Generative Learning
An important requirement of constructivist learning environments is that teaming must be generative. Generative learning, learning in which student are asked to deliberately take action to create meaning from what they are studying (Wittrock, 1974, 1978). requires students to “engage in argumentation and reflection as they try to use and then refine their existing knowledge as they attempt to make sense of alternate points of view" (CTGV, 1993, p. 16). This requires a shift in the traditional roles of students and instructors. Students become investigators, seekers, and problem solvers. Teachers become facilitators and guides, rather than presenters of knowledge. For example, students in instructional technology teacher education ciass work with lesson plans and objectives and manipulate and change them to solve a new reaching problem rather than simply copying down information and memorizing it for an upcoming exam. They are. in essence. learning to apply these skills for the purpose oi creating lessons. In other words, students team how to use or apply the information in a variety of contexts; generative learning activities require students to take static information and generate fluid, flexible, usable knowledge.