Ahh.. yes, constructivism. Was I familiar with the term beforehand? No. Did I know the theory behind it and maybe, practice it to some extent? Yes. Seems like there are many things which we Do initiate but don’t know the terms of.
Now, constructivism is a theory, a philosophy, derived from observation and years of scientific study, which deals with the way people ‘learn’. So how Do we learn? We learn from all that/those around us as well as our predecessors. There are two bullet points to this: we aren’t exactly tabulae rasae (Burke probably would say "I told you so!" right about now), and learning is more ‘active rather than passive’, meaning, encouraging one to use "active" techniques, such as experiments, real-world problem solvings, and creating more knowledge, and then to reflecting upon it and its impact on one’s way of thinking.
And this, my friend, is an old age concept I tell you. The following link may certify as evidence: http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/~elmurphy/emurphy/cle.html
"Meaning requires understanding wholes as well as parts. And parts must be understood in the context of wholes. Therefore, the learning process focuses on primary concepts, not isolated facts."
Or so says this article I came across in the site:
http://www.funderstanding.com/constructivism.cfm.
I find it interesting since a professor of mine once stated how whatever we listen to, we do not understand. This concept is a basic one in Human Communications as well; what we hear is not what we understand, we understand that which we can relate to and which either blends with our way of thinking, or is wholly unfamiliar to our style of thinking. To understand the constructive method of learning, we must understand the constructive way of teaching.
The teacher, the Guru, must be acquainted with his/her students’ previous conceptions, and when speaking of a problem, must present the problem in such a manner to the pupils that they are compelled to question it, and reflect and examine his/her current knowledge. Even after being aware of the true answer to the problem, the Guru should give the students plenty of rope and let them arrive and mold their ways of thinking. A later discussion and contemplation on this will reveal how much they had actually understood and grasped of the initial concept.
Summary of constructive learning (if this were an advertisement, the punch line would be: the effect learning manner) = What we know, What we want to know, What we have learned, How we know it.
A fine example would be the common belief that all students in Bengali medium memorize things starting from math derivations, to question/answers in Literature, as well as essays and such. This is, of course, very untrue and does no justice to the system, and yet there is no smoke without fire.
Constructivism can be said to act out against this sort of teaching methods and in fact, it helps students in constructing knowledge rather than reproducing a series of facts.
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