Constructivism as Applied to the Field of Education
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This solution discusses constructivism as it is applied to the field of education. The influence of social constructionism and various theorists is detailed. References are listed. The text contains 650 words.
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Constructivism, as it is used in the field of education, is a broad term that covers a wide range of pedagogical approaches and styles and finds its roots in a number of related fields. Constructivism in education is tied to notions of social constructionism in sociology. Vermeulen and Govers, quoting Gergen (1985) say of this,
"...social constructionism maintains that the sources of our knowledge are not exogenic ('dependent on events in the real world') , or endogenic ('dependent on processes endemic to the organism') , but sociogenic: knowledge 'is something people do together'. It implies an interpretive approach" (1997, p. 21). They add this caveat, however, by reminding us, 'The constructionist perspective claims, as interpretive approaches usually do, to transcend a number of dichotomies... However, it creates, maintains or reinforces others. It is not uncommon, for example, to oppose ethnic identities as socially constructed identities to 'natural categories', suggesting that ethnic identities are less 'real' than others, for example class identities" (p. 21).
Within education, Bolotin-Joseph et. al. write,
"The metaphor of 'construction' is perhaps most closely associated with the work of ...
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