Reflection 2

REFLECTION # 2
A REFLECTION PAPER ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BEHAVIORIST LESSON PLAN AND THE CONSTRUCTIVIST LESSON PLAN

Education is a process that goes on different ways of progress. When the lesson plans were implanted, it was received as an effective tool for the teachers. The Behaviorist and the Constructivist methods are different but both are important to guide the students in the educational process. The teacher is free to make his/her choice to use that one which is more suitable, depending on the topic or subject to teach.
The Behaviorist Lesson Plan provides to students information that must be memorized, understood and assimilate.
The process is passive, where the students get some knowledge from what they received without own experience. They just receive the information because it exists. It is kind of “follow me” method of teaching. Somebody else has the information, and it is transmitted from generations to generations. The approach is concerned with changes in behavior. Usually the activities are, reading, reviewing, analyzing what is provided, i.e. text, material, book etc. In the end a test is applied to demonstrate how much was assimilated. Bellow an example of a Behaviorist Lesson Plan format. It may vary from school to school, from teacher to teacher.
Purpose and Objective – What the students will be able to do, to learn from the material
Input – the vocabulary, the skills they need to know.
Guided practice – the teacher leads the students all the time. They can’t go out of that guide
Checking for Understanding – The teacher is always observing to see if they are following his/her steps
Review – check it out to fix the concepts on mind
Test – An evaluation is applied to test their knowledge.
The Constructivist Lesson Plan is more participative. The students can learn by their own experiences. The teacher creates situations where the students can use creativity to solve problems. The process is more active and more effective, for the students not only receive information, but also they can discuss the issue and they can make their own conclusion. The teacher formulate questions that lead the students for discussion and they are encouraged to build questions in order to develop their capacity of thinking. This method is very , very effective. Let’s see some points that are presented in this kind of lesson plan.
Situation – created by the teacher for the students to explain
Grouping – students and material
Bridge – it connects what they know to what they will discover
Questions – to guide them to discussion
Explanation – they have a chance to explain what they are learning
Reflection – what kind of lessons were learned during the discussion
As we saw in reflection #1, both methods have their value in the process of education, it depends on the type of subject that is being presented in class.