Constructivism

CONSTRUCTIVISM
John Jerome R. Tobias

MA Philosophy
 Epistemology – What is knowledge? How is knowledge acquired?

 It is a theory of learning, not a theory of teaching.
 As a classroom practice, it is a means to develop thinkers and problem solvers.
 Nearly all of the constructivist methods recommended for teaching and learning are found in
Dewey.
 It is a powerful method to help students make sense of the world by synthesizing new
experiences into their prior learning.
 It is a rejection of Plato’s view – as perfect forms or ideas are recollected.
 Learning is an active process.
 Dewey’s concept of reflective activity – new understandings occur because of the interaction of
the individual with the environment and the individual’s reflections on those interactions. As a
result, the individual is able to “construct” meaning.
 “We are nothing but what we make of ourselves.”
 Traditional methods – “banking concept” of education as stated by Paulo Freire. This is where
teachers impart information they believe to be important and the students ”bank” this
information in order to withdraw it from their memories and give it back on some formal
occasion, such as on tests and examinations.
 Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed – careful analysis of the teacher-student relationship at any
level – Narrating subject is the teacher and the patient listening objects are the students.
 Narration leads the student to memorize mechanically the narrated account. Education thus
becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the
depositor.
 In constructivism, the task of the teacher is to make connections between new learnings and
student’s prior knowledge.
 Two versions of constructivism: developmental (Jean Piaget) and sociocultural (Lev Vygotsky).
Jean Piaget
 The mind “learns” by integrating simpler concepts into progressively higher-level concepts at
each stage of development.
 The sequence of stages is also universal in the sense that it applies to all people and, although
the age at which a developmental stage occurs might vary, the sequence is fixed and no
developmental stages can be bypassed.
 Four Stages of Development: (1) sensorimotor stage – developing physical reflexes and using
them to explore the environment [first 2 years]; (2) preoperational stage – develops language
and learns to represent object by words [2-7]; (3) concrete operational stage – learns to classify
objects by their similarities and differences, and begins to fully grasp concepts such as time,
number, conversation, measurement, and the like [7-12]; (4) formal operations – logical thinking
and abstract thought [12 up].
 Learning occurs when information is connected with experience and prior knowledge.
 Mental schema – the mental models we use for organizing and classifying information. Prior
information is used to make logical connections with new information. Each time new
information is received it is added to mental schema. Schema – “personal networks for
organizing information” or mental “frames of expectancy”
 Assimilation – the process whereby an action is actively produced and comes to incorporate
new objects into itself, for example, thumb sucking as a case of sucking. – process of
incorporating a new object or event into an existing schema or mental framework.
 Accommodation – changing existing schema to handle new classes of objects or events –
sometimes new information is in conflict with prior understanding. The mind has to change
existing schema to fit the new information.
 Equilibrium exists when one’s existing ways of responding to things work out as expected.
Disequilibrium, on the other hand, refers to an imbalance between what is understood and
what is encountered. Individuals try to restore harmony by adapting or accommodating new
information until equilibrium is restored.
 Assimilation, accommodation, and equilibrium interact to form the foundation of intellectual
growth.
Lev Vygotsky
 The social context of the environment is of great importance in the learning process. Within the
environment mediation takes place.
 Mediation refers to the interaction with significant people, materials, tools, and symbols that
convert social interactions into psychological functions and future learning.
 Language is considered by Vygotsky to be one of the most important “tools” of learning. The
ability to communicate is what directs active learning. Unlike Piaget who focuses on language
stages being related to mental stages, Vygotsky emphasized on the role of language in learning.
 A child’s speech is as important as the role of action in attaining the goal. Children not only
speak about what they are doing; their speech and action are part of one and the same
psychological function, directed toward the solution of the problem at hand.
 Three Stages of Speech: (1)external speech –speech in the form of laughter, crying, shouting,
and so forth; (2)egocentric speech –bridges the gap between the first stage and the final stage
of adult speech and used by children to direct their own behaviour [3-7]; (3) inner speech – used
by adults to direct their thinking and behaviour or, in other words, to engage in higher mental
functions such as language communication, memorization, thinking, and abstraction.
 Language is the psychological tool that determines how a child will learn to think. Psychological
tools of learning may include anything from counting systems to works of art to significant
others in the environment. It is a part of the higher mental functions, which animals do not
have.
 Where and how a child is raised will contribute to how that child thinks.
 The mental functions of an individual, particularly higher mental functions, are shaped by
culture and other social factors.
 Zone of proximal development (ZPD) – key concept in discussing the child’s interaction in the
environment; thinking and problem solving fall into three possible categories: (1) first level – the
tasks that the child can complete independently without any need of assistance; (2) second level
– the child is not able to complete independently, but could complete if given assistance; (3)
third level – tasks that fall beyond the present cognitive abilities of the individual. The ZPD is the
second level.

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CONSTRUCTIVISM

John Jerome R. Tobias

 Epistemology – What is knowledge? How is knowledge acquired?

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