Coming Out As A Constructionist

“In order to think about my learning style, I’ve really been thinking about when I’ve noticed ‘learning’ in action.” These were the first words I ever wrote for T550. Now that we’re in 12 weeks, I feel as if all I ever do is think about the way I learn. It’s not just T550, but all of my other classes are SO reflective. I’ve really had to come up with ways that I feel learning is beneficial to me. In understanding the way that works, I go back to the first ideas of constructionism that we learned in this class.

In my experience and whats worked for me, constructionism is learning by doing, which I always figured was the way that I learned. I recognize the pattern in the things that I can retain, versus the things that I would easily forget. The things I could retain were things that I had interacted with in some form. When we started talking about Piaget, I realized that if students were teachers, then I had something to learn about myself, and the ways in which I was working with younger people. The idea of learning by doing was confirmed for me; Brennan talked about how Piaget fathered a lot of the ideas around students as teachers. Dorothy Singer writes about Piaget, telling us how “he [Piaget] was not concerned with how much the child knows, but how he has come to learn it.” (Revenson and Singer, 1966, p. 3) I understand from this piece that the learning process is the learning. At the time, I didn’t realize how relevant he would be to not just this class, a design class, but my other work.

In H389B: Supporting Adolescents in Schools, Piaget was introduced to think about the ways in which adults/older people interact and work with young people. This begins from very young, of course, as adults come in contact with young people from birth. “For most parents, when a toddler knocks down a set of blocks, it means another mess to clean up; For Piaget, it was a valuable clue as to how the human mind reasons.” (Revenson and Singer, 1966, p. 6) In other words, the result is not the key to learning, but adults tend to be very result-based and can use their position of power to ensure the child is, as well. If a parent wants the mess cleared up, they begin to address the mess, instead of asking questions about the blocks, igniting more of the child’s learning. This power dynamic that exists between an adult and a child are not addressed in learning, which can also be a hindrance to a child’s learning experience. I believe that when adults and youth can begin to share respect for each other’s voices, learning is more effective. For example, when an adult can be transparent about their identity, their role in a young persons life (as perceived by all parties) and their own insecurities and questions about the world, they become vulnerable, a model young people are always looking for. “Learning—full engaged learning—requires vulnerability.” (Nakkula and Toshalis, 2015, pg. 133) This has been important to me because I find myself doing work around how to be a better advocate and older person in the life of a young person. The work I do with art, and specifically art that wants to center (trans) youth requires me to understand more intentionally how to have those interactions, conversations and create spaces where young people and adults can have space to work and learn together.