Constructivism

Theoretical perspective proposing that learners construct (rather than absorb) a body of knowledge from their experiences. A growing movement in education that places primary importance on direct experience and students’ active construction of mental structures, and that de-emphasizes lecturing and “telling” as instruction.

"A theory of learning that describes the central role that learners' ever-transforming mental schemes play in their cognitive growth, constructivism powerfully informs educational practice. Education, however, has deep roots in other theories of learning. This history constrains our capacity to embrace the central role of the learner in his or her own education. We must rethink the very foundations of schooling if we are to base our practice on our understandings of learners' needs." - Martin G. Brooks and Jacqueline Grennon Brooks

"The constructivist approach is a learner-centered approach that emphasizes the importance of individuals actively constructing their knowledge and understanding with guidance from the teacher. In the constructivist view, teachers should not attempt to simply pour information into children's minds. Rather, children should be encouraged to explore their world, discover knowledge, reflect, and think critically with careful monitoring and meaningful guidance from the teacher (Eby, Herrell, & Jordan, 2006; Halpern, 2006; Kafai, 2006). Constructivists argue that for too long children have been required to sit still, be passive learners, and rotely memorize irrelevant as well as relevant information (Henson, 2004; Silberman, 2006).

"Today, constructivism may include an emphasis on collaboration- children working with each other in their efforts to know and understand (Bodrova & Leong, 2007; Hyson, Copple, & Jones, 2006). A teacher with a constructivist instructional philosophy would not have children memorize information rotely but would give them opportunities to meaningfully construct knowledge and understand the material while guiding their learning (Ornstein, Lasley, & Mindes, 2005)." - John Santrock, Educational Psychology 3rd Edition, 2008

Key Theorists: Piaget, Vygotsky, Dewey, Freire

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (or Cognitive Constructivist Theory):

Swiss biologist Jean Piaget, studying children in the1920s, developed a theory of Cognitive Development rooted in developmental psychology. His theory holds enormous influence on education and is based on several new (at the time) ideas and concepts:

1. Children are active and motivated learners
2. Children construct knowledge from their experiences. Knowledge is organized into schemes, or groups of similar actions or thoughts, on which new knowledge and experiences build.
3. Children learn through the two complementary processes of assimilation and accommodation.

1. Interaction with one’s physical and social environments is essential for cognitive development.
2. The process of equilibration promotes progression toward increasingly complex thought.
   • Equilibrium: State of being able to explain new events with existing schemes.
   • Disequilibrium: Inability to explain events with existing scheme, creating a sort of mental discomfort that leads to reexamination of current understandings.
   • Equilibration: Movement from equilibrium to disequilibrium and back to equilibrium, a process that promotes development of more complex thought and understanding.

Piaget proposed that as a result of both maturation and experience, children proceed through four stages of cognitive development:

1. Sensorimotor Stage (birth through approx 2 years): stage in which schemes are based on behaviors and perceptions.
2. Preoperational Stage (Approx. ages 2-6 years): stage of cognitive development in which children can think about objects beyond their immediate view but do not yet reason in logical, adultlike ways. Preoperational egocentrism is the inability of children in this stage to view situations from another’s perspective. During this stage children can start to understand the concept of conservation, or the realization that if nothing is added or taken away, the amount stays the same regardless of alterations in the shape or arrangement.
3. Concrete Operations Stage (Approx ages 7-11 years): stage in which adultlike logic appears but is limited to concrete reality. During this stage deductive reasoning begins, which allows children to draw a logical inference about something that must be true, given other information that has already been presented as true.
4. Formal Operations Stage (Approx ages 12 years-Adulthood): stage in which logical reasoning processes are applied to abstract ideas as well as concrete objects. Adolescents in this stage, however, still exhibit formal operational egocentrism, or the inability to separate their own abstract logic from the perspectives of others and from practical considerations.

Many of Piaget’s basic assumptions have been challenged. He probably underestimated the capabilities of children in the elementary graders; for instance, elementary school children sometimes exhibit abstract thinking. Furthermore, further research, especially research focused on children with disabilities that prevent them from readily interacting with the physical environment, has indicated the Piaget likely overestimated the importance of such interactions. Finally, Piaget’s stages of development have come to be considered a framework for thinking about cognition as a developmental process, and a guide to how children CAN think, as opposed to how they DO think.

Applying Piaget’s Theory:

Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development (or Social Constructivist Theory):

Lev Vygotsky was a contemporary of Piaget, but worked in isolation from Western psychologists and his work was only translated from Russian decades later. Nevertheless, Vygotsky’s theories are enormously influential on our views of child development, learning, and instructional practice.

Vygotsky believed that the adults in a society foster children’s cognitive development (in contrast to Piaget, whose theory indicates that children do most of the mental work themselves). Vygotsky emphasized the importance of society and culture for promoting cognitive growth and his theory is sometimes referred to as the sociocultural perspective.

