VKP Glossary

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Constructivism

From: Peter C. Honebein (1996), "Seven Goals for the Design of Constructivist Learning Environments." In B. Wilson, Constructivist Learning Environments: Case Studies in Instructional Design.

The approach:

1. Provide experience with the knowledge construction process.
2. Provide experience in and appreciation for multiple perspectives.
3. Embed learning in realistic and relevant contexts.
4. Encourage ownership and voice in the learning process.
5. Embed learning in social experience.
6. Encourage the use of multiple modes of representation.
7. Encourage self-awareness of the knowledge construction process.

From: "The Practice Implications of Constructivism." SEDLetter, Vol. IX, Issue 3, August 1996. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory web site, http://www.sedl.org/pubs/sedletter/v09n03/practice.html.

Constructivism's central idea is that human learning is constructed, that learners build new knowledge upon the foundation of previous learning. This view of learning sharply contrasts with one in which learning is the passive transmission of information from one individual to another, a view in which reception, not construction, is key. Two important notions orbit around the simple idea of constructed knowledge. The first is that learners construct new understandings using what they already know. There is no tabula rasa on which new knowledge is etched. Rather, learners come to learning situations with knowledge gained from previous experience, and that prior knowledge influences what new or modified knowledge they will construct from new learning experiences.

From: "What is Constructivism?" From Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning. Concept to Classroom web site, http://www.wnet.org/wnetschool/concept2class/month2/index.html.

Constructivism is basically a theory -- based on observation and scientific study -- about how people learn. It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. When we encounter something new, we have to reconcile it with our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. In any case, we are active creators of our own knowledge. To do this, we must ask questions, explore, and assess what we know. In the classroom, the constructivist view of learning can point towards a number of different teaching practices. In the most general sense, it usually means encouraging students to use active techniques (experiments, real-world problem solving) to create more knowledge and then to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how their understanding is changing. The teacher makes sure she understands the students' preexisting conceptions, and guides the activity to address them and then build on them.

From: Jacqueline Grennon Brooks and Martin G. Brooks, In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms (revised edition). http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/books/brooks99toc.html.

12 principals essential to constructivist teaching:

1. Encouragement and acceptance of student autonomy and initiative.
2. Utilization of raw data and primary sources along with manipulative, interactive, and physical materials.
3. When planning, teachers use cognitive terminology such as 'classify,''analyze,' and 'create.'
4. Allowance of student responses to drive lessons, shift instructional strategies, and alter content.
5. Inquiry concerning students' understanding of concept before sharing their own understanding of those concepts.
6. Encouragement of students to engage in dialogue, both with the teacher and with one another.
7. Encouragement of student inquiry by asking thoughtful, open-ended questions and encouraging students to ask questions of each other.
8. Pursuit of elaboration of students' initial responses.
9. Engagement of students in experiences that might engender contradictions to their initial hypotheses and then encourage discussion.
10. Allowances for wait time after posing questions.
11. Providing time for students to construct relationships and create metaphors.
12. Nurturing students' natural curiosity through frequent use of the learning cycle model.

From: Katy Campbell, The Web: Design for Active Learning. http://www.atl.ualberta.ca/articles/idesign/activel.cfm

Jerome Bruner is largely credited with the emergence of constructivism, a theory of learning and instruction that encompasses cognitive learning theories.

Bruner postulates that learning is an active process, during which learners construct new ideas based on their current understanding and perspectives. They do this by selecting, then transforming information by organization, elaboration, scaffolding, and other cognitive strategies.

During this process, the instructor (who may be virtual) engages the student in a conversation to help him/her build upon existing knowledge structures.

Bruner recommends that curriculum be organized in a spiral so that this building process is facilitated and enhanced with each turn.

The main principles of constructivism, from a design point of view, are that:

1. Instruction should be concerned with the experiences, convictions, and constructs that learners already possess.
2. Instruction should be structured so that it can be easily understood and modified by the learner.
3. Instruction should be designed to facilitate exploration, extrapolation, and elaboration.

For more on Bruner, see the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory's "Classroom Compass: Constructing Knowledge in the Classroom" web site, http://www.educationau.edu.au/archives/cp/04c.htm.