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Dr. Hawkes
Educational Psychology
11 November 2015
Constructivism is a learning theory based on observation and study. The theory was
created by Jean Piaget, but was also heavily influence by Lev Vygotsky; it is the idea that
learners or students are able to construct knowledge on their own through adaptation. A student is
able to produce ideas based on existing knowledge and schemas. Being able to recall and
reconsider previous events or experiences, and being able to change beliefs, or getting rid
previous thoughts and ideas all together. As educators we wonder where constructivism can be
introduced into the classroom. There are many ways to introduce the constructivist way of
learning and thinking into the classroom. Constructivism starts with the educator knowing and
understanding the students prior knowledge about a specific subject or skill. Without knowing,
the educator is not able to help guide and accommodate ideas with new incoming knowledge.
This essay will talk about what constructivism is, how it guides learning compared to traditional
Jean Piagets job was to develop questions for English intelligence tests. He was
interested in figuring out why children gave wrong answers to questions that required logic.
Piaget thought he could understand the difference in thought of children versus adults. To
Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of the mental process. As a result
There are three components of Piagets constructivism theory which involve schemes,
adaptations, and the stages of development. All three of these play a role helping understand the
way a children learn. Assimilation is using an existing schema to deal with a new object or
situation. An example of assimilation is when a child sees an animal and immediately shouts
Cow! when its actually a horse. A childs equilibrium is when their schema deals with the
newest information they have received, but when this schema is interrupted then accommodation
occurs. The child is told the animal is not a cow but actually a horse and now has a different view
and realizes the new animal is not a cow but in reality is a different animal. Adaptation is used
throughout life but there are stages everyone has to go through to be able to adapt and construct
ways of learning.
Piaget has four stages of cognitive development; the first stage is sensorimotor it happens
from birth to the age of two. During this stage the infants are aware of what is immediately in
front of them, and is only necessary to them at that moment. The second stage is preoperational
which occurs from ages two to seven. During this stage children learns through pretending, but
they have a hard time putting themselves in other peoples shoes. Stage three is the concrete-
operational and occurs from ages seven to eleven. These children are able to think logically but
still struggle with abstract ideas. During stage four, which is formal operations, children (ages
11+) are thinking critically and finding multiple solutions to one problem; as well as seeing other
peoples view points, and abstract concepts. Knowing these stages and Piagets work allows
educators to understand what their students are thinking and what they are capable of learning.
Constructivism is often seen as a way of teaching more than it is a theory. This is based
on that even though constructivism is seen as the individual doing most of the learning, they are
being supported into the right direction. Lev Vygotsky was another psychologist who provided a
major impact to this learning theory. Vygotsky had three primary themes, he believed that social
interaction is an integral role on the cognitive process, the more knowledgeable other, and zone
of proximal development.
cultural development happens twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level.
First, between people, then inside the child (Vygotsky). The more knowledgeable other is the
next theme in Vygotskys foundation. It represents anything that can be learned from with what
has a greater ability or higher knowledge. This is basically a teacher, parent, or coach who is the
expert on the subject, but it could also be a computer or a book. The more knowledgeable other
is a one of the most fundamental building blocks of constructivism without this there is no way
to increase a learners knowledge. The next thing is that he believed most of learning went on in
the zone of proximal development. The zone of proximal is the distance between the ability of a
student to perform a task with support and the students ability to perform it on their own. As a
future teacher it would be easy to think that when focusing on teaching, the student should be
reflecting and constructing new ideas, but its the teacher job to support and lead the ideas and
methods of a subject to have the student create their own understanding of the lesson and
content.
Traditional schooling has been the norm for a while, but constructivism is a new building
block to education. In constructivism learning theory the students are more likely to remember
information for long periods of time by association of past experiences with new ones. Even
though many schools use traditional teaching methods, such like direct instruction, where the
teacher lectures and sends direct messages at the students. Constructivism encourages almost the
exact opposite where the student plays a more active role in the learning process. The teacher is a
guide and the student uses the teacher as a safety net. Students are encouraged to use
collaborative learning to find a solution. Using other students allows them to receive different
viewpoints on the assignment and different ways to do the assignment. It can also help create
new ideas someone may not have known before. In traditional learning the student succeeds or
fails usually on their own and the information becomes a process of memorization for course
tests and assignments. Then the information memorized is lost in the next few days after starting
There are multiple methods to incorporate this theory into the classroom. When teaching
students the teacher should allow the students to create their own questions, this is known as
inquiry based learning. Students using inquiry based learning are to investigate and experiment,
and find multiple ways to find solutions to any problem. The main function for a constructivist
classroom is solving problems and asking questions. Teachers are also encouraged to help
reference students learning to their personal interests. Students all learn differently through
multiple intelligences, as said by Dr. Howard Gardner. There are eight different intelligences that
account for how all students learn, they are linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical
Knowing the history of the constructivism learning theory and what way it affects the
learning process affects more than just the classroom. When educators can teach students to
think, analyze, socialize, and critically ask question they will be able to learn outside the
classroom and apply it to real world problems and situations as well. Students will find a larger
understanding of what is going on in the environment around them and how others see whats
going on. Constructivism gives the greatest possibly of learning to everyone, simply put because
the learning is on the individual and how they themselves need to be built up rather than pushed
aside.
Work Cited