Purandar

Let us  have a discussion on the Socio-Constructivism Model by Lev VYGOTSKY 

Guiding Principles of Social Constructivism

Social constructivism is based on several assumptions or guiding principles:

• Knowledge is constructed through human activity.
• Reality is created jointly by members of a society.
• Learning is an active and social process.
• Individuals create meaning through interactions with others and environments.
• Meaningful learning occurs when individuals engage in social activities.

An important concept used along with these guiding principles is the zone of proximal development. The zone of proximal development is the distance between an individual's independent problem-solving abilities and the problem-solving abilities the same individual can display with guidance from or collaboration with more knowledgeable peers or adults. 'Proximal' refers to skills and knowledge the learner is close to acquiring and needs assistance in acquiring.

Benefits of Social Constructivism

When implemented well, a social constructivist approach to teaching and learning can bring about several benefits:

• Learners are pushed to clarify and organize their ideas when they explain them to others.
• Learners gain exposure to different views when interacting with other learners.
• Through interactions with others, learners can identify errors and inconsistencies in their thinking.
• Learners are encouraged to ask questions, develop hypotheses, and draw inferences from information and experiences.
• Learners collaboratively reach conclusions or solutions through distributed cognition.
• Learners can develop deeper understanding.
• Learners can reach higher levels of creativity.
• Learners gain skills needed for independent problem solving in the future.
• Learners can improve their metacognitive skills.