Constructivism

Creating experiences that facilitate the construction of knowledge.

What is constructivism?
Constructivism is the theory that says learners construct knowledge rather than just passively take in
information. As people experience the world and reflect upon those experiences, they build their own
representations and incorporate new information into their pre-existing knowledge (schemas).

Related to this are the processes of assimilation and accommodation.

 Assimilation refers to the process of taking new information and fitting it into an existing schema.
 Accommodation refers to using newly acquired information to revise and redevelop an existing
schema.

For example, if I believe that friends are always nice, and meet a new person who is always nice to me I may
call this person a friend, assimilating them into my schema. Perhaps, however, I meet a different person who
sometimes pushes me to try harder and is not always nice. I may decide to change my schema to accommodate
this person by deciding a friend doesn’t always need to be nice if they have my best interests in mind. Further,
this may make me reconsider whether the first person still fits into my friend schema.

Consequences of constructivist theory are that:

 Students learn best when engaged in learning experiences rather passively receiving information.
 Learning is inherently a social process because it is embedded within a social context as students and
teachers work together to build knowledge.
 Because knowledge cannot be directly imparted to students, the goal of teaching is to provide
experiences that facilitate the construction of knowledge.  
This last point is worth repeating. A traditional approach to teaching focuses on delivering information to
students, yet constructivism argues that you cannot directly impart this information. Only an experience can
facilitate students to construct their own knowledge. Therefore, the goal of teaching is to design these
experiences.
Constructivism: The Long History from the Active Knower to the
Active Learner
As educators we are well aware of the many delays in bringing theory to practice.
Whether it is through delayed pedagogical recommendations in adjusting campus
learning spaces, conceptual challenges encountered in effectively leveraging
distance and remote learning opportunities, or in identifying creative ways of
providing students with the course experiences sufficient to actively construct and
 add meaning to their own learning, we are constantly dealing with the overarching
problem of delayed practical application of theory.

Consequences for the classroom

There are many consequences for teaching and the classroom if you adhere to constructivist principles. The
following chart from the Teaching and Learning Resources wiki compares traditional and constructivist
classrooms across several components
Traditional Classroom Constructivist Classroom

Curriculum begins with the parts of the Curriculum emphasizes big concepts, beginning with the
whole. Emphasizes basic skills. whole and expanding to include the parts.

Strict adherence to fixed curriculum is

Pursuit of student questions and interests is valued.
highly valued.

Materials are primarily textbooks and Materials include primary sources of material and manipulative
workbooks. materials.

Learning is based on repetition. Learning is interactive, building on what the student already
knows.

Teachers disseminate information to

Teachers have a dialogue with students, helping students
students. Students are recipients of
construct their own knowledge.
knowledge.

Teacher's role is directive, rooted in

Teacher's role is interactive, rooted in negotiation.
authority.

Assessment is through testing and correct Assessment includes student works, observations and points of
answers. view, as well as tests. Process is as important as product.

Knowledge is seen as dynamic, ever changing with our

Knowledge is seen as inert.
experiences.

Students work primarily alone. Students work primarily in groups.

Essential components to constructivist teaching

There are several main components to include if you plan on adhering to constructivist principles in your
classroom or when designing your lessons. The following are from Baviskar, Hartle & Whitney (2009):

 Elicit prior knowledge

New knowledge is created in relation to learner’s pre-existing knowledge. Lessons, therefore, require
eliciting relevant prior knowledge. Activities include: pre-tests, informal interviews and small group
warm-up activities that require recall of prior knowledge.
 Create cognitive dissonance
Assign problems and activities that will challenge students. Knowledge is built as learners encounter
novel problems and revise existing schemas as they work through the challenging problem.
 Apply knowledge with feedback
Encourage students to evaluate new information and modify existing knowledge. Activities should
allow for students to compare pre-existing schema to the novel situation. Activities might include
presentations, small group or class discussions, and quizzes.
 Reflect on learning
Provide students with an opportunity to show you (and themselves) what they have learned. Activities
might include: presentations, reflexive papers or creating a step-by-step tutorial for another student.
Examples of constructivist classroom activities
 Reciprocal teaching/learning
Allow pairs of students to teach each other.
 Inquiry-based learning (IBL)
Learners pose their own questions and seek answers to their questions via research and direct
observation. They present their supporting evidence to answer the questions. They draw connections
between their pre-existing knowledge and the knowledge they’ve acquired through the activity.
Finally, they draw conclusions, highlight remaining gaps in knowledge and develop plans for future
investigations.
 Problem-based learning (PBL)
The main idea of PBL is similar to IBL: learners acquire knowledge by devising a solution to a
problem. PBL differs from IBL in that PBL activities provide students with real-world problems that
require students to work together to devise a solution. As the group works through the challenging
real-world problem, learners acquire communication and collaboration skills in addition to knowledge.
 Cooperative learning
Students work together in small groups to maximize their own and each other's learning. Cooperative
learning differs from typical group work in that it requires interdependence among group members to
solve a problem or complete an assignment.

