The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Many Faces of Constructivism

1995/10/01 by D. C. Phillips · 16 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Evolution and Science Education #Education and Critical Thinking Development #Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education

paper · doi:10.3102/0013189x024007005

Abstract

Across the broad fields of educational theory and research, constructivism has become something akin to a secular religion. In her book Evolution as a Religion (1985), Mary Midgley wrote that the theory of evolution is not just an inert piece of theoretical science. It is, and cannot help being, also a folk-tale about human origins. Any such narrative must have symbolic force (1985, p. 1). She might well have written the same about constructivism, which is, whatever else it may be, a powerful folktale about the origins of human knowledge. As in all living religions, constructivism has many sects-each of which harbors some distrust of its rivals. This descent into

Cited by

• Sociocultural and Constructivist Theories of Learning: Ontology, Not Just Epistemology
• Modeling Epistemic and Ontological Cognition: Philosophical Perspectives and Methodological Directions
• Islam as liberatory exploration: praying with British inclusive Muslims
• Constructivism and Problem‐based Learning
• Enhancing grammar instruction for EFL secondary school students: Leveraging the flipped approach as a pedagogical intervention
• A Deweyan Perspective on Science Education: Constructivism, Experience, and Why We Learn Science
• 'I'm not a smoker…yet': a qualitative study on perceptions of tobacco control in Chinese high schools. [europepmc]
• The virtual patient as a learning tool: a mixed quantitative qualitative study. [europepmc]
• Cognitive-Linguistic and Constructivist Mnemonic Triggers in Teaching Based on Jerome Bruner's Thinking. [europepmc]
• Some Learning Theories for Medical Educators. [europepmc]
• The Evidence is in the Design. [europepmc]
• How, for Whom, and in Which Contexts or Conditions Augmented and Virtual Reality Training Works in Upskilling Health Care Workers: Realist Synthesis. [europepmc]
• Utilizing digital storytelling as a tool for teaching literature through constructivist learning theory. [europepmc]
• Twenty-first century adaptive teaching and individualized learning operationalized as specific blends of student-centered instructional events: A systematic review and meta-analysis. [europepmc]
• Subjective learning gain from a simulation-based health management course: a mixed methods study. [europepmc]
• Oombarl Oombarl Joorrinygor-Slowly Slowly Moving Forward: Reflections From a Cross-Cultural Team Working Together on the See, Treat, Prevent (SToP) Trial in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia. [europepmc]

Related

• Constructivism: A theory of knowledge
• How Should Creationism and Intelligent Design be Dealt with in the Classroom?
• Constructivist, emergent, and sociocultural perspectives in the context of developmental research
• Science, Religion and the Teaching of Evolution
• Where Is the Mind? Constructivist and Sociocultural Perspectives on Mathematical Development