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Pedagogical Approach

Constructivism

Also Known As Constructivist Learning Theory
Learning Theory Paradigms
Interlocking Building Blocks

The pedagogical approach that asks learners to actively build their own understanding, often through class discussion and group work, linked to Piaget, Bruner and Vygotsky, and works well for extending thinking and developing independence.

Facts
Central Question
How does a learner actively build their own understanding from experience, rather than passively receive it? 1
Most Effective For
Problem-solving and critical-thinking tasks where learners connect new information to what they already know. 1
Constructivism
Filter Results4 entries
FAQs

Is constructivism's discovery-based approach actually better than direct instruction for students new to a topic?

Not according to a well-known challenge: Kirschner, Sweller and Clark argue that novice learners lack the prior knowledge to benefit from minimally guided discovery methods, and that cognitive-load research favours explicit, direct instruction with worked examples for this group.

Paul A. Kirschner, John Sweller and Richard E. Clark hold that minimally guided, discovery-style methods like constructivism's problem-solving emphasis are less effective for novice learners than explicit, direct instruction with worked examples. Their argument is that novices lack the prior knowledge to benefit from minimal guidance, and that cognitive load research favours explicit teaching for this group. The atlas records this as a live dissent on constructivism's own most-effective-for claim rather than settling the question either way: the debate over how much guidance a novice learner needs is unresolved in the research literature, not a matter this atlas takes a side on.
Connections

Associated With

Jack Mezirow, Thinkers
Source Neuroconstructivism (Wikipedia)

PBL is a constructivist, learner-centered method built around student-directed inquiry into an open-ended problem.

Source Wikipedia: Problem-based learning

Whole language, the side of the Reading Wars dispute opposite phonics, draws on constructivist approaches to knowledge, emphasizing student interpretation of texts over decoding instruction.

Source Wikipedia

Developed By

Lev Vygotsky, Thinkers
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica

Includes

Source Anchored Instruction (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: APOS Theory
Source Appropriation of knowledge (Wikipedia)
Source Asynchronous learning (Wikipedia)
Source Authentic learning (Wikipedia)
Source Cognitive acceleration (Wikipedia)
Source Cognitive Apprenticeship (Wikipedia)
Source Commognition (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Community of Practice
Source Constructionism (learning theory) (Wikipedia)
Source Constructive alignment (Wikipedia)
Source Constructivism in science education (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Constructivist teaching methods
Source Culminating project (Wikipedia)
Deanna Kuhn, Thinkers
Source Wikipedia: Deanna Kuhn
Source Dialogue education (Wikipedia)
Source The Marginalian
Source Distributed Cognition (Wikipedia)
Source Distributed Scaffolding (Wikipedia)
Source Dynamic assessment (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Educational theory of apprenticeship
Source Ernst von Glasersfeld (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Genetic Epistemology
Source Wikipedia
Source Instructional Theory (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: John B. Biggs
Source Knowledge building (Wikipedia)
Source Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development (Wikipedia)

Dewey's experiential account is a principal ancestor of constructivist practice, alongside his standing as progressive education's leading theorist.

Source Simply Psychology
Source Wikipedia: Legitimate Peripheral Participation
Lev Vygotsky, Thinkers
Source Phenomenon-based learning (Wikipedia)
Source POGIL (Wikipedia)
Source Private Speech (Wikipedia)
Source Quincy Method (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Radical Constructivism
Source Self-Authorship (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Situated Cognition
Source Wikipedia
Source Social Interactionist Theory (Wikipedia)
Source Social learning (social pedagogy) (Wikipedia)
Source Student-Centered Learning (Wikipedia)
Source Writing across the curriculum, Wikipedia

Vygotsky's sociocultural account is the founding line of social constructivism.

Source Simply Psychology

Open Questions

Source Structural Learning, Pedagogy Explained

Policies Informed

POGIL's own live entity-description: a structure grounded in constructivist theory in which the instructor's role is to facilitate rather than to lecture.

In the Other Atlases

Same As

Also in Psychology Atlas: the same subject.

