RADICAL CONSTRUCTIVISM: A Way of Knowing and Learning (Studies in Mathematics Education Series)

Studies in Mathematics Education Series: 6. Radical Constructivism: A Way of Knowing and Learning. Ernst von Glasersfeld. The calmer Press. (A member of.
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Ernst von Glasersfeld Publisher: London ; Washington, D. Studies in mathematics education series , 6. English View all editions and formats Summary:. Click link to access Ebook Central Available to Stanford-affiliated users. Allow this favorite library to be seen by others Keep this favorite library private. Find a copy in the library Finding libraries that hold this item Electronic books Additional Physical Format: Document, Internet resource Document Type: Ernst von Glasersfeld Find more information about: Reviews User-contributed reviews Add a review and share your thoughts with other readers.

Add a review and share your thoughts with other readers. Similar Items Related Subjects: Another writer has identified the Progressive Education tradition as constructivist, and the British Plowden Report of the mids as the embodiment of constructivist school organisation Hawkins For some, constructivism is even larger than a theory of learning, education and science; it is almost a worldview or weltanschuung. Whilst another constructivist writes:. To become a constructivist is to use constructivism as a referent for thoughts and actions.

That is to say when thinking or acting, beliefs associated with constructivism assume a higher value than other beliefs. For a variety of reasons the process is not easy. Thus one problem posed for the appraisal of constructivism, for determining whether it has been a help or hinderance in educational reform, is being clear about what aspect of constructivism is being appraised: Frequently the different aspects are treated as a package deal, whereby being a constructivist in learning theory is deemed to flow on to being a constructivist in all the other areas, and being a constructivist in pedagogy is deemed to imply a constructivist epistemology and educational theory.

Radical Constructivism: A Way of Knowing and Learning - Ernst von Glasersfeld - Google Книги

But these aspects can all be separated and each can stand alone. Thomas Kuhn, for instance, held a constructivist theory of science yet was an advocate of anti-constructivist pedagogy Kuhn Socrates might be seen to be a constructivist in pedagogy, yet he was an anti-constructivist in his theory of knowledge. On the other hand, Ernst Mach was a most vigorous champion of instrumentalist constructivist? Thus at least the following dimensions, or fields, of constructivism need to be separated:. Constructivism as a theory of learning.

Constructivism as a theory of teaching. Constructivism as a theory of education. Constructivism as a theory of cognition. Constructivism as a theory of personal knowledge.

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Constructivism as a theory of scientific knowledge. Constructivism as a theory of educational ethics and politics. Constructivism as a worldview. Evidence of conflict is seen in nearly every facet of educational practice. A bibliography produced at Leeds University, a major centre of constructivist research, listed over 1, works Carmichael et al Reinders Duit, at the Institute for Science Education in Kiel, has been performing the Herculean task of keeping up-to-date with research in this field, and in the early s he estimated that there were 2, constructivist-inspired scholarly research articles in journals and anthologies Duit At the end of the s, that number could probably be quadroupled.

A periodic series of research conferences held at Cornell University under the guidance of Joseph Novak reflects this same almost exponential growth of constructivist scholarship. In the past decade there have been scores of constructivist-inspired books and anthologies in science and mathematics education.

Constructivist influence has extended beyond just the research and scholarly community: The Draft Standards recognised that the history, philosophy and sociology of science ought contribute to the formation of the science curriculum. But when the contribution of philosophy of science was, in an Appendix, elaborated, it turned out to be constructivist philosophy of science. Not surprisingly these endorsements caused some scientific and philosophical eyebrows to be raised, and sleeves to be rolled up. The revised Draft emerged sans the Appendix, but its constructivist content was not rejected, merely relocated NRC As one commentator, sympathetic to constructivism, remarked:.

And constructivist influence is not just confined to the US. The New Zealand National Science Curriculum is heavily influenced by constructivist theories and ideals Matthews Comparable documents in Spain, the UK, Israel, Australia, and Canada bear to varying degrees the imprint of constructivist theory. The introductory essay of a recent constructivist anthology announces that: Another leading advocate has, understatedly, said: These comments resonate with a certain Manicheeism commonly found in constructivism.

Jeremy Kilpatrick, in his plenary address to a major international mathematics education conference in , criticised the insularity and fervour of constructivists, observing that constructivism was akin to waves of religious fundamentalism that periodically sweep America. He said of constructivism that it has:. A siege mentality that seeks to spread the word to an uncomprehending, fallen world; a band of true believers whose credo demands absolute faith and unquestioning commitment, whose tolerance for debate is minimal, and who view compromise as sin; an apocalyptic vision that governs all of life, answers all questions, and puts an end to doubt.

