Constructivism theory
From The Learning Engineer's Knowledgebase
Constructivism theory is a learning theory that suggests that learning occurs when people use their prior knowledge and experiences to make sense of new situations, or that they construct new knowledge based on prior experience and new information.
Definition
At its base, constructivism states that learners do not just receive and process new information when they learn, but they must instead actively construct and re-construct their personal understandings as they learn new things. Thus, learners must reconcile new information with their prior knowledge and construct a new understanding to learn new skills and knowledge.
In short, the theory states that a person does not receive new information by simply receiving it through their senses or passively consuming media. Instead, the person must take a more active role to think about, organize, and use the new information in relation to their prior knowledge. Thus, people actively construct knowledge instead of passively receive knowledge.
Additional Information
Note: the family of theories around constructivism is vast and far greater than the scope of this article. This is provided as a basic primer to the field and the primary concepts that are used in education. It is far from comprehensive and it is recommended that you do deeper research if you are interested in this branch of psychology and educational theory.
Constructivism is perhaps the most common family of learning theories in use today. Many educational technologies and learning products are designed based on the principle from constructivism that states that learners must actively construct new knowledge within their mind by reconciling new information with prior knowledge and experiences.
In constructivism, an emphasis is placed on the learner - they are the active contributors to and constructors of their own knowledge. Activities are typically centered around the interests of students and real-world applications, such as through student-centered activity.
Principles of constructivism:
- Active learning is the emphasis. Activities of learning are active and learner-centered. Passive learning does not work, as the learner is not engaged in constructing their own new understandings and actively using both new information and prior experiences. Interactivity is a feature in constructivism as opposed to rote memorization and passive learning.
- Prior knowledge matters. Prior experience largely determines how a learner will interpret and understand new information that comes their way. A person will use their prior experiences and mental rules for thinking about and interpreting new information that they encounter.
- The focus is on the learner. The learner, as the active constructor of knowledge, should be the focus of activity. Student-centered approaches should be the focus, in contrast to teacher-centered or content-centered approaches. Constructivism suggests that people do not just input and process new information without a purpose and passive learning experiences are readily ignored as not useful or unrelated to their preexisting knowledge.
- Authentic learning is key. Learners perform new learning tasks every day in pursuit of living their lives. Using authentic learning activities is important to keep the content relevant and teach learners how to use skills in everyday life.
- Teachers are a guide. Instructors in a constructivist setting typically play the role of coaches and guides to support students' construction of knowledge. They typically prompt students to consider different perspectives and make connections between their prior experiences and new information. They encourage learners to stay engaged in the activity and provide support and scaffolds to students when they need help with continuing in activities.
- Knowledge constantly changes. Because it is being actively constructed, knowledge is constantly changing for learners. This is particularly true in social settings where learners interact with each other to develop shared understandings of concepts and how to do skills. Knowledge is thus dynamic and should be encouraged to be seen as a shifting, constantly changing thing based on different perspectives, new information, and prior experiences.
Tips and Tricks
- Because of its popularity, constructivism is a theory that is present in many educational designs that promote active learning and making use of students' prior knowledge and experience. However, many designs often revert back to simply memorizing facts and passively consuming media - in other words, passive learning. From a constructivist perspective, designers might take some time to consider the activities and how they might encourage active learning so that learners can take an active role in reconciling new information with their prior knowledge and experience.
- Additionally, designers should ask how social interactions can influence how learners see and interpret information from multiple perspectives and how they reflect on and refine their new experiences into new "constructions" for themselves.
- Constructivist theory has a very long history, is widely accepted, and much research has been done on it. This article only touches on a few of the highlights of what this theory suggests happens when someone learns and how it can be best used to design learning activities to promote learning objective achievement. If you are interested, you should pursue more information on constructivism to get ideas about how activities might be structured to maximize learning.
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