Sources
1. Simply Psychology
Simply Psychology
  • Constructivism as a Theory for Teaching and Learning page
    Rather than passively receiving information, learners reflect on their experiences, create mental representations, and incorporate new knowledge into their schemas.
  • Constructivism as a Theory for Teaching and Learning page, applications
    education should focus on problem-solving and critical thinking, encouraging learners to connect new information with prior knowledge
  • Includes: Zone of Proximal Development, Zone of Proximal Development page, sociocultural framing
    Vygotsky emphasized that learning is a social process, where interaction and dialogue help students move from guided to independent mastery.
  • Includes: Learning by Doing, John Dewey on Education page, legacy
    His stress on active, experience-based learning anticipated the constructivist theories of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky.
  • Includes: Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development, Piaget's Theory and Stages page, constructivist framing
    Children actively build up their knowledge about the world. They are not passive creatures waiting for someone to fill their heads with knowledge.
View the Source
Structural Learning, Pedagogy Explained
Structural Learning
  • Pedagogy Explained, Five Pedagogical Approaches Explained, Constructivism
    asks learners to actively build their own understanding...through class discussion and group work
  • Open Questions: Does Direct Instruction or Discovery Learning Work Better for Novice Learners?, Pedagogy Explained, classroom guide, constructivism side of the debate
View the Source
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.Developed By: Lev VygotskyView the Source
Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Includes: Social Constructivism, Social constructivism, lead section
    Social constructivism is a sociological theory of knowledge.
  • Includes: Instructional Scaffolding, Instructional scaffolding article, constructivist framing
    Constructivists advocate that learning is better facilitated in a minimally guided environment where learners construct important information for themselves.
  • Associated With: Reading Wars, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_language, philosophy section
    constructivist approaches to knowledge creation, emphasizing students' interpretations of texts and free expression of ideas in writing (often through daily journal entries)
View the Source
The Marginalian
Includes: Discovery Learning, Jerome Bruner on the Act of Discovery essay, constructivist framing
Quote, Includes: Discovery Learning, Jerome Bruner on the Act of Discovery essay, constructivist framing
Emphasis on discovery in learning has precisely the effect on the learner of leading him to be a constructionist, to organize what he is encountering.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Problem-based learning
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Problem-Based LearningView the Source
Neuroconstructivism (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Neuroconstructivism, See also section
Quote, Associated With: Neuroconstructivism, See also section
Constructivism (psychological school)
View the Source
Anchored Instruction (Wikipedia)
Includes: Anchored Instruction, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Anchored Instruction, Lead paragraph
Anchored Instruction is a technology centered learning approach, which falls under the social constructionism paradigm.
View the Source
Dynamic assessment (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Dynamic Assessment, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Dynamic Assessment, Lead paragraph
Dynamic assessment is a product of the research conducted by developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky.
View the Source
Social Interactionist Theory (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Social Interactionist Theory, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Social Interactionist Theory, Lead paragraph
It is based largely on the socio-cultural theories of Soviet psychologist, Lev Vygotsky.
View the Source
Private Speech (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Private Speech, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Private Speech, Lead paragraph
Private speech was first studied by Lev Vygotsky and Jean Piaget.
View the Source
Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development, Lead paragraph
Lawrence Kohlberg's theory on the stages of moral development is an adaptation of a psychological theory originally conceived by the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget.
View the Source
Appropriation of knowledge (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Appropriation of Knowledge, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Appropriation of Knowledge, Lead paragraph
Appropriation of knowledge is the process of constructing knowledge from social and cultural sources, and integrating it into pre-existing schemas.
View the Source
Constructivism in science education (Wikipedia)
Includes: Constructivism in Science Education, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Constructivism in Science Education, Lead paragraph
Constructivism has been considered as a dominant paradigm, or research programme, in the field of science education since the 1980s.
View the Source
Wikipedia: John B. Biggs
Includes: John B. Biggs, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Quote, Includes: John B. Biggs, Lead paragraph, in-approach
John Burville Biggs (born 25 October 1934) is an Australian educational psychologist and novelist who developed the SOLO taxonomy for assessing the quality of learning outcomes, and the model of constructive alignment for designing teaching and assessment.
View the Source
Distributed Cognition (Wikipedia)
