If a student is able to perform in a problem solving situation, a meaningful learning should then occur because he has constructed an interpretation of how things work using pre-existing structures. This is the theory behind CONSTRUCTIVISM. By creating a personal interpretation of external ideas and experiences, contructivism allows students the ability to understand how ideas can relate to each other and pre-existing knowledge.

          The constructivist classroom presents the learner with opportunities for “autopoietic” learning with a view to helping learners to build in prior and understand how to construct new knowledge from authentic experience. The students selects information, constructs hypothesis, and makes decisions, with the aim on integrating new experiences into his existing mental constructs.It is cognitive structures that provide meaning and organization to experiences and allow learners to transcend the boundaries of the information given. Learner independence, fostered through encouraging students to discover new principles of their own accord, lies the heart of effective education.

          Recapulating the main principles of constructivism, I could say that it emphasizes learning and not teaching, encourages learner autonomy and personal involvement in learning, looks to learners as incumbents of significant roles and as agents exercising will and purpose, foster learners’ natural curiosity and also takes account of learners’ affect, in terms of their beliefs, attitudes, and motivation.

By: Marilou T. Gammad | T-1 | Luacan National High School