1. The Constructivist Theory of Learning
Mohammed Y. M. Doudin
Student ID
Multimedia University (MMU), Cyberjaya
Faculty of Creative Multimedia
January 2016

2. Contents Chapter 1 - Background & Theorists
1.1 What is constructivism?
1.2 The two theories
1.3 The Main Theorists
Chapter 2 - Models of Learning
2.1 Constructivist Models
2.2 Social Constructivist Models
Chapter 3 - Implementation of Models in Classes of Today

3. What is constructivism?
Constructivism is the philosophical and scientific position that knowledge arises through a process of active construction.” (Mascolo and Fischer, 2005)
Constructivism applies to how people learn, and also to knowledge itself. Each learner constructs meaning as he or she learns, on an individual level and in a social context. It holds that the only kind of learning is through construction of meaning, understanding and knowledge of the world by experiencing things and thinking retrospectively about the experiences encountered.

4. Constructivist learning principles
Rather than passive acceptance of existing knowledge, the learners also become “doers”.
As they learn, students also learn to learn. While meaning is constructed, systems of meaning are too.
Because learning involves the use of language, the language we use also influences it.
In traditional (as opposed to constructivist) learning, students are rather directed away from social interaction by the traditional focus being more on visualizing education as a one-to-one relationship between the learner and the objective material to be learned.

5. Some knowledge must be present in order to learn more.
Learning is not an instant commodity, and it takes time. Significant learning demands that ideas are revisited, tried out, played with and used.
The construction of meaning occurs in the mind.
A key component for learning is motivation.

6. The two theories
There are two similar learning theories: Constructivism and Social Constructivism. They both share four elements, which are:
Both are deeply rooted in classical antiquity via the Socratic dialogue referred to above.
Learning is understood as an active rather than passive process, where knowledge is constructed, not acquired.
Construction of knowledge has a basis of personal experiences and involves continual testing of hypotheses.
Every individual has a different interpretation and construction of knowledge process that has as its foundation past experiences and cultural factors.

7. In the theory of social constructivism, four additional points are added, namely
Collaborative nature of learning is emphasised and the importance of cultural and social context is recognised.
Cognitive functions in their entirety are believed to be stem from, and explained as, the product of social interaction.
Learning is more than just assimilation of new knowledge by learners - it is the process by which learners are integrated into a knowledge community.
Constructivists such as Piaget (more of him later) overlooked the social nature of language and thus failed to comprehend learning is a collaborative process.

8. The Main Theorists
John Dewey ( ) is often considered as the philosophical founder of progressive education that later became absorbed as part of constructivism. He was an opponent of the principle that educational establishments should focus on repetition and learning by rote via memorization. He suggested a method of directed living, wherein students would learn in real-world practical workshops.
Jean Piaget ( ) is viewed as one of two chief theorists dealng with cognitive constuctivism. He disagreed with the idea of learning being the passive assimilation of given knowledge, and theorised that learning is a dynamic process through successive stages of adaptation to reality.

9. Jerome Bruner ( ) is the second chief theorist in the field of cognitive constructivism, though he was influenced by Vygotsky (see below) to some degree, especially with regard to language. It was Bruner who first mentioned the phrase “instructional scaffolding” as the support system given to learners by older, experienced adults until the student develops their own learning strategies.
Lev Vygotsky ( ) developed the theory of social constructivism, and rejected the assumption made by Piaget that learning could be separated from a social context. He stated:
“Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level and, later on, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child(intrapsychological).

10. Models of Learning Constructivist Models. Social Constructivist Models
Cognitive Development Theory (Piaget 1970) / Concept of Equilibration (Piaget 1985)
(Assimilation , Accommodation , Equilibration)
Discovery learning (Bruner 1961)
Social Constructivist Models
Language, Culture and Knowledge (Vygotsky 1934)
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
(Intersubjectivity , Scaffolding , Guided participation.)