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Transforming Teaching-Learning in the Constructivist Paradigm for 21 st

Century Learning

Article · May 2019

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 Transforming Teaching-Learning in the Constructivist Paradigm for 21st Century
Learning

Bushra Sumaiya* & Aejaz Masih

Research Scholar* & Professor
Department of Educational Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India
* [Link]@[Link]

Abstract
In the present Indian education system, the stakeholders of education are putting rigorous efforts
to transform the pattern of teaching for the development of 21st century skills and competencies
in the students. However, in the face of learning, it is still expected from students to mug up pre-
organized pieces of knowledge and produce it in tests and exams in exact manner. Students‟
learning that does not fit into this mold of „learning‟ is not recognized as something learned;
rather it is more likely to be considered as a failure. „Learning‟ merely for the sake of obtaining
good scores and grades in the exams would not be sufficient to develop the necessary skills in
the students needed to deal with the challenging situations of real world outside the confines of
the formal learning settings of the school. In light of the aforementioned concerns, the present
paper argues that teachers need to adopt a constructivist view for transforming the mundane
teaching-learning process into a dynamic learning activity to inculcate the necessary 21st century
skills in the students. The present paper also suggests certain strategies that constructivist
teachers can adopt to inculcate the four core 21st century skills in the students i.e. creativity,
active and collaborative learning, problem solving, and critical thinking which will enable them
to become lifelong learners and efficient workforce of the future.
Key Words- Teaching-Learning, 21st Century Learning, Constructivist Paradigm of Learning

21st Century Learning

With changing educational needs and demands of the rapidly progressing society, the learning
scenario in the 21st century has transformed a lot from what it was in the past century. The 21st
century learning is concerned with inculcating the 21st century skills which are “a broad set of
knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits that are believed- by educators, school
reformers, college professors, employers and others- to be critically important to success in
today‟s world and applicable in all academic subject areas, and in all educational, career,
workplace, and civic settings throughout a student‟s life” (The Glossary of Education Reform).
Some distinct features of the 21st century learning which distinguish it from the past century
learning are-

 It focuses on skill development among students that would help them to work efficiently
in their future workplaces and deal with the challenges they face therein.
  It is more learner-centric than teacher-centric wherein the role of a teacher is to employ a
variety of pedagogical techniques to facilitate students‟ learning by creating engaging
learning experiences for the students that would lead to productive learning outcomes.
 It transforms the role of a learner from a „memorizer of facts‟ to a „constructor of
knowledge‟. The emphasis of 21st century learning is not on spoon feeding ready-made
information to students rather the emphasis is to bring out something new from them,
nurture and enhance their skills and abilities, guide them to construct new meanings and
knowledge from what they have learnt already, and encourage them to make efficient use
of the constructed knowledge in other fields to validate its applicability and demonstrate
mastery over the curricular-contents.
 It focuses more on implementing theory to practice. Application-based collaborative
learning through projects and activities is what 21st learning calls for.
 It is more interdisciplinary in nature and tries to connect knowledge of one subject with
that of the other. A lecture in a 21st century classroom incorporates the contents of more
than one subject so that students learn how to link and transfer knowledge from one
domain to the other.
 It considers Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as an essential but not
the only means of accessing knowledge. The 21st century learning is rapidly emerging as
ICT-based learning in which students are encouraged for a judicious use of technology to
get access to an ever-expansive body of knowledge.
 It does not use tests and exams as the sole means to determine students‟ academic
achievement rather performance-based assessments such as projects, assignments, group
activities, etc. are used to evaluate student learning.

Challenges for 21st Century Learning

The pressing demands of the dynamically advancing society for producing an efficient
manpower well-equipped with 21st century skills has placed a huge responsibility in the hands of
educational institutions especially the schools to transform today‟s learners into 21st century
workforce who are skilful, academically and technologically literate, and who are capable of
constructing new knowledge from what they learn in school and “become analyzers,
synthesizers, and appliers of that knowledge into real-world situations” (Sumaiya & Masih,
2018) to effectively cope with challenging circumstances and situations.

