CONSTRUCTIVIST LEARNING

CONSTRUCTIVIST LEARNING

Constructivism is a learning theory that has its foundation in philosophy and anthropology as well as psychology. The constructivist approach to education attempts to shift education from a teacher-dominated focus to a student-centered one. The role of the teacher focuses on assisting students in developing new insights. Students are taught to assimilate experience, knowledge and insights with what they already know and from this they need to construct new meanings.

Constructivist learning is based on students’ active participation in problem solving and critical thinking regarding a learning activity which they find relevant and engaging. They are “constructing” their own knowledge by testing ideas and approaches based on their prior knowledge and experience, applying these to new situations and integrating the new knowledge gained with pre-existing intellectual constructs.

In the constructivist theory the emphasis is placed on the learner or the student rather than the teacher of the instructor. It is the learner who interacts with objects and events and thereby gains an understanding of the features held by such objects or events. The learner constructs her own conceptualizations and solutions to problems. Learner autonomy and initiative is accepted and encouraged. Exploring or experiencing the physical surroundings, experiential education is a key method of constructivism. To the constructivists, the act of teaching is the process of helping learners creates knowledge. In constructivist thinking learning is also affected by the context, beliefs and attitude of the learner.

There are many different schools of thought within this theory, all of which fall within the same basic assumption about learning. The main two are: Cognitive constructivism and Social constructivism.

Cognitive constructivism

Cognitive constructivism is generally attributed to Jean Piaget, who articulated mechanisms by which knowledge is internalized by learners. The process of accumulating the knowledge are through accommodation and assimilation, individuals construct new knowledge from their experiences. When individuals assimilate, they incorporate the new experience into an already existing framework without changing that framework. This may occur when individuals' experiences are aligned with their internal representations of the world, but may also occur as a failure to change a faulty understanding. In contrast, when individual’s experiences contradict their internal representations, they may change their perceptions of the experiences to fit their internal representations. According to the theory, accommodation is the process of reframing one’s mental representation of the external world to fit new experiences. Accommodation can be understood as the mechanism by which failure leads to learning. It is important to note that constructivism is not a particular pedagogy. In fact, constructivism is a theory describing how learning happens, regardless of whether learners are using their experiences to understand a lecture or following the instructions for building a model airplane. In both cases, the theory of constructivism suggests that learners construct knowledge out of their experiences. However, constructivism is often associated with pedagogic approaches that promote active learning, or learning by doing. Today constructivist teaching is based on recent research about the human brain.

Social constructivism

Social constructivism maintains that human development is socially situated and knowledge is constructed through interaction with others. It is a sociological theory of knowledge that applies the general philosophical constructivism into the social. Assumptions of Social constructivism is based on specific assumptions about reality, knowledge and learning. To understand and apply models of instruction that are rooted in the perspectives of social constructivists, it is important to know the premises that underlie them. The most important assumptions of the theory of social constructivism is

(a) The assumption that human beings rationalize their experience by creating a model of the social world and the way that it functions.

(b) The belief in language as the most essential system through which humans construct reality. Cognitive growth occurs first on a social level, and then it can occur within the individual. To make sense of others and construct knowledge on such a social level allow learners to relate themselves to circumstances. It also states that the roots of individual ’s knowledge are found in their interactions with their surroundings and other people before their knowledge is internalized. Culture and context in understanding what occurs in society and knowledge construction based on this understanding are emphasized in social constructivism.

Reality: Social constructivists believe that reality is constructed through human activity. Members of a society together invent the properties of the world. For the social constructivist, reality cannot be discovered: it does not exist prior to its social invention. Knowledge: To social constructivists, knowledge is also a human product, and is socially and culturally constructed. Individuals create meaning through their interactions with each other and with the environment they live in.

Learning: Social constructivists view learning as a social process. It does not take place only within an individual, nor is it a passive development of behaviors that are shaped by external forces. Meaningful learning occurs when individuals are engaged in social activities.