Constructivism and Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction complement each other and encourage student-centered learning. The teacher’s role is one of facilitator and moves from the “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side”. Twenty-first century skills of critical thinking, collaboration, curiousity, communication and creativity are being developed in a classroom when teachers embrace Constructivism.
Are the activities in my classroom...
...student-centered?
...collaborative?
...scaffolded?
...oriented around completing tasks or solving problems?
...nurturing curiousity and creativity?
...assessed authentically with assessments integrated throughout?
...allowing time for reflection?
Here is a link to a great checklist to apply the Constructivist Theory to your classroom:
http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~emurphy/stemnet/cle4.html