All this directly or indirectly draws the responsibility on the shoulders of teachers as they are the
ones who are most closely associated with students‟ learning, they are the ones whom the
students spend most time with for their studies, and they are the ones who are mostly held
accountable for students‟ good or poor achievement. Thus, it is a major responsibility of the
teachers to make classroom learning “more engaging, more problem-based and discovery-based,
more interdisciplinary, and more productive to develop skills, attributes, critical and reflective
mindset, and strong character and value system among students so that they achieve success in
every sphere of life and become life-long learners” (Sumaiya & Masih, 2018).

Transforming traditional teaching-learning into 21st century teaching-learning is easier said than
done. This transformation has not been as easy as moving a magic wand rather it is posing many
challenges for the teachers which they have to deal with on a daily basis in their classrooms.
Some of the challenges are stated below:

 Teachers have to teach in classes with students with diverse learning needs. Some
students may be efficient enough to do self-directed learning while some may require
additional help and assistance of teacher. In such situations, it becomes difficult for a
teacher to assess the level of learning of the class as a whole and faces challenges in
shaping the learning experiences for the students in terms of learning objectives, teaching
strategies and techniques, and learning outcomes.
 With rapid advancement in technology, access to information is just a click away.
Students have a variety of technological tools such as computers, laptops, mobile phones,
etc. which they use to access information on the internet. It has become easier for
students to skip a few classes and compensate the missed classes by searching on the
internet about the topics that were taught in class. This has made teachers to think deeply
about how to make their classroom teaching effective and engaging so that students enjoy
being in class rather than taking internet as a substitute for their teachers.
 Students these days have developed little tolerance for being in school as a place for
learning. The kind of „learning‟ that was expected from students in the traditional past
century teaching-learning scenario is not what students come to school for today. Now it
is not easy for teachers to make students sit at one place for five to six hours at a stretch
and stuff them with theoretical knowledge which they surely would forget by the time
they reach home. Students are now interested in „learning‟ which is more activity-based,
gives them opportunities to see things in real what they learn theoretically, and teaches
them ways in which they can implement what they learn in school in their day-to-day
lives. Thus, teachers face a lot of challenges to put theory to practice and make teaching-
learning a „hands-on with minds-on activity‟ for the students.

With such challenging teaching-learning situations and pressing demands for transforming the
traditional teaching-learning into 21st century teaching-learning, it becomes difficult for a teacher
to find a way out to overcome these challenges and to decide what paradigm of learning should
be followed to refashion the theory-based teaching-learning process into a dynamic learning
activity which could instill 21st century skills in the students. The present paper argues that
teachers need to adopt the constructivist paradigm of teaching-learning to bring transformations
in their pedagogical strategies and techniques and the ways they shape the learning experiences
for the students to make them capable self-learners of the present and effective workforce of the
future who are equipped with 21st century competencies and skills.

The Constructivist Paradigm of Teaching-Learning

Constructivism is a paradigm which advocates that learning is an active process of knowledge

