Constructivism as a Theory
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Constructivism as a Theory
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"The Constructivism is not a theory about teaching
it is a theory about knowledge and learning."
Many theories of learning have been proposed in the last century. Until recently, behavioral psychology has influenced education in the U.S to such a startling degree that it had a virtual stranglehold on how textbooks were defined and how teachers planned and implemented lessons. Today most statewide testing programs reflect this philosophy. The constructivist theory of learning has, again, come to the forefront. Constructivism isn't new; John Dewey advocated it at the turn of the century. Jean Piaget devolped the theory based on his view of psychological development of children, as did Jerome Bruner, and Vygotsky with the social constructivism.
Constructivism is child-centered; it proposes that learning environments should support multiple perspectives or interpretations of reality, knowledge construction, context-rich, experience-based activities. Constructivism focuses on knowledge construction, not knowledge reproduction. It is a belief that one constructs knowledge from one's experiences, mental structures, and beliefs that are used to interpret objects and events. The mind is instrumental and essential in interpreting events, objects, and perspectives on the base that is personal and individualistic. Our view of the external world differs from others because of our unique set of experiences.
"We don't describe the world we see;
we see the world we can describe."An important component of constructivist theory is to focus a child's education on authentic tasks. These are tasks which have real-world relevance and utility, that integrate those tasks across the curriculum, that provide appropriate levels of difficulty or involvement. It would be impossible for us all to become masters of all content areas, so instruction is anchored in some meaningful, real-world context .
According to constructivist theory, children learn whole to part, not incrementally. The ideas and interests of children drive the learning process. Teachers are flexible; sometimes they are the giver of knowledge, but often are the facilitator. Dwyer (1991) asserts that this approach is child centered rather than curriculum centered, while Bagley and Hunter (1992) state that learning becomes a dynamic process. Bagley and Hunter (1992) go on to say that active learning leads to greater retention and higher level thinking. And as knowledge continues to double every two years, and since it also has a shelf life, students must learn to access information; there is now far too much information to memorize.
Learning is internal process and influenced by the learner's personality, prior knowledge and learning goals. Constructivism describes a learner-centered environment where knowledge and the making of knowledge is interactive, inductive, and collaborative, where multiple perspectives are represented, and where questions are valued (Brooks & Brooks,1993). The importance of context related to knowledge and learning , and "authentic activity" are emphasized.