This week we had an assignment very similar to the one we had last week except instead of looking at Behaviorism and Cognitivism we were looking at Constructivism and Social Constructivism. The two learning theories this week were a little harder to distinguish between because I felt that they had a lot in common. After reading all of the materials and having a discussion with my group I now know that they are very different from each other, but they also have several things in common.

Sadly to admit, I was well aware of Constructivism, but somewhat unfamiliar with Social Constructivism. However, once Vygotsky's name was mentioned in the readings it all came back to me. Reading the words "Zone of Proximal Development" I could picture diagrams I had taken as notes in undergrad classes on Vygotsky and his theory.

As far as Constructivism goes this was an area that I felt I knew a good bit about. After all, I have always considered myself a Constructivist teacher. However, after spending several years in a classroom and after my graduate coursework I have come to find that I am not a teacher that simply follows one specific learning theory. I have come to discover that I am quite an eclectic teacher that uses several different learning theories throughout her day in the classroom and I have come to the realization that I think that is okay.

I think Bianca did an excellent job of being our group leader this week. I think she did very well putting together all the information from each member of our group, organizing it into a format that was easy to follow, and making sure that she included some of each person's contributions. When reading over our rough draft I was very impressed. I suggested that for each item under the role of the computers that we should add specific examples. So I spent a considerable amount of time researching these examples. And although it did take up a lot of time and energy it was very interesting to get to view some of these sites. I was completely unaware of the large volume of virtual reality or simulation sites that there are on the Internet. VERY INTERESTING!!!

Again, just like all the other assignments I have enjoyed learning so much new information. I have also learned a lot of new ideas that I hope to use in my classroom.