Knowledge Constructed not Transmitted The current popular view of instruction has adopted many of the tenets of constructivism. Constructivism is an educational theory that espouses that learners construct knowledge and meaning from their experiences. One of the hallmarks of the new science of learning is its emphasis on learning with understanding. (Bransford, 2003, p.8)
Social constructivism further espouses that learners needs to arrive at their version of the truth, influenced by their background, culture or embedded worldview. “This doesn’t mean that students are encouraged to believe what ever they want, rather that their truths need to be codeveloped with their social community by respecting, incorporating, modifying, adopting, and discarding information as appropriate. “ (Wikipedia) The guiding principles of constructivism are: • Knowledge is constructed, not transmitted • Prior knowledge impacts learning • Building knowledge requires effort and purposeful activity
Implications for Teaching “If there is one thing I would like to go back and change about my teaching it would be that I did not take enough time to find out what my students knew about a topic before launching into it. To assume that they had no knowledge or beliefs about the topic was, frankly, absurd.” — Gary Poole, Former Director of UBC Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology .
We must access and leverage students’ prior knowledge Students bring their understanding of the world around them to the educational process. As teachers, we need to understand the mental models that our students use to perceive the world. Understanding our learners is the typical starting point for meaningful instruction. Sometimes new information can be neatly “assimilated” into students’ existing understanding of the world, and sometimes their worldview
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