And constructivism is understood as not just another flag to march behind; it is not just an ideal, or purely normative theory: Constructivism is not just a banner flapping idly in the breeze, as Luis Althusser once said of the role of Marxism in the French Communist Party and as could be said of so many educational slogans: Children are said to learn in a certain way, and what they learn is said to be characterised in a certain way and thus teaching, curriculum, school organisation are all supposed to reflect these realities, not just hopes or aspirations.

Note that by using the term empirical evidence , I am not taking a realist or empiricist stance, nor any other Western orientation. Hence in this study I do not pretend to capture the real world of the research participants realism , nor do I pretend to capture their experiential world empiricism. As a prominent constructivist in mathematics education has written:. Put into simple terms, constructivism can be described as essentially a theory about the limits of human knowledge, a belief that all knowledge is necessarily a product of our own cognitive acts.

We can have no direct or unmediated knowledge of any external or objective reality. We construct our understanding through our experiences, and the character of our experience is influenced profoundly by our cognitive lens. Just whose reality is the most real, or whose reality ought to drive education policy and funding, is left obscure. There are of course difficult interpretative problems regarding the relationship of evidence to theory, and good methodologists are aware of them and do their best to make the relationship more transparent, but constructivism creates an in principle barrier between evidence and theory.

There are three major constructivist traditions: Educational constructivism itself divides into personal constructivism having its origin with Piaget and at present most clearly enunciated by Ernst von Glasersfeld; and social constructivism which has its origins with Lev Vyotsky, the Soviet contemporary of Piaget, and has been enunciated by researchers such as Rosalind Driver in science education and Paul Ernest in mathematics education. This tradition has been, since Aristotle, opposed by realists in the philosophy of science see Matthews , chap.

In this tradition the growth of science, and changes in its theories and philosophical commitments, is interpreted in terms of changing social conditions and interests. The explanatory power of cognitive content and rational reasoning is discounted. Psychological processes are not much referred to in this tradition: That is, that something is true and reasonable is not thought, by adherents to the Edinburgh Programme, to constitute an explanation of why it is believed.

Constructivism (philosophy of education)

They believe in the Symmetry Principle: This chapter will be concerned chiefly with the first tradition, educational constructivism. Even here there are many varieties. Indeed for many writers, teachers and students this is what constructivism means.


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Dennis and Valentina McInerney, for instance, in their text on educational psychology say that: This identification is a cause of some confusion: Bruner and the Gestalt theorists paid little attention to epistemology, which is the defining feature of serious constructivism. Certainly many realists in epistemology embrace non-behaviourist learning theory: These identity problems are likewise exacerbated when writers simply identify constructivism with all views that recognise the social, cultural and historical dimension of cognition.

Paulo Freire is one of many who have championed this view Matthews Constructivists rightly stress this insight, but are frequently blind to its major import: Language, especially scientific and mathematical language, needs to be mastered and, at the end of the day, transmitted. Anthony Lorsbach and Kenneth Tobin, in an article explaining the implications of constructivism for practising science teachers, wrote:. The constructivist epistemology asserts that the only tools available to a knower are the senses.

Radical constructivism : a way of knowing and learning

It is only through seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting that an individual interacts with the environment. With these messages from the senses the individual builds a picture of the world. Therefore, constructivism asserts that knowledge resides in individuals. Ernst von Glasersfeld has had great influence on the development of constructivist theory in mathematics and science education in the past decade.

He has published well over one hundred papers, book chapters and books in fields such as mathematics and science education, cybernetics, semantics and epistemology. As he provides perhaps the most systematic account of the epistemological and ontological underpinnings of psychological constructivism that can be found in the educational literature, his work will be examined here in some detail.

The examination intends to illustrate some philosophical problems with constructivist theory, and more generally illustrate how the history and philosophy of science can bear upon important disputes in educational theory. Von Glasersfeld concludes his discussion of Vico with the claim that, for constructivists:. This can be referred to as von Glasersfeld's principle, or perhaps von Glasersfeld's philosophy VGP , as it subsumes a number of epistemological and ontological theses, among which are the following:.

There are some ambiguities and obscurities in this formulation, but there are other statements of VGP which illuminate some of these constitutive theses.