The Case For Constructivist Classrooms
by Jacqueline Grennon Brooks & Martin G. Brooks

Chapter 4 Posing Problems of Emerging Relevance to Students

Posing problems of emerging relevance is a guiding principle of constructivist pedagogy.  However, relevance does not have to be pre-existing for the student.

Time vs Coverage 
This refers to the allowing time for the learning to take place, ridding the class of the scope and sequence and rigid timelines given by curriculum.  

This also poses questions for me as I am concerned that we get lost in the question.   When I taught art, the pottery unit would go on forever.  I am a potter and love working with clay.  Students often love the plasticity of this medium as well.  We would get lost in clay forever and eventually have to put an abrupt halt to the unit.  I guess this is also what I need to do in my English class.  It is ok and even good to get lost in the medium (the question) and we will know when we need to pull ourselves away from the research and onto the next step of the process.

I am thinking inquiry education is a lot like teaching pottery – more about process than the project.  There is a project we are working towards.  None of the projects will look the same, but students will need to demonstrate the various techniques of working with the medium to show evidence of their learning.

“constructivist teachers seek to ask one big question, to give the students time to think about it.” (p. 39)  This is the area that is really posing the problem for me.  Where do I get this question from, especially in the English class.