Constructivism on Teaching and Learning Science - Essay Example

Constructivism on Teaching and Learning Science School Epistemological problems and theories often cause a lot of discussions. And it is not strange, because epistemology is one of the most contradictory philosophical realms. Constructivism is a theory that constructs such worldview that gives people a huge space for interpretations and debates. Applying education constructivism is pretty convenient in usage but may cause major polemic, as far as this theory destabilizes old educative methods and religious doctrines. Constructivism is an approach in epistemology (the philosophical realm that deals with perception and knowledge) and philosophy of science which is based on the idea that the subject who is getting knowledge uses special reflective procedures while constructing the knowledge he perceives. The knowledge can be of multiple kinds: images, concepts, and reasoning. The main thesis of constructivism can be formulated in a following way: if a fact or judgment is considered as true than it can be checked by the norms of universal reasoning and anyone can reflect on the constructed concepts because they are based on understanding of faultless reasoning.1 Within the scopes of philosophy constructivism is an approach according to which any perceptional activity is a kind of constructing. In fact, this is the epistemological way which is alternative to any metaphysical ontology or epistemological realism. But there are certain nuances in philosophical explication of the notion “construction”. In the strict sense construction is about building and representation of objects of geometry and logic in perception. But broadly construction is defined as special procedures of human mind that form, structure, and organize certain world perception and self-actualization. The philosophical conceptions that emphasize on actively constructive structure of perception in general are called “constructivism” but still the theory has lots of different aspects and nuances discovered by multiple theorists. In epistemology and philosophy of science constructivism became popular in 20th century as opposed to empiricist traditions (which claim that everything we learn is the result of experience and sensorial perception). There are many scientific realms that appeal to constructivism among them is logic, mathematic, natural sciences, cultural studies and sociology, where constructivism is really helpful in collecting the results of researches2. Constructivism as learning theory has become the approach of a huge consideration so far. Some educational theorists call it the “Grand Unifying Theory”3 as far as it covers lots of contradictory educational aspects and helps to unify different educational approaches. But the problem here is that constructivist way of learning and teaching cause a lot of scientific problems. Colburn claims that the main issue concerning constructivist learning appears when students come to a class to learn new information and this is what they are supposed to do, but constructivist learning allows them to create their own knowledge based on their experience, so they can get a lot of misconceptions if they learn by themselves.4 That’s why teachers who work according to the constructivism suffer the most, because their job is to make their students change their minds about the wrong non-scientific conceptions they’ve constructed by themselves on their own experience. In fact, Colburn’s point here is concerning some kind of constructivism which more looks like scientific anarchy, when students are free to construct whatever they want about reality and discover science high-handedly. This constructivism is just a misunderstood theory of that broaden philosophical notion of constructivism mentioned above. Indeed, constructivism interpreted as simple construction of anything including information is also possible, but such a consideration of the theory would cause a lot of troubles in implementation. The point is that constructivism is the approach that deals with certain laws of reasoning that exist in reality that’s why it can be perceived in the same way by different people – because the laws work and they can be learned. 5 That’s why these universal principles of reasoning must be the objects of teaching in order to show students what they could construct their perception of reality on; so later they will become able to process all the incoming information through the constructivist principles and come out with the scientific-approved understanding of reality.6 From this point modern educational theorists started calling constructivism “The view of science”7, because it deals with the methods that lead learners to understanding the fundamentals of nature, the understanding of which helps students to systematize their knowledge in scientific way. That’s why constructivism nowadays reforms the approaches of education and changes studying programs, because it is the best way to make education more scientific and objective.8 The specific methods of constructivist teaching that carry the principles of the theory out into classrooms are quite clear if analyzing the theory in detail. First of all, the class curriculum’s pattern is different from the old one, as the constructivist one emphasizes on big concepts deductively leading a pupil to the smallest details. Considering information consistently teacher treats his students as creators of new theories about the world, so he initiates them asking more questions in order to confirm or disprove their theories. To understand students’ points clearly teacher increases the amount of class work that reveals students’ opinions about the world, for example, group work if quite efficient from this point. In general the ways constructivism is used in classrooms are any kinds of work that show students’ abilities to construct theories and help them to understand how to select truthful theories among the wrong ones. In his research about constructivism theory Jonassen asks a quite reasonable question concerning constructivism and whether it can be an applicable philosophical doctrine. The question is about existence of objective reality.9 The theorist’s point is clear, because if there is no objectiveness then there are no universal principles of reasoning we can learn, which means that constructivism anarchy has a right to exist and constructivism can be applied in a contrary way – everybody can construct any concepts about their world perception. Such position causes certain epistemological problems, therefore there are such realms of human reality like ethics and religion that can’t be excluded from consideration. From the Christian point of view constructivism can be partly understood as a kind of heresy, because it eliminates God from the system of nature. If everything can be explained by synthetic universal principles and knowledge can be constructed according to them then what is God’s matter in such a world and education. Constructivism makes metaphysical aspect needless. At first sight this is what science has always wanted, but there rather big problem can appear if God will be out of his place. Then how are we supposed to consider ethics and the laws of morality and which part of a word construction they take? Probably, none, because there is no objective mathematical and natural reasoning that defines any definite ethics. That’s where religion is necessary as far as it actually produces ethical laws. But the issue is how Christianity and its morality can be justified within constructivism doctrine. Perhaps, the philosopher who succeeded in combining constructivism and metaphysics was Immanuel Kant who said that God cannot be perceived by human’s mind that constructs notions of reality, but still it would be unwise to deny His influence on the world. As far as constructivism theory has many aspects that can be criticized and disputed, still it makes a quite helpful educational approach that makes teaching and learning more essentially scientific. But the religious aspect of human reality definitely cannot be excluded from educational consideration as it forms ethical fundamentals obviously very important part of education. That’s why the main purpose is to manage to combine the two approaches in order to make education both more scientific and moral. Bibliography Barkin, Samuel. “Realist Constructivism.” International Studies Review 5 (2003): 325-342. Colburn, Alan. “Constructivism: Science Educations "Grand Unifying Theory”. The Clearing House 74(2000): 9-12. James, Aaron. “Constructivism about Practical Reasons”. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 74 (2007): 302-325. Jonassen, David H. “Objectivism versus Constructivism: Do We Need a New Philosophical Paradigm?”. Educational Technology Research and Development 39 (1991): 5-14. Matthews, Michael R. “Constructivism and Science Education: Some Epistemological Problems”. Journal of Science Education and Technology 2 (1993): 359-370. Matthews, Michael R. “Constructivism and Science Education: A Further Appraisal”. Journal of Science Education and Technology 11(2002): 121-134. Niiniluoto, Iikka. “Realism, Relativism, and Constructivism”. Synthese 89 (1991): 135-162. Sigel, Irving E. “Constructivism and Teacher Education”. The Elementary School Journal 78 (1978): 332-338. Read More