Chapter 13: Constructivist Views of Learning

What is Constructivism?

Constructivism is the philosophical and scientific position that knowledge arises through a process of active construction ^[1].

Introduction

Constructivism is a foundational learning theory that emphasizes how students actively build understanding, rather than passively receive information. Influenced by theorists like Piaget, Vygotsky, Dewey, and Bruner, it views learning as a dynamic, student-centered process shaped by prior knowledge, social interaction, and meaningful experiences. In constructivist classrooms, students engage in inquiry, dialogue, and real-world problem-solving to construct their own knowledge. Contrary to common assumptions, constructivism is relevant at all levels of learning and remains a powerful guide for classroom practice. As Brooks (1999) noted, “Constructivism, the study of learning, is about how we all make sense of our world, and that really hasn’t changed.” This chapter will explore how constructivism—particularly cognitive and social constructivism—can help reframe how teachers understand and support student learning.

Cognitive & Social Constructivism

Cognitive Constructivism and Social Constructivism are two similar learning theories which share a large number of underlying assumptions:

Underlying Assumptions

Jonassen (1994) proposed that there are eight characteristics that underlie the constructivist learning environments and are applicable to both perspectives:

• Constructivist learning environments provide multiple representations of reality.
• Multiple representations avoid oversimplification and represent the complexity of the real world.
• Constructivist learning environments emphasize knowledge construction instead of knowledge reproduction.
• Constructivist learning environments emphasize authentic tasks in a meaningful context rather than abstract instruction out of context.
• Constructivist learning environments provide learning environments such as real- world settings or case-based learning instead of predetermined sequences of instruction.
• Constructivist learning environments encourage thoughtful reflection on experience.
• Constructivist learning environments “enable context- and content- dependent knowledge construction.”
• Constructivist learning environments support “collaborative construction of knowledge through social negotiation, not competition among learners for recognition.”

According to constructivist’s philosophy, there is no absolute knowledge, just our interpretation of it. The acquisition of knowledge therefore requires the individual to consider the information and – based on their past experiences, personal views, and cultural background – construct an interpretation of the information that is being presented to them.

Students ‘construct’ their own meaning by building on their previous knowledge and experience. New ideas and experiences are matched against existing knowledge, and the learner constructs new or adapted rules to make sense of the world. In such an environment the teacher cannot be in charge of the students’ learning, since everyone’s view of reality will be so different and students will come to learning already possessing their own constructs of the world.

Teaching styles based on this approach therefore mark a conscious effort to move from these ‘traditional, objectivist models didactic, memory-oriented transmission models’ (Cannella & Reiff, 1994) to a more student-centred approach.

Main Constructivist Theorists

John Dewey (1933/1998) is often cited as the philosophical founder of this approach. Bruner (1990) and Piaget (1972) are considered the chief theorists among the cognitive constructivists, while Vygotsky (1978) is the major theorist among the social constructivists.

Dewey

John Dewey rejected the notion that schools should focus on repetitive, rote memorization & proposed a method of “directed living” – students would engage in real-world, practical workshops in which they would demonstrate their knowledge through creativity and collaboration. Students should be provided with opportunities to think from themselves and articulate their thoughts.

Dewey called for education to be grounded in real experience. He wrote, “If you have doubts about how learning happens, engage in sustained inquiry: study, ponder, consider alternative possibilities and arrive at your belief grounded in evidence.”

Piaget

Piaget rejected the idea that learning was the passive assimilation of given knowledge. Instead, he proposed that learning is a dynamic process comprising successive stages of adaptation to reality during which learners actively construct knowledge by creating and testing their own theories of the world. Although less contemporary & influential, it has inspired several important educational principles such as:

• Discovery learning
• Sensitivity to children’s’ readiness
• Acceptance of individual differences
• Learners don’t have knowledge forced on them – they create it for themselves

Bruner

Influenced by Vygotsky, Bruner emphasizes the role of the teacher, language and instruction. He thought that different processes were used by learners in problem solving, that these vary from person to person and that social interaction lay at the root of good learning.

Bruner builds on the Socratic tradition of learning through dialogue, encouraging the learner to come to enlighten themselves through reflection. Careful curriculum design is essential so that one area builds upon the other. Learning must therefore be a process of discovery where learners build their own knowledge, with the active dialogue of teachers, building on their existing knowledge. Bruner initiated curriculum change based on the notion that learning is an active, social process in which students construct new ideas or concepts based on their current knowledge. He provides the following principles of constructivistic learning:

• Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and contexts that make the student willing and able to learn (readiness).
• Instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by the student (spiral organization).
• Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and or fill in the gaps (going beyond the information given).

