Author: scottkenning

Constructivism – My Preferred Learning Style
After reflecting on my personal learning experiences and how I’ve navigated through my coursework at University, I believe that Constructivism best aligns with mow I approach learning and understanding new material. Constructivism emphasizes that learners construct their own understanding of the learning material through first hand interactions, using hands on experience and engaging with their environment. This theory closely aligns with how I choose to tackle learning, specifically for my math heavy courses in my engineering degree – look at the problems first, and learn the math as I solve them.

Throughout my studies, I tried several methods of learning, many of which align more closely with cognitivism. Specifically, a large number of my courses have a suggested structure of “Watch the lecture, then read the notes, then complete the assignment”. This would align closely with the cognitive approach, where the learner is first supposed to memorize the content of the course, and then understand how it works through mental processing. I have struggled with this however, as I found without the context of the assignments and how the knowledge is applied, understanding the core concepts at an in depth level is challenging. This is why I have chosen a different approach. When starting a new unit, the very first thing I do is start the assignment. I attempt the questions, and stop when I get to a point of not knowing how to proceed. When I reach this point, I search through the videos and notes to find how to solve my problem, and then use the notes as a guide to complete the question. In this way, I am learning the situated use of the concepts as I learn the concepts themselves: how to use them is an extension of how I understand them. This is an example of constructivist learning, which can be greatly oversimplified to “learning by doing”.

I do not believe that I am just a constructivist learner, and there are applications where the other learning styles might be more effective. If I were in a biology class, learning in a cognitivist style might be more appropriate to memorize the large number of definitions, and learning how to repair a car engine might be more effective with a behavioralist style, calling upon my knowledge of previous engine-repair related tasks I’ve completed. However, in the context of the specific concepts that I have been tasked with learning, I have found constructivist principles to be both the most effective and most efficient for my learning.

Hello! My name’s Scott Kenning, and I’m a fourth year software engineering student. I’m working towards being a full stack developer. When I’m not working or studying I also enjoy soccer and golf