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Chapter 6
Constructivists Say: Knowledge is
Constructed in Context
The central tenet of the educational paradigm known as constructivism is that people actively construct
knowledge rather than passively receive and store ready-made knowledge. Knowledge is not taken in as is
from an external world, and is not a copy of what a textbook or teacher said. Instead, knowledge is unique
to the person or group that constructed it – constructivists differ among themselves as to whether individual
minds or social groups (or both) are the constructing agents. From these premises, constructivist thinkers
have derived pedagogical recommendations which tend to promote active, learner-centered education.
Proponents of constructivism often claim a positive, even revolutionary impact on education; skeptics
either point at perceived flaws in constructivist reasoning or dismiss constructivism as not so much a
revolution as a rephrasing of prevalent wisdoms. These issues notwithstanding, many critics, too, agree
that the currently extremely influential constructivist movement has done good by bringing epistemological
issues to the forefront of educational discussions, by advancing the increasingly widespread recognition of
the social aspects of learning and the importance of learners’ prior knowledge, and by emphasizing active
learning (Phillips, 1995, 2000).
To get an overall feel, let us begin with a list of selected constructivist claims (my phrasings based
on von Glasersfeld, 1982; Phillips, 1995, 2000; Steffe and Gale, 1995; Greening, 1999; Ben-Ari, 2001a;
Larochelle et al., 1998; Rasmussen, 1998; Anderson et al., 2000b; Patton, 2002; Kirschner et al., 2006;
Tobias and Duffy, 2009). These claims range from the epistemological to the pedagogical. Some are
considerably more controversial than others. Not all of the claims are equally, or at all, accepted by all
constructivists.
1. Knowledge is constructed by learners, it is not (and cannot be) transmitted as is.
2. The knowledge that people – or groups of people – have is different from the knowledge of other
people who have ostensibly ‘learned the same thing’.
3. Knowledge construction takes place as prior knowledge interacts with new experience.
4. Knowledge is not derived from, is not about, and does not represent an external, observerindependent
natural reality, but an experiential, personal (or socially shared) ‘reality’.
5. If an extraexperiential reality exists, it is not rationally accessible.
6. There is no objectively correct or incorrect, true or untrue knowledge, only knowledge that is more
or less viable for a purpose.
7. The social and cultural context mediates the construction of knowledge.
8. Effective learning features the learner as an intellectually active constructor of knowledge; good
teaching means facilitating and motivating such construction.
9. Allowing students to leverage their prior knowledge is key to good teaching.
10. Learners should be presented with minimal information and allowed to discover principles and rules
for themselves.
11. Hands-on learner-directed exploration is an effective form of learning.
12. Effective learning requires complex, authentic learning situations. Learners should solve illstructured,
open-ended problems similar to those that experts solve.
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