Vygotsky

Social constructivism was developed by Vygotsky. He rejected the assumption made by Piaget that it was possible to separate learning from its social context.

According to Vygotsky:

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). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals. (p. 57)

Although Vygotsky died at the age of 38 in 1934, most of his publications did not appear in English until after 1960. There are, however, a growing number of applications of social constructivism in the area of educational technology.

By the 1980s the research of Dewey and Vygotsky had blended with Piaget’s work in developmental psychology into the broad approach of constructivism. The basic tenet of constructivism is that students learn by doing rather than observing. Students bring prior knowledge into a learning situation in which they must critique and re-evaluate their understanding of it.

Applying Constructivism Approaches in the Classroom

General Overview

In the constructivist classroom, the focus tends to shift from the teacher to the students. The classroom is no longer a place where the teacher (“expert”) pours knowledge into passive students, who wait like empty vessels to be filled. In the constructivist model, the students are urged to be actively involved in their own process of learning.

In the constructivist classroom, both teacher and students think of knowledge as a dynamic, ever-changing view of the world we live in and the ability to successfully stretch and explore that view – not as inert factoids to be memorized.

Key assumptions of this perspective include:

1. What the student currently believes, whether correct or incorrect, is important.
2. Despite having the same learning experience, each individual will base their learning on the understanding and meaning personal to them.
3. Understanding or constructing a meaning is an active and continuous process.
4. Learning may involve some conceptual changes.
5. When students construct a new meaning, they may not believe it but may give it provisional acceptance or even rejection.
6. Learning is an active, not a passive, process and depends on the students taking responsibility to learn.

The main activity in a constructivist classroom is solving problems. Students use inquiry methods to ask questions, investigate a topic, and use a variety of resources to find solutions and answers. As students explore the topic, they draw conclusions, and, as exploration continues, they revisit those conclusions. Exploration of questions leads to more questions

There is a great deal of overlap between a constructivist and social constructivist classroom, with the exception of the greater emphasis placed on learning through social interaction, and the value placed on cultural background. For Vygotsky, culture gives the child the cognitive tools needed for development. Adults in the learner’s environment are conduits for the tools of the culture, which include language, cultural history, social context, and more recently, electronic forms of information access.

In social constructivist classrooms collaborative learning is a process of peer interaction that is mediated and structured by the teacher. Discussion can be promoted by the presentation of specific concepts, problems or scenarios, and is guided by means of effectively directed questions, the introduction and clarification of concepts and information, and references to previously learned material.

Social Constructivism in the Classroom: Learning Strategies

There are many ways to implement learning strategies that are aligned with cognitive and social constructivism. Below is such a list of strategies.

Reciprocal Teaching

A teacher and 2 to 4 students form a collaborative group and take turns leading dialogues on a topic. Within the dialogues, group members apply four cognitive strategies:

1. Questioning
2. Summarizing
3. Clarifying
4. Predicting

This creates a ZPD in which students gradually assume more responsibility for the material, and through collaboration, forge group expectations for high-level thinking, and acquire skills vital for learning and success in everyday life.

Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is an instructional approach where students work together in small groups to achieve shared learning goals, with each member responsible not only for their own learning but also for helping others learn.

Key Features of Cooperative Learning

Situated Learning

In situated learning, the core idea is that Knowledge is not just something we acquire, but something we do in context (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Learning is most effective when it is situated” in authentic, meaningful activity rather than abstract, decontextualized instruction.

Some common examples of situated learning in educational contexts include teaching internships, classroom observations and theory-practice reflections, fieldtrips, role playing, project-based learning, etc.

Anchored Instruction

Anchored instruction presents learning within a rich meaningful problem or story (the “anchor”). It is designed to engage students in active, situated learning by anchoring new knowledge to realistic, complex contexts.

Key Features of Anchored Instruction

Alternative Assessments

Constructivists believe that assessment should be used as a tool to enhance both the student’s learning and the teacher’s understanding of student’s progress. It should not be used as an accountability tool that serves to stress or demoralise students. Types of assessments aligned to perspective include reflective journals/portfolios, case studies, group-based projects, presentations (verbal or poster), debates, role playing etc.

Within social constructivism, particularly, there is greater scope for involving students in the entire process:

• Criteria & expectations- Use rubrics; provide exemplars
• Variety of methods (student choice)
• Feedback- Emphasize growth over scores

Brooks and Brooks (1993) state that rather than saying “No” when a student does not give the exact answer being sought, the constructivist teacher attempts to understand the student’s current thinking about the topic. Through nonjudgmental questioning, the teacher leads the student to construct new understanding and acquire new skills.