1. CONSTRUCTIONISM
By: Caitlin Duffey

2. KEY PEOPLE
Jean Piaget
• Believes in successive knowledge
building
• Knowledge increases in depth
and complexity as people move
through the stages of life
John Dewey
• Believed education should be
grounded in real experience
• "If you have doubts about how
learning happens, engage in
sustained inquiry: study, ponder,
consider alternative possibilities
and arrive at your belief grounded
in evidence.“
• Inquiry is a key part of learning
Lev Vygotsky
• Learning takes place when
students solve problems above
their actual developmental level
• Solve problems under guidance of
adults or peer collaboration

3. WHAT IS CONSTRUCTIVISM?
• Learners construct knowledge for themselves
• Focus on learner instead of the subject or lesson
• There is no knowledge independent of the meaning attributed to
experience by the learner
• Learning is an active process
• Learning consists of both constructing meaning and constructing systems of
meaning
• Learning is a social activity
• Motivation is a key component to learning

4. TEACHER APPLICATIONS
• Teacher coaches, moderates, and suggests what the student should learn.
• Encourage Inquiry:
• Prompt students to formulate their own questions
• Allow for Multiple Intelligences:
• Allow students to have multiple interpretations and expressions
• Create a Collaborative Learning Environment:
• Encourage group work and the use of peers as resources

5. STUDENT IMPLICATION
• Students learn subject matter in a similar way to the scientific method:
• Student decides what they are interested in learning.
• They ask questions about the specific body of knowledge.
• They work together in peer groups in order to assist each other in the learning
process.

6. PERSONAL IMPLICATIONS IN
FUTURE TEACHING PROFESSION
• In my opinion, constructivism is a useful learning theory to enact in the
classroom. I would enact the use of some of the elements of the theory such
as:
• Encouraging student questions
• Allowing for collaborative work in order for students to learn how to help one
another in the learning process
• Encourage students to learn about the subject they connect most with

7. WORKS CITED
• Educational Broadcasting Corporation. (2004). Constructivism as a Paradigm
for Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from Thirteen Ed Online:
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html
• Hein, G. (1991, October 22). Constructivist Learning Theory. Retrieved from
Exploratoriam:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/ifi/resources/research/constructivistlearning.h
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