New pedagogies rooted in constructivism
Constructivist teaching and learning has many faces. At the core of all constructivist pedagogies is a recognition of the different backgrounds and interests of learners, and a wish to build on these differences through differentiated instruction so that learning becomes meaningful. According to Paniagua and Istance (2018) “hundreds of innovative pedagogies” have sprung from this starting point. They propose six clusters of new pedagogies to get a grip of the trends: embodied learning, experiential learning, computational thinking, blended learning, gamification, and multi-literacies and discussion. Their clusters reveal a vision on the creation of rich learning environments that are (1) experiential and meaningful (close to learners’ lives), (2) technology-based (fun and creative) and (3) rooted in dialogue (building networks and promoting critical participation). Also, Paniagua and Istance emphasise that for effective teaching, combinations of pedagogies from different clusters are needed. “School designs can benefit enormously from combining different approaches to meet educational goals, finding a balance between domains, skills and grades of integration of different innovations […] It argues for the need to not view these clusters as stand-alone approaches, since there are strong connections between them. Rather, the nature and the theories underlying these approaches cover common areas and show ways in which these can reinforce each other”(p. 80).
Inspired by the work of Paniagua and Istance, three clusters of new pedagogies are presented here in a way that explicitly makes sense in the context of VET. In VET, institutional and workplace learning are often combined, and curricula are co-created in regional networks. New pedagogies to activate learners should also take this context of VET into account. Based on this, the following three clusters of new pedagogies are proposed:
- (1) authentic / problem-based / experiential learning approaches, to acknowledge the work-based roots of VET;
- (2) network / collaborative / dialogic learning approaches, to acknowledge the social nature of combining work and learning environment;
- (3) computer-supported / ICT-based / digital / blended learning approaches, to acknowledge the need to bridge different work and learning environments in new ways that are flexible and effective.
Further reading:
Please log in or sign up to comment.