Constructivism Case Study Analysis

1. Two similarities the lessons had are: both of the lessons involved the students finding measurements and the students were excited about finding the measurements of the boat and the whale.
Two differences were that the traditional lesson did not teach the students about measurement and the difference between different types of measuring (for example, centimeter, inches, ounces etc...). The constructivism lesson made the students search for measurements using hands, height, feet and other types of measuring. The teacher followed up their experiments by teaching the students about measuring and different types of measuring. Introducing the metric system helps students understand how we measure a boat or a whale. Just showing them the size of a boat or whale won't really put their size or sizes of other things in perspective for them as well as helping them understand actual size.

2. Two benefits of the constructivisim they will understand measurments and they will be able to measure things using the metric system. Two drawbacks will be that the lesson will take much longer to understand and explain and students will have to think at a higher level of thinking so the teacher will have to guide more. I think that the benefits are definitely worth the costs. Students will actually be able to go on and measure things after this lesson and not just know how big a whale is.

3. The constructivist forces students to think at a higher level by making them use trial and error to find their answers. Making the students measure with their hands, feet and height helps them to understand why we have a set universal system for measuring things. Not everyone will have the same size of hands, feet or stature so there had to be a system created to measure. The students had to come up with this conclusion on their own. By not just telling the students they had to really think critically about the situation at hand and they got more out of the activity because of it.

4. Yes, this is an authentic activity because it relates to real life. Students will take this lesson and continue to measure things througout their life. Whether they are measuring a wood for a house frame, or milk for a cake, these students will use this lesson for the rest of their lives to measure things around them. This is definitely an authentic activity.