In the last few lessons, learning was explained from an individual perspective. You learned how individuals process information in their minds and how one can learn more complex processes like creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, and argumentation. In this lesson we will start looking at social and cultural factors that can influence learning. We will look at an emerging and interdisciplinary field that is called the learning sciences. One of the foundations of the learning sciences is constructivism which emphasizes these social and cultural factors involved in learning (Woolfolk, 2015). We will explore a number of teaching strategies that align with constructivism, such as inquiry learning, problem-based learning, service learning, and cooperative learning. Please read more about the learning sciences and constructivism by studying the readings of this lesson.
Constructivism is a theoretical perspective proposing that learners construct, rather than absorb knowledge from their experiences.
Please take the quiz below to assess your own learning and understanding of the main concepts and principles of the learning sciences and constructivism.
Click here if you can't see the quiz below
You have now learned and reviewed information related to Behaviorism and
Constructivism. You need to read the following passage and answer the questions at
the end of the passage.
Point: "[Constructivism] holds that learning is infinite and not subject to the sorts of analyses
favored by objectivists except in the most trivial cases [emphasis added]. Things can be known from
a variety of sign systems (verbal, mathematical, visual, musical, gestural, etc.), a variety of
metaphors ... , and with varying degrees of self awareness of the processes by means of which
constructions are made. The role of education in a constructivist view is to show students how to
construct knowledge, to promote collaboration with others to show the multiple perspectives that can
be brought to bear on a particular problem, and to arrive at self-chosen positions [emphasis added]
to which they can commit themselves, while realizing the basis of other views with which they may
disagree." (from D. J. Cunningham, Assessing constructions and constructing assessments, p. 36.
In Constructivism and the technology of instruction: A conversation (1992), Duffy, T. M. & Jonassen,
D. H., eds. Hilldale , NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates).
Counterpoint: "... [C]onstructivists argue that specific learning objectives are not possible--that
meaning is always constructed by, and unique to, the individual; that all understanding is negotiated.
In our opinion this is a very extreme position. Let me speak up for the vast amount of "trivial cases,"
those situations where shared meaning is not only possible but necessary. Do we want students to
have a "self-chosen position" with regard to the sound of letters in learning to read? Do we want
students to have a "self-chosen position" about the meaning of the integers. Will a machine allow us
to have a "self-chosen position" about how it works? ... Do we want students to have a "self-chosen
position" ... about how to solve a linear equation? Do we want drivers to have a "self-chosen
position" about the meaning of a red light? ... If I hire a surgeon to do heart surgery, PLEASE let me
have one who has learned the trivial case and knows that my heart looks like every other human
heart. Please don't let him negotiate new meanings and hook up my veins in some "self-chosen
position to which [she/he] can commit [herself/himself]." I want her/him committed to the standard
objective view. The trivial case is not so trivial. To dismiss so casually the objective case is perhaps
the greatest danger of radical constructivism." (From M. D. Merrill, Constructivism and instructional
design, pp. 107-108. (same publication as above)