ED426986 1998-12-00 Constructivism in
Teacher Education: Considerations for
Those Who Would Link Practice to
Theory. ERIC Digest.
ERIC Development Team
www.eric.ed.gov
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Constructivism in Teacher Education: Considerations for Those Who
Would Link Practice to Theory. ERIC Digest............................ 1
WHAT IS CONSTRUCTIVISM?.............................................. 2
PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTIVISM................................... 3
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM................................................. 3
CONSTRUCTIVIST FRAMEWORKS IN TEACHER EDUCATION.... 4
CHALLENGES.................................................................. 5
REFERENCES.................................................................. 6
ERIC Identifier: ED426986
Publication Date: 1998-12-00
Author: Abdal-Haqq, Ismat
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Teaching and Teacher Education Washington DC.
Constructivism in Teacher Education:
Considerations for Those Who Would Link
Practice to Theory. ERIC Digest.
ED426986 1998-12-00 Constructivism in Teacher Education: Considerations for Those Page 1 of 7
Who Would Link Practice to Theory. ERIC Digest.
www.eric.ed.gov ERIC Custom Transformations Team
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In recent years, constructivism has received considerable attention in education
scholarship, practitioner preparation, and policy formation (MacKinnon & Scarff-Seatter,
1997; Richardson, 1997; Teets & Starnes, 1996). It has been heralded as a more
natural, relevant, productive, and empowering framework for instructing both P-12 and
teacher education students (Cannella & Reiff, 1994). This Digest identifies major forms
of constructivism and considers issues and challenges that surface when implementing
constructivist approaches to preservice and inservice teacher education.
WHAT IS CONSTRUCTIVISM?
Constructivism is an epistemology, a learning or meaning-making theory, that offers an
explanation of the nature of knowledge and how human beings learn. It maintains that
individuals create or construct their own new understandings or knowledge through the
interaction of what they already know and believe and the ideas, events, and activities
with which they come in contact (Cannella & Reiff, 1994; Richardson, 1997). Knowledge
is acquired through involvement with content instead of imitation or repetition (Kroll &
LaBoskey, 1996). Learning activities in constructivist settings are characterized by
active engagement, inquiry, problem solving, and collaboration with others. Rather than
a dispenser of knowledge, the teacher is a guide, facilitator, and co-explorer who
encourages learners to question, challenge, and formulate their own ideas, opinions,
and conclusions. "Correct" answers and single interpretations are de-emphasized.
As an approach to teaching, constructivism may be examined as much for what it is
NOT as for what it is. It challenges what Oldfather, Bonds, and Bray (1994) characterize
as the default mode in education--an empiricist/reductionist approach to teaching and
learning. They cite Freire who considers this approach to be a "banking" model--the
teacher fills students with deposits of information considered by the teacher to be true
knowledge, and the students store these deposits, intact, until needed. Cannella & Reiff
(1994) label these traditional models didactic, memory-oriented transmission models.
Constructivists generally maintain that when information is acquired through
transmission models, it is not always well integrated with prior knowledge and is often
accessed and articulated only for formal academic occasions such as exams
(Richardson, 1997). Constructivist approaches, in contrast, are regarded as producing
greater internalization and deeper understanding than traditional methods.
While there are commonly accepted attributes of constructivism, there are also different
interpretations of it. Vadeboncoeur (1997) identifies three significant strands within
these interpretations--Piagetian, sociocultural, and emancipatory
constructivism--strands differentiated primarily by (1) the subject of study, (2) views
about how cognitive forms develop, and (3) "the liberatory power of the pedagogical
approaches derived" (p. 22). In general, two broad interpretations can be found among
contemporary educators--psychological constructivism, most notably articulated by
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Who Would Link Practice to Theory. ERIC Digest.
ERIC Resource Center www.eric.ed.gov
Piaget, and social constructivism, associated with Vygotsky. Two major issues shape
these interpretations: (1) education for individual development versus education for
social transformation and (2) the degree of influence that social context has on
individual cognitive development (Richardson, 1997; Vadeboncoeur, 1997).
PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTIVISM
Psychological or Piagetian constructivists generally regard the purpose of education as
educating the individual child in a fashion that supports the child's interests and needs;
consequently, the child is the subject of study, and individual cognitive development is
the emphasis. Learning is primarily an individualistic enterprise. This is a child-centered
approach that seeks to identify, through scientific study, the natural path of cognitive
development (Vadeboncoeur, 1997). This approach assumes that students come to
classrooms with ideas, beliefs, and opinions that need to be altered or modified by a
teacher who facilitates this alteration by devising tasks and questions that create
dilemmas for students. Knowledge construction occurs as a result of working through
these dilemmas. Characteristic instructional practices include "discovery learning" and
hands-on activities, such as using manipulatives; student tasks that challenge existing
concepts and thinking processes; and questioning techniques that probe students'
beliefs and encourage examination and testing of those beliefs (Richardson, 1997).
To a large extent, this approach assumes that development is an ingrained, natural,
biological process that is pretty much the same for all individuals, regardless of gender,
class, race, or the social or cultural context in which learning and living take place
(Vadeboncoeur, 1997). Internal development is the focus of the teaching environment,
and the social and historical context, as well as issues of power, authority, and the place
of formal knowledge in the learning environment are not emphasized (Richardson,
1997). It is essentially a decontextualized approach to learning and teaching. Critics of
the psychological constructivist approach deprecate its lack of attention to "the influence
of the classroom culture and the broader social context" (Vadeboncoeur, 1997), as well
as disregard for power issues, particularly power issues related to knowledge
production (Martin, 1994; Richardson, 1997; Vadeboncoeur, 1997).
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM
Social or Vygotskian constructivism emphasizes education for social transformation and
reflects a theory of human development that situates the individual within a sociocultural
context. Individual development derives from social interactions within which cultural
meanings are shared by the group and eventually internalized by the individual
(Richardson, 1997). Individuals construct knowledge in transaction with the
environment, and in the process both the individual and the environment are changed.
The subject of study is the dialectical relationship between the individual and the social
and cultural milieu.
Schools are the sociocultural settings where teaching and learning take place and
where "cultural tools," such as reading, writing, mathematics, and certain modes of
ED426986 1998-12-00 Constructivism in Teacher Education: Considerations for Those Page 3 of 7
Who Would Link Practice to Theory. ERIC Digest.
www.eric.ed.gov ERIC Custom Transformations Team
discourse are utilized (Richardson, 1997). This approach assumes that theory and
practice do not develop in a vacuum; they are shaped by dominant cultural assumptions
(Martin, 1994; O'Loughlin, 1995). Both formal knowledge, the subject of instruction, and
the manner of its presentation are influenced by the historical and cultural environment
that generated them. To accomplish the goals of social transformation and
reconstruction, the context of education must be deconstructed, and the cultural
assumptions, power relationships, and historical influences that undergird it must be
exposed, critiqued, and, when necessary, altered (Myers, 1996). Variants of social
constructivism include situated constructivism, social reconstructivism, sociocultural
constructivism, sociohistorical constructivism, and emancipatory constructivism.
CONSTRUCTIVIST FRAMEWORKS IN TEACHER
EDUCATION
While it may inform and influence practice, constructivism is a theory of learning, not a
theory of teaching (Wolffe & McMullen, 1996), and translating theory to practice is both
difficult and imprecise (MacKinnon & Scarf-Seatter, 1997). However, education
literature documents several large- and small-scale efforts to do so (DeJong & Grooms,
1996; Kaufman, 1996; Richardson, 1997). For example, as part of a statewide
education reform initiative, University of Louisville faculty, supported by funding from the
Kentucky Department of Education, developed 11 guiding principles and possible
indicators of constructivist teaching (Fischetti, Dittmer, & Kyle, 1996). The venerable
Foxfire Project devised 11 core practices that reflect the constructivist underpinnings of
the Foxfire approach to teaching and professional development, which has evolved over
a 30-year period (Teets & Starnes, 1996).
