridicule them for misunderstandings
Continue to monitor students for persistent misconceptions
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

17. Considering Diversity in Constructive Processes
Cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds impact knowledge base.
A community of learners values diversity and utilizes everyone’s individual backgrounds, cultural perspectives, and unique abilities to enhance the class.
Teachers can increase multicultural awareness by:
Promoting multiple constructions of the same situation
Being watchful of language usage
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved.
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition