Constructivim

• « Knowledge, no matter how it be

defined, is in the heads of persons,
and that the thinking subject has
no alternative but to construct
what he or she knows on the basis
of his or her own experience."
(vonGlasersfeld, 1995)
• "The central principles of this approach
are that learners can only make sense of
new situations in terms of their existing
understanding. Learning involves an
active process in which learners construct
meaning by linking new ideas with their
existing knowledge." (Naylor & Keogh,
1999, p.93)
• Evolving from the work of Piaget,
Vygotsky, and others,
constructivism reflects a paradigm
shift from a teacher-centered
pedagogy based on behaviorism to
a learner-centered educational
approach based on cognitive theory
.
• Constructivism nelieves that development of
understanding requires the learner actively
engage in meaning-making.
• "knowledge is not passively received but built
up by the cognizing subject" (Von Glasersfeld,
1995).
• knowledge “is a function of how the individual
creates meaning from his or her own
experiences” (Jonassen, 1991b: 10).
• Even though constructivism is considered
to be a branch of cognitivism (both
conceive of learning as a mental activity),
it distinguishes itself from traditional
cognitive theories in a number of ways.
• Constructivists believe that the mind filters
input from the world to produce its own
unique reality
• For them, learners build personal interpretations
of the world based on individual experiences
and interactions.
• Constructivism emphasizes the interaction
between the mind and the environment.
• Learning is something done by the learner,
not something that is imposed onthe learner.

.
In constructivism, the teacher’s role is
to engage learners in the discovery of
knowledge and provide them with
opportunities to reflect upon and test
theories through real-world
applications of knowledge.
• Both learner and
environmental factors are
critical to the constructivist, as
it is the specific interaction
between these two variables
that creates knowledge.
• The goal of instruction is not to ensure that
individuals know particular facts but rather that
they elaborate on and interpret information
• a concept will continue to evolve with each new
use as new situations, negotiations, and
activities until it is retained.
• “memory” is always under construction as a
cumulative history of interactions. The emphasis
is not on retrieving knowledge, but on providing
learners with the means to create new
situations
• The constructivist position assumes that
transfer can be facilitated by involvement in
authentic activities made in meaningful
contexts
• learning always takes place in a context and
that the context forms a link with the
knowledge to be acquired
• key constructivist principles for teachers:
1. Teaching involves activating relevant ideas
already available to learners to help
construct new knowledge;
2. Students often have their own ideas about a
topic that they have developed
spontaneously,or have acquired from other
sources (family, friends, media),