What is constructivism?
Constructivism is ‘an approach to learning that holds that people actively construct
or make their own knowledge and that reality is determined by the experiences of
the learner’ (Elliott et al., 2000, p. 256).
In elaborating constructivists’ ideas Arends (1998) states that constructivism
believes in personal construction of meaning by the learner through experience,
and that meaning is influenced by the interaction of prior knowledge and new
events.

What are the principles of

constructivism?
Knowledge is constructed, rather than innate, or passively
absorbed
Constructivism's central idea is that human learning is constructed, that learners
build new knowledge upon the foundation of previous learning.
This prior knowledge influences what new or modified knowledge an individual
will construct from new learning experiences (Phillips, 1995).

Learning is an active process

The second notion is that learning is an active rather than a passive process.
The passive view of teaching views the learner as ‘an empty vessel’ to be filled
with knowledge, whereas constructivism states that learners construct meaning
only through active engagement with the world (such as experiments or real-
world problem solving).
Information may be passively received, but understanding cannot be, for it must
come from making meaningful connections between prior knowledge, new
knowledge, and the processes involved in learning.

All knowledge is socially constructed

Learning is a social activity - it is something we do together, in interaction with
each other, rather than an abstract concept (Dewey, 1938).
For example, Vygotsky (1978), believed that community plays a central role in the
process of "making meaning." For Vygotsky, the environment in which children
grow up will influence how they think and what they think about.
Thus, all teaching and learning is a matter of sharing and negotiating socially
constituted knowledge.
For example, Vygotsky (1978) states cognitive development stems from social
interactions from guided learning within the zone of proximal development as
children and their partner's co-construct knowledge.

All knowledge is personal

Each individual learner has a distinctive point of view, based on existing
knowledge and values.
This means that same lesson, teaching or activity may result in different learning
by each pupil, as their subjective interpretations differ.
This principle appears to contradict the view the knowledge is socially
constructed.
Fox (2001, p. 30) argues (a) that although individuals have their own personal
history of learning, nevertheless they can share in common knowledge, and
(b) that although education is a social process, powerfully influenced by
cultural factors, nevertheless cultures are made up of sub- cultures, even to the
point of being composed of sub-cultures of one. Cultures and their knowledge-
base are constantly in a process of change and the knowledge stored by
individuals is not a rigid copy of some socially constructed template. In
learning a culture, each child changes that culture.

Learning exists in the mind

The constructivist theory posits that knowledge can only exist within the human
mind, and that it does not have to match any real world reality (Driscoll, 2000).
Learners will be constantly trying to develop their own individual mental model
of the real world from their perceptions of that world.
As they perceive each new experience, learners will continually update their own
mental models to reflect the new information, and will, therefore, construct their
own interpretation of reality.

What are the three main types of

constructivism?
Typically, this continuum is divided into three broad categories: Cognitive
constructivism based on the work of Jean Piaget, social constructivism based on
the work of Lev Vygotsky, and radical constructivism.
According to the GSI Teaching and Resource Center (2015, p.5):
Cognitive constructivism states knowledge is something that is actively constructed
by learners based on their existing cognitive structures. Therefore, learning is
relative to their stage of cognitive development.
Cognitivist teaching methods aim to assist students in assimilating new information
to existing knowledge, and enabling them to make the appropriate modifications to
their existing intellectual framework to accommodate that information.
According to social constructivism learning is a collaborative process, and
knowledge develops from individuals' interactions with their culture and society.
Social constructivism was developed by Lev Vygotsky (1978, p. 57) who suggested
that,
Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social
level and, later on, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological)
and then inside the child (intrapsychological).
The notion of radical constructivism was developed by Ernst von Glasersfeld
(1974) and states that all knowledge is constructed rather than perceived through
senses.
Learners construct new knowledge on the foundations of their existing
knowledge. However, radical constructivism states that the knowledge
individuals create tells us nothing about reality, and only helps us to function in
your environment. Thus, knowledge is invented not discovered.
The humanly constructed reality is all the time being modified and interacting to fit
ontological reality, although it can never give a ‘true picture’ of it. (Ernest, 1994, p. 8)

Constructivist approaches to teaching

Constructivist learning theory underpins a variety of student-centered teaching
methods and techniques which contrast with traditional education, whereby
knowledge is simply passively transmitted by teachers to students.

