Engagement Activity 5

After studying other learner's concept maps I have made changes to my own Concept Map.  I have adopted ideas from both Tracy's and Dominic's maps to improve upon my own. I found when creating the map it helped clarify understanding but also highlighted areas of weakness or gaps in understanding of the concepts. I personally had difficulty understanding the differences if there were any between cognitivism and cognitive constructivism and this meant going back to the lesson notes and viewing Dominic's concept map to improve my understanding. My understanding now is there are some similarities and some differences. Cognitivism is the link that leads away from behaviourist objectivist learning approaches towards constructivism. Similarities are that cognitivism and cognitive constructivism both rely on building new knowledge upon existing schemas. Differences appear to be that learning using the cognivitism approach teaching builds up step by step however with the constructivism approach students become more active constructors of knowledge with knowledge influenced by their own social experiences. Teachers also take a lesser role in the learning process becoming more facilitators of learning.