construction. It assumes that learning is a formative process in which individuals actively
construct new meanings on the basis of their prior knowledge and experiences. These newly
constructed meanings are subjective in nature as they are mere mental representations of
objective reality as perceived by individuals.
Constructivism talks of transforming „learning‟ from a „teacher-guided process‟ to a „student-
controlled process‟. It advocates that students are the most significant components of their own
learning and hence, they should have complete control over it. To make „learning‟ a „student-
controlled process‟, the learning objectives must be framed in accordance with students‟ learning
needs; learning activities must be directly linked to their real-world situations; they must be
encouraged to work in collaboration with their peers to construct a common meaning out of
individualized meanings; and their progress must be evaluated based on the applicability of the
constructed meanings.
Constructivism has been categorized as cognitive constructivism and social constructivism which
are briefly described below-
Cognitive constructivism- Cognitive constructivism owes its emergence to the work of Piaget.
It emphasizes on learner‟s independent knowledge construction. It advocates that the learner
plays the primary role in the process of learning and she/he can actively construct knowledge
individually by making use of her/his own cognitive skills, thoughts, perceptions, and attitudes.
Cognitive constructivism posits that learners should be motivated to become active members of
their own learning by giving them adequate autonomy to learn on their own and facilitate the
development of self-regulatory skills in them. In this respect, the role of a teacher is to analyze
how the learners could be encouraged for autonomous learning, give a starting point to learners
to initiate their learning, understand how the learners learn when left to themselves, and integrate
various teaching-learning approaches to provide opportunities to learners for individual
construction of knowledge (Waring & Evans, 2015, pp. 36-46).
Social constructivism- Social constructivism is chiefly based on the work of Vygotsky. It views
knowledge construction as a collaborative process. It gives prime importance to social
interactions that take place between the learner and a „more knowledgeable other‟ (someone with
better understanding than the learner such as teachers, peers, parents, or a technological tool)
which aim at social construction of knowledge to facilitate the understanding of a concept,
solving a problem, or accomplishing a particular task. It posits that the learner is capable of
constructing knowledge independently as well as collaboratively with the guidance and help of
others. The interactions in the form of discussions and experiences between the child and other
children or adults pose a great influence on her/his learning by motivating her/him to go beyond
the confines of acquired knowledge to gain new knowledge. Such social interactions lead to
increment in the child‟s storage of knowledge. From this perspective, the role of a teacher is to
give due consideration to the child‟s present status of knowledge and encourage her/him to
construct new knowledge by means of appropriate questioning and dialogue (Waring & Evans,
2015, pp. 36-46).

The Need to Adopt the Constructivist Paradigm for 21st Century Learning
In today‟s scenario of education, in the face of learning, it is still expected from students to mug
up pre-organized pieces of knowledge and produce it in tests and exams in exact manner.
Students‟ learning that does not fit into this mold of „learning‟ is not recognized as something
learned; rather it is more likely to be considered as a failure. The stakeholders of education,
particularly teachers need to realize that learning has a far wider connotation; it is not a mere
process of rote memorization rather it is a lifelong process occurring over a wide variety of
educational contexts.
The constructivist paradigm opines that the process of learning must not be a „teacher controlled
process‟ which is compartmentalized within rigid regulations and autocratic structures rather it
should be a dynamic learning activity where both teachers and students act as co-learners who
facilitate each other‟s learning. It calls for giving up the traditional methods of imparting
knowledge and instructions to students and suggests that students should not be given
instructions at all; rather they should be encouraged to pave their own path to learning with
teachers to be present around them only to nurture their skills and abilities and guide them when
they need their support.
Hence, the present paper argues that there is a need to adopt a constructivist view for
transforming the teaching-learning process for 21st century learning and organize it in ways that
will give ample opportunities to the learners to construct knowledge individually as well as
collaboratively and implement that knowledge efficiently in various domains of their day-to-day
lives.
The objective of 21st century teaching-learning is to transform a student into a 21st century
learner who possesses the following characteristics-

Figure 1- Characteristics of a 21st Century Learner

(Taken from Tan (2016), Retreived from [Link]

In light of the above objective, the present paper suggests certain strategies (Table 1) that
constructivist teachers need to adopt to transform the mundane teaching-learning process into a
dynamic learning activity to inculcate the necessary 21st century skills in the students. The paper
talks about the four core 21st century skills i.e. creativity, active and collaborative learning,
problem solving, and critical thinking which essentially need to be instilled in the students to
enable them to become lifelong learners and efficient workforce of the future.
 Table 1- Strategies for Teachers to Inculcate 21st Century Skills in the Students

