Constructivism
Emerging in reaction to perceived inadequacies in cognitivist frameworks, constructivism sought “to establish meaning as the central concept of psychology” (Bruner, 1990, p. 2). However, unlike behaviorism and cognitivism, which use an objectivist lens to determine “what is knowledge?” (Jonassen, 1991), constructivism treats knowledge “not (as) the neutral discovery of an objective truth” (Castelló & Botella, 2006) but as “a compilation of human-made constructions” (Raskin, 2002). Thus the fundamental concern for a constructivist is “how do we construct knowledge?” (Jonassen, 1991). Since the underlying philosophical assumption of constructivism is based on a form of subjectivism or interpretivism[1] and not objectivism (Creswell, 2013), knowledge and truth are not seen as final outcomes to achieve – as a behaviorist or cognitivist might view them – but are instead assumed to be ongoing “processes of actively interpreting and constructing individual knowledge representations (Jonassen, 1991). Additionally, other major philosophical and psychological influences include semiotics (Cunningham, 1992), rationalism (Richey et al., 2011), structuralism (Hawkes, 1977), and postmodernism (Lemke, 1994). In essence, constructivist theory forms a completely new paradigm for interpreting concepts like truth, knowledge, and learning.
For constructivists, knowledge is unique to each individual person and subjectively constructed from experience (Richey et al., 2011), often from the social environment (Bandura, 1986; 1997). Likewise, constructivism posits that learning “involves the active creation of mental structures, rather than the passive internalization of information acquired for others or from the environment” (Nathan & Sawyer, 2016) and is most effective “when people actively derive meaning from their experiences and the context in which they take place” (Richey et al., 2011). In addition, depending on the version of constructivism, the emphasis may be the cognitive construction of knowledge on the part of the individual (i.e., cognitive constructivism) or the role in which social interaction influences the development/construction of knowledge (i.e. social constructivism). To summarize the first view of constructivism, Smith and Ragan (2005) identify cognitive constructivists as those who believe that “knowledge is constructed from experience”, “learning results from a personal interpretation of knowledge”, and “learning is an active process with meaning developed on the basis of experience” (p. 19). Conversely, social constructivists are those who believe that “learning is collaborative with meaning negotiated from multiple perspectives” (Smith & Ragan, 2005, p. 20) and “knowledge is shared by a community of learners” (Richey et al., 2011). The scholars with the largest influence on the development of cognitive constructivism include Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner. Within the social constructivist perspective, the work of Lev Vygotsky predominates.
A synthesis of the perspectives of the two major types of constructivism reveals three basic principles that underpin how constructivists of either orientation understand what learning is and how people learn: 1) “Learning results from a personal interpretation of experience. 2) Learning is an active process occurring in realistic and relevant situations. 3) Learning results from an exploration of multiple perspectives” (Richey et al., 2011, p. 130). In support of these items, Fox (2001) argues that any given person can learn personally and also “share in common knowledge” (p. 30).
Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) and the Theory of Cognitive Development
Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, in his studies on childhood psychological development theory, posited that “all learning was mediated by the construction of mental objects called schemas” (Nathan & Sawyer, 2016, p. 25), which Piaget argued emerged from a child’s interaction and experimentation with the physical world. According to Piaget, development is innate and drives learning through four distinct stages (Richey et al., 2011). The four stages are: 1) sensorimotor, 2) preoperational, 3) concrete operational, and 4) formal operational. In terms of readiness for learning, Piaget believed that learning material has to be developmentally appropriate before learning can occur. As for the role of the learner, Piaget described the learner as actively manipulating ideas and objects and continuously constructing and reconstructing knowledge as he/she interacts with the environment. In contrast, the teacher’s role is to create an engaging, encouraging, and interactive environment that fosters knowledge construction among the learners. Finally, Piagetian cognitive development involves a series of three mechanisms of change (i.e. adaptation processes) that help the learner transition from one stage to the next. These are the processes of equilibrium, assimilation, and accommodation.
Lev Vygotsky (1896 – 1934) and Social Constructivism
Beginning in the mid-1920s in the Soviet Union, Lev Vygotsky, Alexander Luria and Aleksei Leontjev developed a cultural-historical approach to psychology. From within this tradition, Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (Vygotsky, 1934) contended that social interaction was the central driver of intellectual development. In contrast to Piaget, Vygotsky believed that learning drives development and that “thought emerged during development as social interaction gradually became internalized” (Nathan & Sawyer, 2016, p. 26). Vygotsky proposed within his zone of proximal development (ZPD) model that “there is a cognitive distance between what learners know and can do independently, and what learners can potentially achieve with the assistance of a more capable person” (Richey et al., 2011, pp. 136-137). Given this assumption, it becomes necessary for a “more knowledgeable other” – usually a teacher – to engage the learner in socially-organized activities and to provide the learner with carefully designed scaffolding which includes techniques like encouraging, explaining, modeling, and questioning (Hogan & Pressley, 1997) – to provide support for learning, challenge the learner to attain higher levels of capability, and allow for independent thinking (Rommetveit, 1974). As for the learner, his/her role is to construct new knowledge (i.e., learn) by interacting with the teacher, classmates, and the greater socio-cultural environment. Finally, it is important to note that Vygotsky’s contributions had a large impact on the development of Jerome Bruner’s research on scaffolding (Wood, Bruner, Ross, 1976), Albert Bandura’s (1977, 1986) social cognitive theory, and Jean Lave’s (1988) situated learning theory.
Now that we have seen the three dominant learning theories (Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism), join me again tomorrow as I present another influential theory of learning…Social Learning Theory.
[1] The belief that reality is constructed by the learner. (Subjectivism = Idealism + Rationalism)