Constructivist Education: A Direction for the Twenty-First Century.

Overview & Synopsis

In the first of this presentation's two parts, an attempt is made to clarify the meaning of constructivist education, an approach based on a theory which explains learning as a process of construction from within the individual, rather than one of internalization or absorption from the environment. In the second part, a personal view of why constructivist education is a likely direction for education in the 21st century is offered. Some of the assumptions surrounding the concept of constructivist education include the notions that children naturally construct knowledge by putting things into relationships, and that their knowledge is constructed as an interelated whole, is not compartmentalized into subject matters, and advances only within the constraints of developmental levels. The aim of constructivist education is personal autonomy, a state defined as being governed by oneself and including, ultimately, the ability to think logically at the formal operational level. Autonomy as the aim of education implies the need to rethink everything done in the name of education. Constructivist teaching, the most difficult kind ever invented, requires educators to change their entire way of thinking about themselves as well as their teaching methods. Although there is a growing constituency of teachers advocating autonomy as the aim of education, it is likely that two or more generations of teachers must retire before a change to constructivist education becomes possible. (RH)