Later theorist have, based on Vygotsky’s work, developed the theory of Social Constructivism, the theoretical perspective that focuses on people’s collective efforts to impose meaning on the world. This joint meaning making helps children to acquire more complex understandings of their physical, social, and academic worlds.

Vygotsky’s Basic Assumptions:

1. Though both informal conversations and formal schooling, adults convey to children the ways in which their culture interprets and responds to the world.

2. Thought and language become increasingly interdependent in the first few years of life. When thought and language first merge, children often talk to themselves, a phenomenon known as self-talk. Self-talk eventual evolves into inner speech in which children “talk” to themselves mentally.

3. Complex mental processes begin as social activities; as children develop, they gradually internalize processes they use in social contexts and begin to use them independently.

4. Children can perform more challenging tasks when assisted by more advanced and competent individuals. A child’s actual development level is the upper limit of tasks he or she can perform independently. A child’s level of potential development is the upper limit of tasks he or she can perform with assistance of a more competent individual.

5. Challenging tasks promote maximum cognitive growth. The range of tasks that a child cannot perform independently but can perform with assistance is known as the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). These tasks in the ZPD are those that the child is just beginning to learn, and their abilities are in “embryonic” form. Vygotsky believed that little could be learned from performing tasks that a child could already do independently.

6. Play allows children to stretch themselves cognitively.

Other Key Concepts based on Vygotsky’s theory:

• Cognitive Tools: Concept, symbol strategy, or other culture-based mechanism that helps people think and act more effectively.
• Mediated Learning Experience: Interaction in which an adult helps a child make sense of a phenomenon or event.
• Scaffolding: Support mechanism that helps a learner successfully perform a task within his or her ZPD. The scaffolding is removed once the student is able to perform the task independently.
• Guided Participation: A child’s performance, with guidance and support, of an activity in the adult world.
• Apprenticeship: Situation in which a learner works intensively with an expert to learn how to accomplish complex tasks.
• Cognitive Apprenticeship: Mentorship in which as teacher and a student work together on a challenging task and the teacher gives guidance about how to think about the task.

Criticism of Vygotsky: Critics have pointed out that Vygotsky’s descriptions of developmental processes were often imprecise.

Applying Vygotsky’s Theory in the Classroom:

Modern Constructivist Theory:

In their book “In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms” Jacqueline and Martin Brooks state that constructivist teachers do the following:

1. Encourage and accept student autonomy
2. Use raw data and primary sources, along with manipulatives, interactive, and physical materials.
3. Use cognitive terminology when framing a task, such as “classify,” “analyze,” “predict,” and “create.”
4. Allow student responses to drive lessons, shift instructional strategies, and alter content.
5. Inquire about students’ understandings of concepts before sharing their own understanding of those concepts.
6. Encourage students to engage in dialogue, both with the teacher and with one another.
7. Encourage student inquiry by asking thoughtful, open-ended questions and encouraging students to ask questions of each other.
8. Seek elaboration of students’ initial responses.
9. Constructivist teachers engage students in experiences that might engender contradictions to their initial hypotheses and then encourage discussion.
10. Allow wait time after posing questions.
11. Provide time for students to construct relationships and create metaphors.
12. Nurture students’ natural curiosity through frequent use of the learning cycle model.

Criticism of Constructivist Theory:

There are many critics of the constructivist/developmentalist approach to education. Theorists, such as E.D. Hirsch, Jr., suggest that constructivist and other progressive models, which he believes dominate the educational landscape, lack necessary rigor (1996). Hirsch contends that the research literature does not support progressivist methods and instead sights process-outcome research that, he suggests, demonstrate that progressive approaches are always the least effective approach.

Other Influences on Constructivist Theory:

John Dewey:

John Dewey was an educational theorist who critiqued the classical education model of his time, the late nineteenth century, characterizing it as boring. Dewey objected to the content and method of this classical education because it did not involve problem solving or reflective thinking. Instead, the focus was on the memorization and recitation of unrelated pieces of information. Thief led to students who were docile and passive. For Dewey, the central aim of education was intellectual integration. For projects to be of educational value they needed to fit the student’s interest involve the student actively, have intrinsic worth, present problems that would lead to new questions and inquiry, and involve a considerable time span.

Paulo Freire:

Paulo Freire’s educational philosophy is more frequently associated with the critical education paradigm (whose roots are in socio-political criticism, as opposed to educational psychology). Nevertheless, Freire contributed significantly the constructivist model of education. He also critiqued the vertical relationship in which teachers are on top and students are on the bottom with limited room for dialogue. Freire asserted that this educational model left no place for original thought and forced students to conform to the existing social system. He referred to this as the banking model of education in which teachers make deposits into the depositories, the learners. Instead, Freire argued that education should involve a critical dialogue and an active search for knowledge that leads to positive action in society. Students need to inquire, to create and re-create, and to participate actively in their own learning. When interacting with the environment, the students discover and mentally organizes knowledge.