Constructivism (philosophy of education)

Constructivism is a theory of knowledge (epistemology)[1] that argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from an interaction between their experiences and their ideas. During infancy, it was an interaction between human experiences and their reflexes or behavior-patterns. Jean Piaget called these systems of knowledge schemata. Constructivism is not a specific pedagogy, although it is often confused with constructionism, an educational theory developed by Seymour Papert, inspired by constructivist and experiential learning ideas of Piaget. Piaget's theory of constructivist learning has had wide ranging impact on learning theories and teaching methods in education and is an underlying theme of many education reform movements. Research support for constructivist teaching techniques has been mixed, with some research supporting these techniques and other research contradicting those results.

According to Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, the term constructionism is used in sociology and constructivism in psychology. The terms are tightly linked. According constructionism, the world around us is socially constructed rather than being objective. Constructivism is said to refer to our psychological (cognitive) processes and structures at individual level. In other words, how we perceive world as individuals.

Jean Piaget: founder of Constructivism