Research
Under Construction – Coming Soon!
2023 – Learning and Applying Constructivist Approaches to Elementary Classrooms.
Journal of Applied Learning in Higher Education
Project Construct is a learner-center constructivist framework that values positive teacher-student relationships, autonomy, and child-led experiences. Constructivists believe that learners actively construct their own knowledge rather than passively receive information. Prior research shows that constructivist approaches positively influence cognitive, behavioral, and academic outcomes (Lerkkanen et al., 2016). Despite the significance of constructivist approaches, education students tend to emphasize teacher-directed activities and behaviorist frameworks or approaches that shape behavior through external factors such as rewards.
The present pilot study investigated whether the opportunity to learn and apply constructivist teaching approaches in an elementary school setting would affect education student’s constructivist practices and beliefs.
Konishi, H. (2023). Learning and Applying Constructivist Approaches to Elementary Classrooms. Journal of Applied Learning in Higher Education, 9(2), 31-43. https://doi.org/10.57186/jalhe_2023_v9a2p31-43
2008 – The effectiveness of Project Construct curriculum on school achievement using the 2007-2008 School Entry Profile: Preschool Assessment Project Edition (SEP)
Another research study was conducted in 2008 to determine the impact of the Project Construct approach on student achievement. This study examined the effectiveness of Project Construct curriculum on school achievement using the 2007-2008 School Entry Profile: Preschool Assessment Project Edition (SEP).
The results of the (SEP) data analysis demonstrated that children taught with Project Construct curriculum left preschool with higher achievement compared with children taught with “other curricula.”
Researchers concluded that students in constructivist classrooms are much more educationally advantaged than their peers in traditional classrooms. These findings provide quantitative evidence of the effectiveness of Project Construct at the preschool and kindergarten level and offer potent support for constructivist education at all age/grade levels.
1997 – Evaluating the Effects of Pedagogy Informed by Constructivism: A Comparison of Student Achievement across Constructivist and Traditional Classrooms
To determine the impact of the Project Construct approach on student achievement, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) commissioned an independent research study by an outside evaluator, Research and Training Associates, Inc.
This study examined the effects of different teaching strategies on kindergarten students’ learning in all developmental domains. The results of this study, Evaluating the Effects of Pedagogy Informed by Constructivism: A Comparison of Student Achievement across Constructivist and Traditional Classrooms (Pfannenstiel and Schattgen, 1997), were presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in 1997.
The results showed that students whose teachers engaged in practices that are consistent with constructivism attained higher levels of achievement than students whose teachers employed strategies rooted in outdated beliefs about learning. Moreover, students in more traditional classrooms did not outperform students in constructivist classrooms on any measure.