Active Learning and Active-Learning-Based Teaching Model - Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An Activity-Based Approach - page 17

2.3 Why Active Learning Is Suitable for Implementation in the

MTCS Course?

In addition to the general argumentation about the suitability of the active-learning-
based teaching approach to the MTCS course, we suggest that active learning may
also promote the professional development and perception of the prospective com-
puter science teachers, as the following justifications propose.

• Constructivism : Constructivism is a cognitive theory that examines the nature of
learning processes. According to this approach, learners construct new knowl-
edge by rearranging and refining their existing knowledge (cf. Davis et al. 1990 ;
Smith et al. 1993 ; Ben Ari 2001 ). More specifically, the constructivism approach
suggests that new knowledge is constructed gradually, based on the learner's
existing mental structures and on the feedback that the learner receives from the
learning environments. In this process, mental structures are developed in steps,
each elaborating on the preceding ones, although there may, of course, also be re-
gressions and blind alleys. This process is closely related to the Piagetian mecha-
nisms of assimilation and accommodation (Piaget 1977 ). One way to support
such gradual mental constructions is by providing learners with a suitable learn-
ing environment in which they can be active . The working assumption is that the
feedback, provided by learning environment in which learners learn a complex
concept in an active way, may support mental constructions of the learned con-
cepts. In our case, in order to support the construction of the computer science
teachers' professional perception, the prospective teachers participating in the
MTCS course must have a learning environment that supports this complex men-
tal construction. It is suggested, therefore, that active learning is naturally suited
for use in such situations.
• Wearing different hats : In order to support the construction of the prospective
computer science teachers' professional perception in the MTCS course, it is im-
portant that during the course, the students experience wearing different hats (see
Fig. 2.1 ). At times, the prospective computer science teachers wear the hat of a
high school pupil and are asked to perform “pupil assignments”; at other times,
they wear the hat of the computer science (future) teacher; and yet at other times
they wear the student's or the researcher's hats. As it turns out, active learning
enables the switching between such situations in a very natural manner.
It is also important to mention that as future computer science teachers they
will have to wear different hats in their daily work (role-model, tutor, evaluator,
leader, counselor, and decision maker are just a few examples) and the experi-
ence they gain in the MTCS course could help them in performing these roles.
• Wearing the student hat : Since the computer science material itself is usually
still fresh in the student's mind, in addition to learning the content of the MTCS
course itself and the construction of the professional perception as computer sci-
ence teachers, the prospective computer science teachers continue, in parallel,
with their mental construction of the computer science body of knowledge. From