The Constructivist Approach

According to Driscoll (2000:375) “Constructivism has multiple roots in the psychology and philosophy”, among which are cognitive and developmental perspectives of Piaget, the interactional and cultural emphases of Vygotsky and Bruner, the contextual nature of learning, the active learning of Dewey, the epistemological discussions of von Glasersfeld and the paradigm and scientific revolutions of Thomas Kuhn.”
Constructivist assumptions about learning could be summarized as “knowledge is actively constructed by learners as they are trying to make sense of their experiences,

learners form, elaborate and test candidate mental structures until a satisfactory one emerges (Perkins, 1991), particularly conflicting experiences will cause perturbation in the new structures, so that they can be restructured and constructed anew to make sense of the new information (Piaget 1973; Bruner 1966; Vygotsky 1978). That is, knowledge is not representing and corresponding to the external reality, but is viable (von Glasersfeld 1996). According to Vygotsky learning is a social negotiation of meaning.”
Driscoll (2000:378) summarizes Eco’s metaphor “rhizome” for constructivist learning; “The rhizome is a tangle of tubers with no apparent beginning or end. It constantly changes shape, and every point in it appears to be connected with every other point. Break the rhizome anywhere and the only effect is that new connections will be grown. The rhizome models the unlimited potential for knowledge construction, because it has no fixed points (no nodes or basic representation units) and no particular organization.” Cunningham (1992:171) states that “the rhizome concept alerts us to the constructed nature of our environmental understanding and the possibilities of different meaning, different truths, and different worlds.”
Constructivist approach acknowledges leaning in context (Duffy and Jonassen, 1991:8) and learning of knowledge could only be achieved through meaningful activity, learning is a continuous, life-long process resulting from acting in situations (Brown, 1989:33). Learners should identify, pursue and reflect on their own learning goals while solving the genuine problems in the world.
The necessary constructivist conditions for learning (in Driscoll, 2000:3822-3) are summarized as follows:
1. Embedded learning in complex, realistic and relevant environments. (Duffy, Jonassen 1991; Cunningham, 1991; Honebein 1996)
2. Provide for social negotiation (cooperative and socio-moral atmosphere) as an integral part of learning,. (Piaget 1973, Vygotsky 1978 and Bruner 1966, De Vries 2002)
3. Support multiple perspectives and the use of multiple modes of representation. (Duffy and Cunningham, 1996; Honebein 1996)
4. Encourage ownership in learning. (Duffy and Cunningham, 1996; Honebein 1996)
5. Provide adequate time for learners’ investigation and in-depth engagement. (De Vries, 2002)


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