Notes on Constructivism

Quotes

• “at present the constructivist model is descriptive, not prescriptive.” (Airasian & Walsh, 1997, p. 444)
• "application of constructivism in classrooms is neigher widespread nor systemic." (Airasian & Walsh, 1997, p. 447)
• "Students construct their own knowledge and interpretations no matter wht instructional approach is implemented and no matter what name is given to it." (Airasian & Walsh, 1997, p. 444)
• "I agree with the observation that the great philosophers have tried to find a way to integrate the mystical and the scientific. But from my point of view it was precisely the preoccupation with mysticism that blocked their progress in epistemology. The attempt to analyze the mystic’s wisdom with the tools of reason invariably leads to a twofold failure: on the one hand it destroys the mystic’s vision of unity because it segments experience into separate, specifiable parts; on the other, it compromises the rules of rational thought because it admits terms whose definition remains questionable because it is based on private experience." (Ernst von Glasersfeld, http://www.oikos.org/vGknowl.htm)
• "Today, those constructivists who are "radical" because they take their theory of knowing seriously, frequently meet the same objection--except that it is sometimes expressed less politely than at the beginning of the 18th century. Now, no less than then, it is difficult to show the critics that what they demand is the very thing constructivism must do without. To claim that one's theory of knowing is true, in the traditional sense of representing a state or feature of an experiencer-independent world, would be perjury for a radical constructivist." (Ernst von Glasersfeld, http://www.oikos.org/constructivism.htm)
• "One of the central points of the theory is precisely that this kind of "truth", can never be claimed for the knowledge (or any piece of it) that human reason produces. To mark this radical departure, I have in the last few years taken to calling my orientation a theory of knowing rather than a "theory of knowledge". I agree whole-heartedly with Noddings when she says, at the beginning of her contribution to this volume, that radical constructivism should be "offered as a post-epistemological perspective". " (Ernst von Glasersfeld, http://www.oikos.org/constructivism.htm)
• "Pursuing this way of thinking, one is led to what I have called "a reconstruction of the concept of knowledge" (von Glasersfeld, 1985)... Instead of the illusory relation of "representation", one has to find a way of relating knowledge to reality that does not imply anything like match or correspondence. Neither Vico nor Kant explicitly mentioned such a conceptual alternative." (Ernst von Glasersfeld, http://www.oikos.org/constructivism.htm)
• "1 - a) Knowledge is not passively received either through the senses or byway of communication;
  - b) knowledge is actively built up by the cognizing subject.
  2 - a) The function of cognition is adaptive, in the biological sense ofthe term, tending towards fit or viability;
  - b) cognition serves the subject's organization of the experientialworld, not the discovery of an objective ontological reality.
  One cannot adopt these principles casually. If taken seriously, they are incompatible with the traditional notions of knowledge, truth, and objectivity, and they require a radical reconstruction of one's concept of reality. "(Ernst von Glasersfeld, http://www.oikos.org/constructivism.htm)
• "None of this is developed in a free, wholly arbitrary fashion. Every individual's abstraction of experiential items is constrained (and thus guided) by social interaction and the need of collaboration and communication with other members of the group in which he or she grows up.No individual can afford not to establish a relative fit with the consensual domain of the social environment." (Ernst von Glasersfeld, http://www.oikos.org/constructivism.htm)
• "If one seriously wants to adopt the radical constructivist orientation, the changes of thinking and of attitudes one has to make are formidable. It is also far from easy to maintain them consequentially. Much like physical habits, old ways of thinking are slow to die out and tend to return surreptitiously." (Ernst von Glasersfeld, http://www.oikos.org/constructivism.htm)

Thoughts

• Since fixed instructional objectives are not emphasized in constructivist tradition, I think "agenda" is a better word for this similar purpose. Agenda implies planning as well as action. It is more dynamic than objectives, and can be revised based on need of situation. Both instructor and students have their own agenda. It works when both agenda merge. This requires negotiation, though.
• I also wonder if "rubrics" are still desired.
• When we talk about knowledge construction, knowledge is not necessarily uniform. There are different types of knowledge as described by Ernst von Glasersfeld. The way we construct it might not necessarily be the same, either. For example, knowledge is constructed based on our experience. But there are knowedge that is beyond our experience.