Constructionism is Seymour Papert's learning theory that learning is an active process of building knowledge based on personal experiences (Donaldson, 2014; Harel & Papert, 1991). In the classroom, the effectiveness of this paradigm is enhanced when educators develop activities where students engage in meaningful production (Donaldson, 2014). These findings offer educators opportunities to use Cross-Curriculum Priorities to develop issues that are meaningful for students that they use to work towards the skill and knowledge outcomes in the syllabus.
In constructionism, students work through personally meaningful problems to develop unique and task-appropriate solutions; a fundamental facet of creativity (Beghetto & Kaufman, 2013; Harel & Papert, 1991). The micro:bit is a programmable device by Microsoft that is compatible with various block and text-based coding technologies (Austin et al, 2020; Sentence et al., 2017). Thus, educators can adapt it to have students approach a wide range of tasks that draw upon both constructionism and Project Based Learning paradigms (Ball, 2016; Kokotsaki, 2016).
In a science and technology lesson, for example, students are placed into groups to design and produce a device using the micro:bit that measures the moisture level of soil and then distributes water accordingly. This task incorporates a secondary digital technology, Microsoft Blocks, which students use to program their micro:bit to perform a movement to release the water.
Educators can easily adapt the complexity of the task by adjusting the amount of guidance each group is given. For example, some groups may be shown a successful model and asked to replicate it, while others are given more liberties to develop a unique product. Students
are learning to code and about the needs of their environments through the lens of sustainability as a Cross-Curriculum Priority, meaning that alterations to the design task that meet the learning needs of each student does not interfere with skill and knowledge outcomes but rather promotes students’ capacity to access the syllabus. However, any form of coding can become confusing for young or novel students so guided workshopping on how to code the micro:bit would be essential for many students. Finally, the digital technologies used in this lesson are moderately accessible. If the school purchases a group of micro:bits for classes to hire when necessary, then this is financially feasible. Microsoft’s coding technology used in this example is a free online program, meaning that classrooms with tablets, laptops or computers offer access to that resource.
*Edited 5/04 for spelling error (application of peer feedback)
References
Austin, J., Baker, H., Ball, T., Devine, J., Finney, J., De Halleux, P., ... & Stockdale, G. (2020).
The BBC micro: bit: from the UK to the world. Communications of the ACM, 63(3), 62-69.
Ball, T., Protzenko, J., Bishop, J., Moskal, M., De Halleux, J., Braun, M., ... & Riley, C. (2016,
May). Microsoft touch develop and the bbc micro: bit. In Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Software Engineering Companion (pp. 637-640).
Beghetto, R. A., & Kaufman, J. C. (2013). Fundamentals of creativity. Educational leadership, 70(5), 10-15.
Donaldson, J. (2014). The Maker Movement and the rebirth of Constructionism. Hybrid
Pedagogy. Available at:https://hybridpedagogy.org/constructionism-reborn/
Harel, I. E., & Papert, S. E. (1991). Constructionism. Ablex Publishing.
Kokotsaki, D., Menzies, V., & Wiggins, A. (2016). Project-based learning: A review of the
literature. Improving schools, 19(3), 267-277.
Sentance, S., Waite, J., Hodges, S., MacLeod, E., & Yeomans, L. (2017, March). " Creating
Cool Stuff" Pupils' Experience of the BBC micro: bit. In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCSE technical symposium on computer science education (pp. 531-536).
Hi Mikayla,
Thank you for starting off your blog post with researched evidence explaining what constructionism is. This was really done well. You then clearly identified the microbit as your chosen piece of technology for this task. It would have been beneficial to also provide your readers with a comparison piece of technology for context. There were photos included for visual aid, and I assume these are photos you took, so give yourself some credit e.g. “CC by Mikayla Peisley”. Whilst you did talk about how this piece of technology can be adapted and manipulated in the classroom setting, you did not explicitly link it to a syllabus outcome code. This lessens the quality of the post because as a…
Hi Mikayla,
This was an awesome, outstanding and enjoyable blog to read.
I can tell you clearly put some thought and effort to research about constructionism in the context of the education which is fantastic. Also, you've done a great job in describing how using micro bit in classroom learning, fosters students creativity. It's great how you provided a way about how the device (micro bit) can be used in the classroom, I would recommend though relating that to the syllabus and a specific school stage.
Overall, well done !
Djoumana Aoun
Hi Mikayla!
Very well done on your blog post!
Your ability to outline key benefits and limitations for using Micro:bit in the classroom demonstrates your deep understanding of the technology, and the principles of constructionism in pedagogy.
I'm especially fond of your cross-curricula connections to sustainability in design which as you say necessitates creative thinking and exploring unique ideas.
Seeing a video of the micro:bit in use would've been great but I understand if you were limited by time or other factors to capture it thats okay, your major points were still demonstrated by your examples.
All in all, I deeply enjoyed your blog post!
Victor Sweeney 45964815
11/4/23
Wow, what an incredibly well-written and engaging post you've written! I can see you've really thought about how to implement a micro:bit into the classroom, and the activity you've discussed is really well thought out. I really like that you not only addressed the limitations of using a micro:bit in the classroom, but have also laid out some ways to adapt the lesson for wider success.
One thing to note, I believe you are talking about Papert's theory of constructionism, but you have written constructivism. Other than that minor point, you've kept an amazing blog! Great job!
05/04/2023
Great blog post Mikayla! You have developed a brilliant and engaging blog post surrounding the incorporation of micro:bit into a classroom. It shows that this blog is well-researched, which makes it very insightful for teachers and future educators. Your blog is well thought out and I especially like how you have detailed differentiation within the activity stated - nice touch! Furthermore, it would have been beneficial to outline the achievement outcomes for the science and technology lesson as it would further help teachers integrate this into their own lessons.
You have done a great job at integrating how this fosters creativity. Just be careful when highlighting specific theories. Piaget theory was on constructivism whilst constructionism was theorised by Papert. Otherwise,…