Skill to be What Teachers need to do? Expected Outcomes for Student Learning
Inculcated
1. Provide activities related to real-world situations of Students will learn to-
students to develop curiosity in them to learn more. Become curious to explore the world around them,
2. Deconstruct students’ previous knowledge by Keenly observe the events and phenomena
introducing new concepts and phenomena. occurring around them,
3. Reconstruct students’ new knowledge by encouraging Develop conceptual understanding,
Creativity them to create new meanings individually. Generate new ideas,
4. Give autonomy to students to construct new meanings, Refine individual ideas and integrate them with
share their thoughts and ideas with others, and validate each others’ ideas,
them by comparing them with others’ ideas and thoughts. Produce a highly creative and innovative thought,
5. Integrate each student’s ideas to create an entirely novel Become creators and innovators of new
idea. knowledge.
1. Provide meaningful activities to actively engage Students will learn to-
students in learning. Show interest and active engagement in
2. Create activities and projects that require collaborative meaningful learning activities,
effort from students. Work on projects and activities with each other as
Active and
3. Encourage students to work collaboratively as a team a team,
Collaborative with a positive team spirit. Get exposed to ideas and thoughts of students
Learning 4. Discourage competition among students at individual from diverse backgrounds,
level. Listen to and appreciate each other’s viewpoints
5. Appreciate every student’s efforts in a team and make and defend their own views with facts and reasons,
them feel valued. Become tolerant and efficient to work in diverse
social environments.
1. Use the curricular-contents as the base to develop Students will learn to-
critical thinking. Think deeply about the various aspects of a
2. Provide useable knowledge that can direct students’ situation or circumstance,
thinking at an instant. Raise questions about vital issues and problems,
3. Give learning situations that require deep thinking and Articulate their thoughts in clear and precise terms,
Critical
reflection over one’s own thoughts. Accumulate and evaluate appropriate thoughts to
Thinking 4. Ask students to analyze their thoughts through careful arrive at an inference,
testing and judgment before deducing an inference. Draw logical inferences and implications,
5. Ask students to give logical reasons and explanations Share their inferences with others,
for their conclusions and inferences. Defend their inferences with valid arguments and
explanations.
1. Ask students to explore the possible areas of problems, Students will learn to-
difficulties, or confusions. Explore the areas of the curriculum where they
2. Help students to articulate the identified problems in have problems and doubts,
clear and precise terms. State the problems in clear terms,
3. Give brainstorming sessions to enable students to think Solve the problems by independently exploring all
Problem
independently of as many solutions to their problems as the possible solutions,
Solving possible. Give them enough time to do this. Share ideas and possible solutions with peers and
4. Ask students to share their individual solutions to work with mutual understanding and co-operation
make them realize the diversity of thought. to find best possible solutions to the problems,
5. Help students to find out the best possible solutions for Work strategically in collaboration with peers
their problems through a strategic plan and systematic following sequential steps to find the most
approach. relevant solutions for the problems.
 Conclusion
In today‟s technological era where access to information is just a click away, the role of a teacher
becomes even more crucial for making students competent learners and inculcating 21st century
learning skills in them. Teachers need to put rigorous efforts to create conducive learning
environments and provide learning opportunities to students to transform them into creators of
useable knowledge; collaborators who would work harmoniously with each other in a team,
communicators who would not only engage in effective conversations and discussions but also
listen patiently to others‟ views and opinions and understand and respect diversity of thought;
and critical thinkers and problem solvers who would analyze a problem situation and critically
think for solutions through appropriate logics, reasons and arguments. Most importantly, teachers
must encourage students to take control of their own learning because the extent and quality of
student‟s learning solely depends upon how she/he makes use of the various learning resources
and facilities available to her/him. Only then will the students become 21st century learners who
are skilful and competent enough to fulfill the demands of the dynamically progressive society.

References

 Sumaiya, B. & Masih, A. (2018). Searching the Missing Link for Assuring the Quality of
Enacted School Curriculum. Journal of Indian Education, August 2018. Accepted
Manuscript.
 Tan, R. (2016). Facilitating 21st Century Learners. Retrieved from
[Link]
 The Glossary of Education Reform. Retrieved from [Link]
century-skills/.
 Waring, M. & Evans, C. (2015). Making sense of educational theory: A critical
introduction. In M. Waring & C. Evans (Eds.), Understanding Pedagogy…Developing a
critical approach to teaching and learning. Routledge. (pp. 36-46).

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