Constructivism The theory of constructivism has its roots in psychology, philosophy, science and biology. It is a post-structuralist theory of evolution and development. The term ‘constructivism’ was coined by Jean Piaget. The theory deals with knowledge construction and learning and talks about how structures, language activity and meaning are developed. Cognitive development and deep understanding are the goals of constructivism. The two concepts that are featured prominently in this theory, learning and knowledge are interlinked. Learning is complex and is non – linear in nature. Learning is not a response to a stimulus. The learner plays an active part where through self- regulation and culturally developed tools and symbols they create big ideas. These ideas are generalized across experiences and challenge earlier conceptions. During the process of learning an individual tries to make …show more content…
Students should have a contextually meaningful experience. The goal of constructivist learning is self-sufficiency, shared exchange of social relations and empowerment. The principle of constructivism is reflected in Confucius’s proverb where he says that hearing alone leads to forgetting, seeing may help remember but only by doing will one understand. Constructivism promotes advanced and refined thinking. Constructivism is against the banking of knowledge in which children are banks where coins of knowledge are put in and expected to be returned the same way. This leads to rote learning and surface level understanding of a concept. Constructivism trains children to find solutions to problems that act as an impediment to achieving a goal. Children need to develop the ability to absorb information from multiple sources and then use reasoning to come to their own conclusions. This is called intellectual