Includes: Distributed Cognition, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Quote, Includes: Distributed Cognition, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Hutchins argues that mental representations, which classical cognitive science held are within the individual brain, are actually distributed in sociocultural systems that constitute the tools to think and perceive the world.
View the Source
Commognition (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Commognition, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Quote, Includes: Commognition, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Commognition developed from Sfard's 1998 distinction between "acquisition" and "participation" metaphors for learning, an article that became one of the most cited in educational research.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Community of Practice
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Community of Practice, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Quote, Includes: Community of Practice, Lead paragraph, in-approach
A community of practice (CoP), also called a vertical community, is a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly".
View the Source
Wikipedia: Legitimate Peripheral Participation
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Quote, Includes: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) describes how newcomers become experienced members and eventually old timers of a community of practice or collaborative project.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Educational theory of apprenticeship
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Educational Theory of Apprenticeship, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Quote, Includes: Educational Theory of Apprenticeship, Lead paragraph, in-approach
The apprentice perspective is an educational theory of apprenticeship concerning the process of learning through active participation in the practices of the desired skills, such as during workplace training.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Situated Cognition
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Situated Cognition, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Quote, Includes: Situated Cognition, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Situated cognition is a theory that posits that knowing is inseparable from doing by arguing that all knowledge is situated in activity bound to social, cultural and physical contexts.
View the Source
Distributed Scaffolding (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Distributed Scaffolding, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Quote, Includes: Distributed Scaffolding, Lead paragraph, in-approach
With many students and multiple different levels of skill or Zones of Proximal Development, there is a need to create many support structures that can properly address each student's developmental level.
View the Source
Social learning (social pedagogy) (Wikipedia)
Includes: Social Learning (Social Pedagogy), Lead paragraph, in-approach
Quote, Includes: Social Learning (Social Pedagogy), Lead paragraph, in-approach
Social learning (social pedagogy) is learning that takes place at a wider scale than individual or group learning, up to a societal scale, through social interaction between peers.
View the Source
POGIL (Wikipedia)
Includes: POGIL, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Quote, Includes: POGIL, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) is an activity-based, group-learning instructional strategy.
View the Source
Quincy Method (Wikipedia)
Includes: Quincy Method, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Quote, Includes: Quincy Method, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Emphasis was instead placed on social skills and self-expression through cultural activities and physical training, as well as teacher-prepared materials, experience-based learning and children's own writing.
View the Source
Culminating project (Wikipedia)
Includes: Culminating Project, Lead paragraph, in-approach
Quote, Includes: Culminating Project, Lead paragraph, in-approach
A culminating project (also known as a senior project, grad project or exit project), is a project that challenges high school seniors to demonstrate their academic knowledge in an experiential way (in most cases).
View the Source
Ernst von Glasersfeld (Wikipedia)
Includes: Ernst von Glasersfeld, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Ernst von Glasersfeld, Lead section
Glasersfeld is known for the development of radical constructivism.
View the Source
Wikipedia: APOS Theory
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: APOS Theory, Lead section
Quote, Includes: APOS Theory, Lead section
APOS Theory takes a constructivist view towards mathematical learning.
View the Source
Cognitive acceleration (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Cognitive Acceleration, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Cognitive Acceleration, Lead section
The approach builds on work by Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky and takes a constructivist approach.
View the Source
Phenomenon-based learning (Wikipedia)
Includes: Phenomenon-based learning, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Phenomenon-based learning, Lead section
Phenomenon-based learning is a constructivist form of learning or pedagogy, where students study a topic or concept in a holistic approach instead of in a subject-based approach.
View the Source
Authentic learning (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Authentic Learning, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Authentic Learning, Lead section
Authentic learning, on the other hand, takes a constructivist approach, in which learning is an active process.
View the Source
Dialogue education (Wikipedia)
Includes: Dialogue Education, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Dialogue Education, Lead section
Dialogue Education is a form of Constructivism and can be a means for Transformative learning, (Vella, 2004).
View the Source
Wikipedia: Genetic Epistemology
