Learning is the process of acquiring new knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values. Intellectual processes are used to help individuals store and access information. Constructivism is a learning theory focusing on the way people create meaning through a series of individual constructs or experiences (von Glasersfeld, 2000). It places emphasis on providing a learning environment where students can explore, test, and acquire new knowledge on their own. Each person creates their own mental models to deal with new information and experiences.
Human intelligence is associated with mental capabilities including the ability to think abstractly, reason, plan, and comprehend complex ideas. Each individual differs in their ability to think and understand. Constructed meanings can be influenced by individuals’ different needs under different social backgrounds and cultural environments. Therefore, designing principles in teaching and learning will always need to be adapted to the particular individual social cognition based on the practice and internal motivation because social constructivism stresses the importance of the dynamic interaction between the learner, teacher, and the task. It also stresses collaboration among learners.
Bandura (1986) stated that motivation in a school context as a “dynamic phenomenon originating in the perceptions a student has of himself and of his environment. This phenomenon motivates him to choose an activity, to commit to it and to persevere in its accomplishment in order to reach a goal” (Viau, 1994). From this definition, we can design a model of motivational dynamic in which interact the academic context (teaching and learning activities), the student’s sources of motivation and the consequences of this motivation on the student’s learning. Figure 1 illustrates this model
Reference
von Glasersfeld, E. (2000). Radical constructivism and teaching.
Available at: http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/EvG/papers/244.2.pdf
Bandura, A. (1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action : A Social Cognitive Theory. Englewood Cliffs (N. J.) : Prentice-Hall.
Viau, R. (1994). La motivation en contexte scolaire. Ville Saint-Laurent : Éditions du Renouveau pédagogique.
Psychological study: Huiling Su & Jianing Chi 
Yes, because I think there’s a difference between people’s brains, and the picture above is typical. Constructivism emphasizes not only the re-integration of people themselves with knowledge and environment, but also the exchange of ideas between people. As far as I am concerned, I prefer collaborative and interactive learning, because the difficulties we encounter in solving things are often considered easy to be solved from the perspective of others, so this kind of communication and cooperation will promote our deeper understanding of things.
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Personal is very important. It’s good to find out what personal difference between students. I agree with you about the brain part. And I think the situation study you said can help students’ brain development. The brain may work harder if it finds itself in some real situation. So simulation can be a good way for students’ motivation! It also makes students interested in the class.
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