Should you construct a constructivist classroom?

            I really enjoyed learning the principles behind a constructivist classroom.  After reading the article, it just made so much sense to me.  Personally, I believe constructivist learning seems like it would be the optimal choice for an educator.  The way I understand constructivist learning is that a student is given the opportunity to work autonomously in the approaches they take to learning.  There are no restrictions, academically, set upon them.    

            The best way I can describe a constructivist classroom is a volume dial being turned all the way up.  In this metaphor, the volume dial is the student's tools they are using to learn and the level of volume is the learning process of any given subject.  I see the process of constructivism in the classroom as the learning process being amplified for a student.  I believe it is also important to note that in a constructivist classroom students are not only able to “spread their wings,” so-to-speak, while learning, but this type of classroom promotes a learning environment in which students are working on team-building skills and sharing their expressive sides with one another.  I feel this is something vital for a student to be able to manage successfully at a young age so they can be better equipped when they become adults. 

            In a constructivist classroom, the students have no choice but to explore at a much higher level than what they are usually accustomed to.  In researching, they become much better problem solvers.  I feel that constructivist learning has been utilized in classrooms at the school that I work at.  More specifically, with the student that I am assigned to.  For many of his lessons, he is asked to collaborate with his peers instead of working alone.

  He is often placed into small groups in which he must share his own personal feelings or ideas on that particular activity.  The difference between my student being exposed to this type of learning process as opposed to being given a worksheet and forced to sit by himself and problem solve on his own is pretty undeniable.  My student has a difficult enough time already trying to stay focused on one task.  In a constructivist classroom, the odds of him not only completing his assignment but also comprehending and retaining the information he is learning, are much higher.  These are also areas in which my student struggles in the classroom.