LESSON 4:

Constructivist Theory in
Teaching Social Studies
REPORTER:
FERDINAND C. BACAY JR.
What is Constructivism?
 Constructivism is a theory of learning that has roots in both
philosophy and psychology .
 Learners actively construct their own knowledge and meaning from
their experiences (Fosnot, 1996; Steffe & Gale, 1995).
 Relies on a epistemology that stresses subjectivism and relevatism,
the concept that while reality may exist separate from experience, it
can only be known through experience, resulting in a personally
unique reality.
 Basic Tenets of Constructivism
 Knowledge is not passively accumulated, but rather, is the result of active
cognizing by the individual.
 Cognition is an adaptive process that functions to make an individual's
behavior more viable given a particular environment
 Cognition organizes and makes sense of one's experience, and is not a process
to render an accurate representation of reality; and
 Knowing has roots in both biological/neurological construction, and social,
cultural, and language-based interactions (Dewey, 1916/1980; Garrison, 1997,
1998; Gergen, 1995; Maturana & Varela, 1992).
 Types of Constructivism

1. Cognitive Constructivism

2. Social Constructivism
3. Radical Constructivism
Cognitive Constructivism
- typically associated with information processing and relies
heavily on the component processes of cognition.
- emphasizes that in order to acquire knowledge, an
individual has an active role in cognizing any stimuli that
formed their experiences.
- these internalization, construction, and reconstruction are
what we call learning.
Cognitive Constructivism
 This perspective on learning focuses on:

(a) the processes of learning;

(b) how "experiences" are represented or
symbolized in the mind; and
(c) how representations are organized
within the mind.
Cognitive Constructivism
Cognitive constructivism contributed
significantly to empirical findings regarding
learning, memory and cognition, including
schema theory, working memory models of
learning and memory, and neurological models of
brain function.
Cognitive Constructivism
Successful Instructional Applications:
1. Use of advanced organizers and concept maps;
2. Teaching for transfer;
3. Elaborative Practice;
4. Teaching for automacity;
5. Use of reading strategies; and
6. Problem-solving strategies
Radical Constructivism
Believes that the acquisition of knowledge is an adaptive
process that could be attributed from the active cognition of
an individual translating an experientially based mind.
There is an internal nature of knowledge, and recognizes the
existence of an external reality.
Knowledge is constructed from experience but the way it is
constructed is not an accurate representation of the external
world or reality.
Social Constructivism
Social constructivism as a school of thought lies between the
transmission of the knowable reality of the cognitive
constructivists and the construction of a personal reality of
the radical constructivists.
Upholds the social nature of knowledge and that knowledge
is the result of social interaction and language usage.
Knowledge is a shared experience.
-teaches that all
knowledge develops as
a result of social
interaction and
language use, and is
therefore a shared,
rather than an
individual, experience.
Contructivist Pedagogy
1. Authentic and real-world environments
are necessary for learning to take place.

- provides actual learning contexts

- provides the activity upon which the mind
operates.
Contructivist Pedagogy
2. Social negotiation and mediation should be taken into
account in any form of learning.

- provides socially relevant skills and knowledge

- exposure of learners to various opportunities in
interaction.
- Language in an integral part of social mediation.
Contructivist Pedagogy
3. Content and skills are made
significant to the learners.

-knowledge serves as an adaptive

function.
Contructivist Pedagogy
4. Learner's prior knowledge is fundamental in
the acquisition of content and skills.
- Learning begins with an individual's schema or prior
knowledge.
- Teachers will be able to create effective
experiences if they understand a student's prior
knowledge.
Contructivist Pedagogy
5. Formative assessment should be done to
inform future learning experiences.
-Knowledge acquisition is an active and
ongoing process.
- Continuous assessment accounts a learner's
level of understanding in the on- going teaching
and learning process.
Contructivist Pedagogy
6. Constructivism encourages learners to become self-
regulated, self-mediated and self- aware.
Metacognition:
1. Knowledge Cognition- knowing what one knows, what
one is capable of doing, what to do and when to do it.
2. Regulation of Cognition- the on-going task of planning,
monitoring and evaluating one's own learning and cognition.
Contructivist Pedagogy
7. Teachers should act as guides and facilitators of learning.
-Teachers create experiences that leads students to
knowledge processing and acquisition;
- Teachers are seen as "guides on the side" instead of "sage
on the stage"
- Teachers guide the students to an awareness of their
experiences and socially agreed upon meanings.
Contructivist Pedagogy
8. Teachers must employ multiple perspectives
and representations of content.

•Multiple Perspective/ Lens→ various routes to

knowledge retrieval→ capacity to use more
complex schemas relevant to experience.
Activity:
Answer the following questions.

1. Enumerate and explain the basic tenets of

constructivism as an educational philosophy.
2. What are the implications of constructivism to
social studies?