Educators guide

Ideally, this page serves as a guide for parents, teachers and other students who are interested in leading students with the XO as a constructivist learning tool.

Basics of constructivist learning theory

Rather than using teaching as a term because of the connotation of lecture-based or non-inquiry-based learning that can be associated with the term "teaching," a learning intervention can be used to described guiding a student to understanding.

Think of an intervention as a task where activities in context provide learners with an opportunity to discover and collaboratively construct meaning as the intervention unfolds.

With this mind shift, learners are each treated as unique individuals, and instructors act as facilitators rather than as teachers. Parents, siblings, classmates, other aged kids, any of these people can be facilitators.

Additional reading

• Template:Cite journal
• Bransford, J., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (expanded edition), Washington: National Academies Press.
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Dalgarno, B. (1996) Constructivist computer assisted learning: theory and technique, ASCILITE Conference, 2-4 December 1996, retrieved from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/adelaide96/papers/21.html
• DeVries et al. (2002) Developing constructivist early childhood curriculum: practical principles and activities. Teachers College Press: New York. ISBN 0-8077-4121-3, ISBN 0-8077-4120-5.
• Jeffery, G. (ed) (2005) The creative college: building a successful learning culture in the arts, Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books.
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Piaget, Jean. (1950). The Psychology of Intelligence. New York: Routledge.
• Jean Piaget (1967). Logique et Connaissance scientifique, Encyclopédie de la Pléiade.
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Scerri, E.R. (2003). Philosophical Confusion in Chemical Education, Journal of Chemical Education, 80, 468-474. (This article is a critique of the use of constructivism in chemical education.)
• Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
• Wood, D. (1998) How Children Think and Learn. 2nd edition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0-631-20007-X.
• Wertsch, J.V (1997) "Vygotsky and the formation of the mind" Cambridge.

Scenarios about extra practice on XO basics, based on age of child

(Look at LeapFrog's sample content)

Talking to other XO teachers

Classroom 2.0