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Overview of Constructivism
Constructivism has been viewed as a philosophy, epistemology, and a theory of communication. In recent decades, it has emerged as a dominant paradigm in education having a major intellectual impact on the development of pedagogy and playing a major role in systemic changes, primarily in the fields of mathematics and science (Brooks, 2002; DeVries & Kohlberg, 1987; Driver, 1983; Forman & Kuschner, 1977; Gabel, 1994; Kamii, 1981, 1985; Russel, 1993; Sigel, Brozinsky, & Golinkoff, 1981; Tobin, 1993; von Glasersfeld, 1995, 1998; Wang & Walberg, 2001). The emergence of this paradigm has coincided with a shift in pedagogy away from teacher-centered information transmission models toward knowledge-centered and learner-centered approaches that focus on cognitive and social processes in learning. Constructivism as an approach to teaching and learning has evolved from psychology and information processing theories and in recent years has increasingly incorporated ideas from linguistics, anthropology, and sociology (Blumenfeld, Krajcik, Marx, & Soloway, 2001). Constructivism in education is rooted in notions from cognitive and social constructivism. The former is grounded in the work of Piaget (1954, 1955, 1970; Piaget & Inhelder, 1971) and accentuates cognitive development and individual construction of knowledge, and the latter emphasizes social construction of knowledge and is generally attributed to the work of Vygotsky (1962, 1978; but see Smith's [1993] contention that the social construction of knowledge is inherent in Piaget's work). Piaget's developmental theory advocates a holistic approach. Learning is a developmental process that involves change, selfgeneration, and construction, each building on prior learning experiences. Learning for the child occurs through construction of new understandings through reading, listening, exploration, and experience. This involves three distinct yet interrelated processes of assimilation , accommodation , and equilibrium . New experiences are assimilated and integrated into existing schema or into schema under construction through the process of accommodation . The outcome of these processes is equilibrium --the achievement of new understandings, coherence, and cognitive stability.
The influence of social and cultural contexts on learning and knowledge construction is underscored in Vygotsky's social constructivist theory (Vygotsky, 1978). In exploring the social origins of thought, Vygotsky advanced the view that children's thinking and meaning-making is socially constructed and emerges out of their social interactions with their environment. Children's learning is facilitated by parents, peers,...