Social Constructivism: Collaborative Learning

* Content adapted from Maddux, C. D., Johnson, D. L., & Willis, J. W. (1997). Educational
computing: Learning with tomorrow's technologies. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

In a Vygotskian classroom (http://www.lincoln.ac.nz/educ/tip/51.htm), learning is promoted

through collaboration -- collaboration among students, and between students and teacher. From a
social constructionist perspective as students share background knowledge and participate in the
give and take of collaborative and cooperative activities they are actually negotiating meaning.
They are building knowledge, not as individuals, but as a group. People who surround the
individual student, and the culture within which that person lives, greatly affect the way he or she
makes sense of the world. In today's classroom, computer-based technology can provide many
tools that support sharing, negotiating, and constructing knowledge.

The two examples below are both Web sites that describe interesting collaborative learning
projects. You can read the brief explanation provided here or click on the links to go to the sites
for more detailed information.