Constructionism advocates student-centered, discovery learning where students use what they already know to acquire more knowledge. We recognize that most students have their own prior knowledge that is likely different than their peers'. Although most students are programming beginners, they have different personal interests and future concentrations they wish to pursue, and they have other previously acquired skills. Therefore, we have chosen constructionism as the theoretical basis for our curriculum.
We hope to help students explore their own interests and learn new knowledge with their minds. This is why our curriculum involves working on a continuous project throughout the course, building knowledge and building the project as the workshops progress. Students will choose the topic they are interested in and that is helpful to their own situation so that we can assist them in knowing how to build their own learning system.
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Metacognition is an awareness of one's thought processes and understanding of the patterns behind them. It is the process of thinking about thinking. It can help people monitor their learning process and improve their overall abilities. It is an essential element of meaningful learning. Our curriculum includes multiple formal opportunities for self-reflection as part of formative assessments throughout the course, as well as more informal opportunities for reflection during each session.
There is also a concept called social metacognition, a combination of psychology and metacognition. Judging people with similar cognition, such as perception and emotional states, can also build up students' metacognitive skills and be helpful for teams or organizations and interpersonal relationships. This concept guided us in developing group reflection and peer feedback sections, enhancing the interaction between students and giving them a chance to help each other monitor their learning process.
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Project-based learning focuses on student-centered learning, which provides real-world practices in the learning process. It gives students a chance to transfer what they learned in the class to real-world cases, which is a crucial part of learning. PBL influences our entire curriculum: breaking down a big project into different small steps and guiding students step-by-step to eventually complete their projects independently and be proficient in applying what they have learned in class to the real world.
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Click the button above to find out more about the competencies established by CASEL.