Draft educational and thoughtful responses to the posts below.

POST #1 (Amy):

Ackerman (2001) writes about key differences between constructionism, and constructivism. I looked up instructionism since it wasn't mentioned in the text. Each of these approaches/theories offers unique benefits depending on the learning environment. Instructionism aligns with direct teachingdelivering clear examples and structured lessonswhich I find is necessary when introducing new concepts to my 7th-grade students. It helps set a foundation and context for deeper understanding and exploration. Constructivism, on the other hand, emphasizes students building knowledge through experiences, which aligns well with the group work and discussions my students enjoy. They often thrive when they can actively engage with texts and share insights with peers.

Constructionism takes this even further, having students engage in hands-on creation as a form of learning. While I love incorporating projects, I've noticed that my students often need that initial direct instruction to feel confident before diving into creative tasks. Ackerman writes, "Dwelling in and stepping back are equally important in getting such a cognitive dance going," which resonates with my classroom approach. I aim to balance guiding students (stepping back) while giving them space to explore, create, and make mistakes (dwelling in), creating an environment where they feel empowered to keep trying even when things get challenging.

Bevan, Petrich, and Wilkinson (2014) expand on the ideas in the Ackerman article, describing tinkering as an iterative process of exploration that fosters deep engagement. They highlight Seymour Papert's (1993) argument that "the process of physically constructing an object is an effective way for students to both develop and demonstrate understanding." While traditional tinkering is challenging in Academic Literacy, elements of both constructivism and constructionism are embedded in your classroom.

My students construct knowledge through independent reading choices, project-based learning, and the structured trial and error of the end-of-year debate project. Additionally, I try to integrate STEM challenges whenever possible which supports constructionist principles. Recently, I introduced our text structure unit by having students used popsicle sticks, tape, and pipe cleaners to create the tallest tower possible. Each step in the process focused on a different text structure while utilizing physical objects and writing prompts as well. The tools the students have available daily are Chromebooks, Google Suite, Newsela, and Canva. In addition, I have other hands-on craft materials available to use when needed. Students know that they can ask for these if they want to try a different approach to a project. My curriculum does not always support traditional tinkering, but I try to give students opportunities to, experiment, and be creative. Much of the content they generate is subjective and they do have to come up with their answers by inferring and using the information available, and don't always get it right on the first try. By utilizing opportunities to explore within structured literacy activities, I try and foster an atmosphere of tinkering that helps students refine ideas and build understanding through active engagement.

POST #2 (Clayton):

Differences between constructionism, constructivism, and instructionism:

Starting with instructionism, it seems like this is the more traditional style of teaching where the teacher is at the head of the class giving a lecture to the students and the students are taking notes on what is being talked about. This style to me seems to being phased out of schools with schools wanting students to be active in their education researching and discovering on their own.

Moving to constructionism, this seems to be a subset of constructivism where students learn through building and creating. In this style students are creating physical projects that they can share and reflect upon. The student is actively creating their knowledge and the teacher is a guide providing the tools needed and help when needed.

Lastly constructivism, the learner is creating their knowledge. They are building their knowledge through experiences and reflecting on those experiences. The lessons are geared towards real world scenarios so the students can connect to where the information applies.

Looking at these three explanations I would say that I use a mix of all three in my classroom. I try to use very little of the instructionism. I prefer them getting the time to generate and discover on their own. With many of my lessons I start of in what I believe relates to the constructivism approach. I introduce the students to the new concept, but then I set them loose to discover and create with the tools and programs that are provide. When they come to a snag I guide them towards doing what it is they are trying to do in my media class. After they can an understand through the constructivism approach I switch to the constructionism approach where the students are creating projects utilizing the tools and programs they discovered with a guide as to what I am looking for. I try to keep the projects as open ended as possible because I want to see what the students can create on their own.

I believe that tinkering connects more to constructionism and constructivism. This is because when looking at Bevan's article I take away more the physical creation phase instead of the idea, brainstorming and initial discovery phase that I see in constructivism. To me the tools that are used in my class are not very complex. Running the camera's are the simple part. The complexity comes with properly setting up a green screen, gaining the confidence to be on camera or be recorded in a podcast as well as learning how to use the editing software and the stress when it doesn't always go as planned. Through it all I believe the students are better off after taking my class since they are gain skills that can be utilized in our new digital media rich age as well as confidence in themselves to try new thing and be in the spotlight if it is something that they are not used to.