The theoretical basis for the eMINTS Instructional Model is constructivism, a theory of learning that provides insight into how students learn and how educators facilitate that learning. In general, the theory holds that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experiences and by reflecting on those experiences.
In constructivist practice, students are not empty vessels ready to be filled with knowledge by the teacher. Students come to the classroom with a background of experiences and understandings. When the student encounters new information, the student learns by actively connecting new understanding to previous understanding. Once the connection is made mentally between previous understanding and new information, students must reconcile that new experience with what they already know. If the new understanding does not fit with their prior knowledge and experiences, then they must change their existing understanding or discard the new knowledge.
In a classroom based on constructivism, learners do not passively take in information. Instead, they develop knowledge by actively engaging in activities and experiences and through social interaction and collaboration, followed by reflection, as an essential part of learning. In this manner, learners actively create knowledge.
Design in the Classroom
Design-based processes such as Design Thinking and Engineering Design are making their way from industry into K-12 classrooms. Design-based problems can promote higher-level thinking and support content-area learning standards while fostering the innovation and creativity needed in our 21st century learners. To inspire innovation in the classroom, students need to engage in problem solving that requires them to use empathy, imagination, intuition, logic and reasoning to explore potential solutions to authentic problems.
Some administrators and teachers are engaging in design thinking to make innovative changes to schools. See the article, “Can Design Thinking Help Schools Find New Solutions to Old Problems?” This article discusses how design thinking was used to make school improvements and develop new programs at a Bronx middle school.