What is the role of the teacher in a constructivist classroom?

The primary responsibility of the teacher is to create a collaborative problem-
solving environment where students become active participants in their own
learning.
From this perspective, a teacher acts as a facilitator of learning rather than an
instructor.
The teacher makes sure he/she understands the students' preexisting
conceptions, and guides the activity to address them and then build on them
(Oliver, 2000).
Scaffolding is a key feature of effective teaching, where the adult continually
adjusts the level of his or her help in response to the learner's level of
performance.
In the classroom, scaffolding can include modeling a skill, providing hints or
cues, and adapting material or activity (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009).

What are the features of a constructivist classroom?

Tam (2000) lists the following four basic characteristics of constructivist learning
environments, which must be considered when implementing constructivist
teaching strategies:
1) Knowledge will be shared between teachers and students.
2) Teachers and students will share authority.
3) The teacher's role is one of a facilitator or guide.
4) Learning groups will consist of small numbers of heterogeneous students.

Traditional Classroom Constructivist Classroom

Strict adherence to a fixed Pursuit of student questions and

curriculum is highly valued. interests is valued.

Learning is based on repetition. Learning is interactive, building on

what the student already knows.

Teacher-centered. Student-centered.
 Traditional Classroom Constructivist Classroom

Teachers disseminate Teachers have a dialogue with

information to students; students, helping students
students are recipients of construct their own knowledge
knowledge (passive learning). (active learning).

Teacher's role is directive, Teacher's role is interactive, rooted

rooted in authority. in negotiation.

Students work primarily alone Students work primarily in groups

(competitive). (cooperative).

What are the pedagogical (i.e. teaching) goals of

constructivist classrooms?
Honebein (1996) summarizes the seven pedagogical goals of constructivist
learning environments:
1) To provide experience with the knowledge construction process (students
determine how they will learn).
2) To provide experience in and appreciation for multiple perspectives (evaluation of
alternative solutions).
3) To embed learning in realistic contexts (authentic tasks).
4) To encourage ownership and a voice in the learning process (student centered
learning).
5) To embed learning in social experience (collaboration).
6) To encourage the use of multiple modes of representation, (video, audio text, etc.)
7) To encourage awareness of the knowledge construction process (reflection,
metacognition).
What is the Difference Between Constructivism and
Cognitivism?
The key difference between constructivism and cognitivism is that constructivism
explains that learners use prior knowledge to understand new knowledge, while
cognitivism explains that learning takes place through the internal processing of
information. Moreover, although the learner is an active participant in the construction
of knowledge in both constructivism and cognitivism, the teacher or the instructor
plays different roles in these two learning theories. The instructor facilitates an active
learning environment with a constructive approach, whereas the instructor creates an
environment where thinking activities and processes take place in cognitivism.

Furthermore, strategies like interactive group activities are used in constructive theory,
while sorting activities and note-taking activities are more used in cognitivism. Also, in
constructive theory, learners use their previous knowledge to understand, whereas, in
cognitivism, the learner’s mind always tries to make connections with external factors
and internal knowledge. In addition, there are different principles in constructivism, but
there are no specific principles for cognitivism.

Below is a summary of the difference between constructivism and cognitivism in

tabular form for side by side comparison.

Summary – Constructivism vs Cognitivism

The key difference between constructivism and cognitivism is that constructivism refers
to how learners learn and explains that learners construct new knowledge based on
their prior knowledge in understanding, whereas cognitivism explains that learning
occurs through the internal processing of information.

What is Cognitivism?
Cognitivism is a theory that focuses on processes of the mind. According to cognitivist
theory, the way someone learns is determined by the way that person’s mind takes in
things. The basis of cognitivism is that when students are learning a new thing, the
prior knowledge always makes a connection with new knowledge.
The mind always tries to make a connection between external factors the internal
knowledge. There are cognitive learning strategies that are used by educators to
provide an effective learning environment for learners. Educators use different
strategies in the beginning, middle, and conclusion of a learning process. Thus, it helps
to make connections in the brains of the learners. One best example of cognitivism is
solving problems using prior knowledge. Beginning strategies include anticipation
guides, and middle strategies include concept maps, sorting activities, and note-taking,
whereas ending strategies include reflection questions and compare and contrast.