Is It Knowledge or Skill?

Learning a Skill or Acquiring Knowledge?

Skills are learned by practice and feedback
Knowledge needs to be connected to other knowledge

Skill	Knowledge
Drive a car	Describe how a spark plug works
Find books, articles, web information about the social impact of cars	Explain the social impact of cars

Instructivism and Constructivism

Instructivism

Objectives sequenced into learning hierarchies that exist apart from the learner.
Direct instruction addressing each of the objectives in sequence (can be face-to-face or through an interactive learning device).

Constructivism

Emphasizes learner’s intentions, experience, and cognitive strategies
Students build and share unique knowledge representations

Example: How to Evaluate Web Pages

Instructivism	Constructivism
Teacher gives criteria for good and bad pages.	Learners establish criteria for good and bad pages.
Teacher shows examples.	Learners find examples.
Homework: evaluate selected pages or find examples of selected criteria; graded by teacher.	Homework: select and evaluate pages; evaluated by peers.