A Comparison of the Positive and Negative Aspects of Constructivism

A Comparison of the Positive and Negative Aspects of Constructivism

Introduction

In the past few years, constructivism has received a lot of attention in educational studies, teacher education programs, and school systems. It has been the cause for redesigning curriculum from the elementary level all the way through high school level education. These changes in learning theory can be seen in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics as well as the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Applefield et al., 2001). As Mackinnon and Scarff-Seatter, Teets and Starnes, and Richardson state, it has been described as a relevant learning theory that follows a natural learning pattern of the brain (as cited in Ismat, 1998). The theory has received a lot of attention in educational articles recently and not all of the articles are complimentary. As the theory has been used in the classroom more extensively, critics have analyzed both the positive and negative aspects of the theory. This paper will attempt to present an unbiased view of both the positive effects of constructivism as well as some considerations and challenges that arise when applying this theory to classroom use.

What is constructivism?

Constructivism is a theory that helps to explain how people acquire knowledge and learn. The activities that are employed in a constructivist classroom include active engaging of the mind, problem solving, questioning, and group learning where the teacher is no longer the dispenser of knowledge but a guide who challenges students to form their own opinions and ideas (Ismat, 1998). Constructivism emphasizes that the learner make his or her own meaning based upon experiences and the creativity of the individual. Knowledge is not a series of universal truths but a set of ideas much like a hypothesis that is being continually tested by experiences within one’s environment (Airasian & Walsh, 1997). Constructivism is not a unified theory...