Constructivist teacher education generally reflects two major traditions--the
developmental and social reconstructionist traditions (Canella & Reiff, 1994). Programs
influenced by the developmental tradition attempt to teach students how to teach in a
constructivist, generally Piagetian, manner. They are typically characterized by
substantial direct instruction in theory and practice, often without complementary
opportunities for inquiry, discovery, or self-examination. This approach can easily
become overly prescriptive. If this occurs, the teacher educator models an approach to
teaching that is essentially antithetical to the approach students are intended to employ
in their future classrooms (Oldfather, Bonds, & Bray, 1994).
Programs influenced by social reconstructionist tradition attempt to help teacher
education students deconstruct their own prior knowledge and attitudes, comprehend
how these understandings evolved, explore the effects they have on actions and
behavior, and consider alternate conceptions and premises that may be more
serviceable in teaching. Critical analysis and structured reflection on formal course
knowledge and everyday practical experience are incorporated.
Richardson (1997) identifies two factors that appear to affect the approach teachers and
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Who Would Link Practice to Theory. ERIC Digest.
ERIC Resource Center www.eric.ed.gov
teacher educators take in forming constructivist settings--the extent to which the social
is acknowledged as a critical factor in learning and individual cognitive development and
the specific content, subject matter, or discipline. Some subjects, such as mathematics,
are more "bounded" than others by rules, formulae, and procedures. They are more
likely to be regarded by teachers as producing problems and tasks to which there are
"correct" answers. Individual interpretations and construction of ideas and concepts are
less likely to be encouraged by teachers than in subjects such as literature and writing.
CHALLENGES
The overarching challenge constructivism presents to teachers and teacher educators is
the formidable task of translating a learning theory into a theory of teaching (MacKinnon
& Scarff-Seatter, 1997), which in turn raises questions about what teachers need to
know and be able to do. For teacher educators, among other tasks, this involves
balancing the need to acknowledge the different discipline-specific requirements of
teaching with the need to model constructivist methods in teacher education courses
and practicums. Richardson (1997) also notes the limits of a perspective on teaching
that values students' understandings at the expense of "right" answers. Student
knowledge becomes idiosyncratic; 30 different students may arrive at 30 different
understandings or interpretations of a concept, all of which are not equally appropriate.
Inappropriately applied, constructivist approaches may lead to the "abandonment" style
of teaching (MacKinnon & Scarff-Seatter, 1997).
Several authors cite the importance of teacher educators' modeling constructivist
approaches that engage students in interdisciplinary exploration, collaborative activity,
and field-based opportunities for experiential learning, reflection, and self-examination
(Kaufman, 1996; Kroll & LaBosky, 1996) if future teachers are to be able to employ
these strategies in schools.
To derive culturally relevant and socially just pedagogy and practice from constructivist
epistemologies, Martin (1994) and Vadeboncoeur (1997) urge teacher educators to
deconstruct and scrutinize cultural assumptions that underlie various interpretations of
constructivism to expose how social beliefs have influenced the development of theory
and practices. Without such scrutiny, societal inequities and historical forms of
oppression may be perpetuated in supposedly constructivist classrooms, and the very
constraints on individual development constructivists seek to remove or ameliorate will
be reinforced.
A final challenge faced by educators is the pitfall of regarding constructivism as the only
viable theoretical framework for teaching and learning. It is one way of thinking about
how knowledge and understanding are formed, but it is not the only way. Nor are
various interpretations of constructivism necessarily incompatible with one another
(MacKinnon & Scarff-Seatter, 1997; Oldfather, Bonds, & Bray, 1994). Prospective
teachers should be exposed to varying perspectives and given opportunities to develop
the discretion needed to choose most appropriately and the skills to implement their
ED426986 1998-12-00 Constructivism in Teacher Education: Considerations for Those Page 5 of 7
Who Would Link Practice to Theory. ERIC Digest.
www.eric.ed.gov ERIC Custom Transformations Team
choices.
