Constructivism Revisited: Implications and Reflections

The fields of biology, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and epistemology have been affected no less, and these changing models have, in turn, dramatically affected the way we now understand the interrelated acts of teaching and learning. In the early part of the twentieth century, “a change in behavior” was thought to define learning. Thus teaching was characterized as clear communication with appropriate learner practice, reinforcement, and motivation. Disciplines were broken down into skills and concepts, sequenced from what was considered simple to complex tasks, and assessments were designed to measure changes in behavior. We thought of the mind as a muscle in need of exercise and affected by practice. Today we know such models to be insufficient. Teaching and learning are far more complex; they are about interaction, growth, and development. Today we see “mind” as the result of the human construction of coherence, of explanation within communities of discourse as problems are posed and solved (Brown, 2001; Maturana and Varela, 1998; Deutsch, 2001).