Constructivism is an epistemology that explains how learning occurs as learners actively construct knowledge based on their experiences. There are three main perspectives on constructivism: exogenous focuses on accurately reconstructing external knowledge; endogenous emphasizes knowledge developing from previous structures rather than direct environmental interactions; dialectical views knowledge as emerging from interactions between people and their environments. Constructivist teaching involves structuring learning situations where students are actively involved through hands-on activities and social interactions to develop their own understandings.

1. Constructivism
Presented by Ernie Vela

2. What is Constructivism?
 Bredo 1997: thinking takes place in
situations and that cognitions are
largely constructed by individuals as a
function of their experiences in these
situations.
 Learning and development highlight
the contributions of individuals to what
is learned.

3. What is Constructivism?
 What do social constructivists say?
◦ They further emphasize the importance of
social interactions in acquisition of skills
and knowledge.

4. What is Constructivism?
 It is not a theory but rather an
epistemology, or philosophical
explanation about the nature of learning
(Hyslop-Margison & Strobel, 2008;
Simpson, 2002).
 Learners create their own learning.
 Constructivism makes general
predictions that can be tested.

5. What is Constructivism?
 Rather than viewing knowledge as a
truth, constructivists construe it as a
working hypothesis.
 A person’s constructions are true to
that person but not necessarily to
anyone else.

6. What is Constructivism?
 All knowledge, then, is subjective and
personal and a product of our
cognitions.
 Learning is situated in contexts.

7. Constructivism Assumptions
 It shares with social cognitive theory
the assumption that persons,
behaviors, and environments interact
in reciprocal fashion. (Bandura, 1986,
1997)
 A key assumption of constructivism is
that people are active learners and
develop knowledge for themselves
(Geary, 1995).

8. Constructivism Assumptions
 Its basic premise is that learners
construct understandings underlies
many learning principles.
 It underlies the emphasis on the
integrated curriculum in which
students study a topic from multiple
perspectives.

9. So how do you teach in a
constructivist setting?
 Teachers should not teach in the
traditional sense of delivering instruction
to a group of students.
 They should structure situations such
that learners become actively involved
with content through manipulation of
materials and social interaction.
 Activities include observing phenomena,
collecting data, generating and testing
hypothesis, and working collaboratively
with others.

10. Perspectives on
Constructivism
Perspective Premises
Exogenous The acquisition of knowledge
represents a reconstruction of the
external world. The world influences
beliefs through experiences, exposure
to models, and teaching. Knowledge is
accurate to the extent it reflects
external reality.
Endogenous Knowledge derives from previously
acquired knowledge and not directly
from environmental interactions.
Knowledge is not a mirror of the
external world; rather, it develops
through cognitive abstraction.
Dialectical Knowledge derives from interactions
between persons and their
environments. Constructions are not
invariably tied to the external world nor
wholly the workings of the mind.
Rather, knowledge reflects the
outcomes of mental contradictions that

11. Exogenous Constructivism
 Refers to the idea that the acquisition
of knowledge represents
reconstruction of structures that exist
in the external world.
 When is it useful?
◦ When we are interested in determining
how accurately learners perceive the
structure of knowledge within a domain.

12. Endogenous Constructivism
 Mental structures are created from earlier
structures, not directly from environmental
information.
 Knowledge develops through the cognitive
activity of abstraction and follows a
generally predictable sequence.
 When is it useful?
◦ It is relevant to explore how learners develop
from novices through greater levels of
competence.

13. Dialectical constructivism
 Knowledge derives form interactions
between persons and their
environments.
 When is it useful?
◦ It is should be implemented when designing
interventions to challenge children’s thinking
and for research aimed at exploring the
effectiveness of social influences such as
exposure to models and peer collaboration.

14. Situated Cognition
 A core premise of constructivism is
that cognitive processes (including
thinking and learning) are situated
(located) in physical and social
contexts.
 Situated Cognition involves relations
between a person and a situation;
cognitive processes do not reside
solely in one’s mind.

15. Situated Cognition
 Relevant to motivation.
◦ Depends on cognitive activity in
interaction with sociocultural and
instructional factors, which include
language and forms of assistance such as
scaffolding.
◦ Addresses the intuitive notion that many
processes interact to produce learning.

16. Situated Cognition
 Instructional Implication
◦ Teaching methods should reflect the
outcomes we desire in our learners.
 If we are trying to teach them inquiry skills, the
instruction must incorporate inquiry activities.
 The method and the content must be properly
situated.

17. Contributions and
Applications
 Rather recent
 Difficult to determine contributions
because it’s approach is not a unified
one that offers specific hypotheses to
be tested.
 Social cognitive theory emphasizes
the roles of expectations and goals;
these beliefs and cognitions do not
arise from nowhere but, rather are
constructed from learners.

18. Contributions and
Applications
 Drawbacks:
◦ Emphasis on relativism
◦ Nature may constrain our thinking more
than we wish to admit.
◦ May downplay the importance of human
cognitive structures.

19. Contributions and
Applications
 Important implication for instruction
and curriculum design:
◦ Involve students actively in their learning
and to provide experiences that challenge
their thinking and force them to rearrange
their beliefs.

20. Constructivism and Teaching
 Emphasis on integrated curricula and
having teachers use materials in such
a way that learners become actively
involved.

21. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive
Development
 Cognitive Development depends on four
factors:
◦ biological maturation
◦ experience with the physical environment
◦ Experience with the social environment
◦ Equilibration : refers to a biological drive to
produce an optimal state of equilibrium (or
adaptation) between cognitive structures and
the environment.

22. Equilibration
 It coordinates the actions of the other
three factors and makes internal
mental structures and external
environmental reality consistent with
each other.

23. Equilibration
 Assimilation
◦ Fitting external reality to the existing
cognitive structure.
 Accommodation
◦ Changing internal structures to provide
consistency with external reality.

24. Mechanisms of Learning
 Equilibration is an internal process.
◦ Cognitive development can occur only
when disequilibrium or cognitive conflict
exists.
◦ Piaget felt that development would
proceed naturally through regular
interactions with the physical and social
environments.

25. Mechanisms of Learning
 Learning will be optimal when
cognitive conflict is small and
especially when children are in
transition between stages.
 Information must be partially
understood (assimilated) before it can
promote structural change
(accommodation).

26. Implication of Piaget’s theory for
education
 Understand cognitive development
 Keep students active
 Create incongruity
 Provide social interaction

27. Piaget’s Theory
 It is constructivist because it assumes
that children impose their concepts on
the world to make sense of it
(Byrnes,1996).

28. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural
Theory
 More emphasis on the social
environment as a facilitator of
development and learning.

29. Vygotsky
 Humans have the capacity to alter the
environment for their own purposes.
 His theory stresses the interaction of
(social), cultural-historical, and
individual factors as the key to human
development.

30. Key points in Vygotsky’s
Theory
 Social interactions are critical; knowledge is
coconstructed between two or more people.
 Self-regulation is developed through
internalization of actions and mental
operations that occur in social interactions.
 Human development occurs though the
cultural transmission of tools(language,
symbols).
 Language is the most critical tool. Language
develops from social speech, to private
speech, to covert (inner) speech.
 The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is
the difference between what children can do
on their own and what they can do with
assistance from others. Interactions with
adults and peers in the ZPD promote

31. Vygotsky’s Theory
 One’s interactions with the
environment assist learning.
 The experiences one brings to a
learning situation can greatly influence
the outcome.