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Genetic Epistemology, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Genetic Epistemology, Lead section
This theory opposes traditional epistemology and unites constructivism and structuralism.
View the Source
Constructionism (learning theory) (Wikipedia)
Includes: Constructionism (education), Lead section
Quote, Includes: Constructionism (education), Lead section
In this sense, constructionism is connected with experiential learning and builds on Jean Piaget's epistemological theory of constructivism.
View the Source
Student-Centered Learning (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Student-Centered Learning, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Student-Centered Learning, Lead section
Student-centred learning theory and practice are based on the constructivist learning theory that emphasises the learner's critical role in constructing meaning from new information and prior experience.
View the Source
Knowledge building (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Knowledge Building, Body
Quote, Includes: Knowledge Building, Body
Knowledge building can be considered as deep constructivism that involves making a collective inquiry into a specific topic, and coming to a deeper understanding through interactive questioning, dialogue, and continuing improvement of ideas.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Constructivist teaching methods
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Constructivist Teaching Methods, Lead
Quote, Includes: Constructivist Teaching Methods, Lead
Constructivist teaching is based on constructivism.
View the Source
Cognitive Apprenticeship (Wikipedia)
Includes: Cognitive Apprenticeship, Lead
Quote, Includes: Cognitive Apprenticeship, Lead
Constructivist approaches to human learning have led to the development of the theory of cognitive apprenticeship.
View the Source
Constructive alignment (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Constructive Alignment, Lead
Quote, Includes: Constructive Alignment, Lead
Constructive alignment was devised by Professor John B. Biggs, and represents a marriage between a constructivist understanding of the nature of learning, and an aligned design for outcomes-based teaching education.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Radical Constructivism
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Radical Constructivism, Lead
Quote, Includes: Radical Constructivism, Lead
Radical constructivism is an approach to epistemology that situates knowledge in terms of knowers' experience.
View the Source
Instructional Theory (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Instructional Theory, Body
Quote, Includes: Instructional Theory, Body
Originating in the United States in the late 1970s, instructional theory is influenced by three basic theories in educational thought: behaviorism, the theory that helps us understand how people conform to predetermined standards; cognitivism, the theory that learning occurs through mental associations; and constructivism, the theory explores the value of human activity as a critical function of gaining knowledge.
View the Source
Asynchronous learning (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Asynchronous Learning, Lead
Quote, Includes: Asynchronous Learning, Lead
In many instances, well-constructed asynchronous learning is based on constructivist theory, a student-centered approach that emphasizes the importance of peer-to-peer interactions.
View the Source
Writing across the curriculum, Wikipedia
Includes: Writing Across the Curriculum, Body
Quote, Includes: Writing Across the Curriculum, Body
Janet Emig's 1977 article "Writing as a Mode of Learning," grounded in constructivist theories of education, suggested that writing functioned as a unique and invaluable way for students to understand and integrate information.
View the Source
Self-Authorship (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Self-Authorship, Body
Quote, Includes: Self-Authorship, Body
The first assumption states people create knowledge by interpreting their personal experiences through what is known as constructivism.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Deanna Kuhn
Includes: Deanna Kuhn, intro of the article
Quote, Includes: Deanna Kuhn, intro of the article
Her research program has focused on the development of scientific reasoning skills, critical thinking, metacognition, informal reasoning, and constructivist teaching methods, such as problem-based learning and collaborative learning.
View the Source
Open Questions (1 open question)
Does Direct Instruction or Discovery Learning Work Better for Novice Learners?

Researchers disagree on how much guidance novice learners need. One line of research holds that minimally guided discovery approaches are less effective for novices than explicit teaching with worked examples, citing cognitive-load evidence; another finds well-designed guided inquiry can still be beneficial, arguing scaffolding quality and task design matter more than the direct-instruction-versus-discovery label itself.

What would resolve this Comparative studies that isolate the amount and quality of instructional scaffolding, rather than only labelling a method direct instruction or discovery learning, would show whether the disagreement is about guidance itself or about how well each approach is implemented.
Educational psychology and instructional designStructural Learning, Pedagogy Explained
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Most Effective For

Kirschner, Sweller and Clark hold that minimally guided, discovery-style methods like constructivism's problem-solving emphasis are less effective for novice learners than explicit, direct instruction with worked examples, arguing that novices lack the prior knowledge to benefit from minimal guidance and that cognitive load research favours explicit teaching for this group.

A dissenting reading, from Paul A. Kirschner, John Sweller and Richard E. ClarkStructural Learning, Pedagogy Explained, Structural Learning
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