REFERENCES
Cannella, G. S., & Reiff, J. C. (1994). Individual constructivist teacher education:
Teachers as empowered learners. TEACHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY 21(3), 27-38.
EJ 498 429
DeJong, L., & Groomes, F. (1996). A constructivist teacher education program that
incorporates community service to prepare students to work with children living in
poverty. ACTION IN TEACHER EDUCATION 18(2), 86-95. EJ 536 849
Fischetti, J., Dittmer, A., & Kyle, D. W. (1996). Shifting paradigms: Emerging issues for
educational policy and practice. TEACHER EDUCATOR 31(3), 189-201. EJ 525 345
Kaufman, D. (1996). Constructivist-based experiential learning in teacher education.
ACTION IN TEACHER EDUCATION 18(2), 40-49. EJ 536 845
Kroll, L. R., & LaBosky, V. K. (1996). Practicing what we preach: Constructivism in a
teacher education program. ACTION IN TEACHER EDUCATION 18(2), 63-72. EJ 536
947
MacKinnon, A., & Scarff-Seatter, C. (1997). Constructivism: Contradictions and
confusion in teacher education. In V. Richardson (Ed.), CONSTRUCTIVIST TEACHER
EDUCATION: BUILDING NEW UNDERSTANDINGS (pp.38-55). Washington, DC:
Falmer Press.
Martin, R. J. (1994). Multicultural social reconstructionist education: Design for diversity
in teacher education. TEACHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY 21(3), 77-89. EJ 492 141
Myers, C. B. (1996, April). BEYOND PDSs: SCHOOLS AS PROFESSIONAL
LEARNING COMMUNITIES. A PROPOSAL BASED ON AN ANALYSIS OF PDS
EFFORTS OF THE 1990'S. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American
Educational Research Association, New York. ED 400 227
Oldfather, P., Bonds, S., & Bray, T. (1994). Drawing the circle: Collaborative mind
mapping as a process for developing a constructivist teacher education program.
TEACHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY 21(3), 5-13. EJ 492 137
O'Loughlin, M. (1995). Daring the imagination: Unlocking voices of dissent and
possibility in teaching. THEORY INTO PRACTICE 24(2), 107-116. EJ 512 860
Richardson, V. (1997). Constructivist teaching and teacher education: Theory and
practice. In V. Richardson (Ed.), CONSTRUCTIVIST TEACHER EDUCATION:
BUILDING NEW UNDERSTANDINGS (pp. 3-14). Washington, DC: Falmer Press.
Page 6 of 7 ED426986 1998-12-00 Constructivism in Teacher Education: Considerations for Those
Who Would Link Practice to Theory. ERIC Digest.
ERIC Resource Center www.eric.ed.gov
Teets, S. T., & Starnes, B. A. (1996). Foxfire: Constructivism for teachers and learners.
ACTION IN TEACHER EDUCATION 18(2), 31-39. EJ 536 844
Vadeboncoeur, J. (1997). Child development and the purpose of education: A historical
context for constructivism in teacher education. In V. Richardson (Ed.),
CONSTRUCTIVIST TEACHER EDUCATION: BUILDING NEW UNDERSTANDINGS
(pp. 15-37). Washington, DC: Falmer Press.
Wolffe, R. J., & McMullen, D. W. (1996). The constructivist connection: Linking theory,
best practice, and technology. JOURNAL OF COMPUTING IN TEACHER EDUCATION
12(2), 25-28. EJ 526 775
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This publication was prepared with funding from the Office of Educational Research and
Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract number RR93002015. The
opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of
OERI or the Department.
Title: Constructivism in Teacher Education: Considerations for Those Who Would Link
Practice to Theory. ERIC Digest.
Document Type: Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs)
(071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073);
Descriptors: Cognitive Development, Constructivism (Learning), Elementary
Secondary Education, Epistemology, Higher Education, Inservice Teacher Education,
Preservice Teacher Education, Theory Practice Relationship
Identifiers: ERIC Digests, Social Constructivism
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