Constructivism

Definition

Constructivism is a learning theory that asserts that learning is an active process that builds upon prior knowledge or experience, and through interaction with the environment and other individuals (Mcleod, 2018).¹ It assumes that learners are intrinsically motivated and want to learn. In the case of classical constructivism, it is theorized that young learners move between stages of development as they grow up, and that they are only capable of learning a given concept once they reach the right stage. Social constructivism focuses on the zone of proximal development which is the phase where a learner is able to progress to a new stage only with the help of a mentor (Mcleod, 2022).²

Constructivist learning scenario

Since I did not originally share any experience grounded in constructivism, I will add a different experience below.

One example where constructivism could work particularly well is swimming lessons. Most students usually have prior knowledge of swimming which is an important assumption of constructivism. They would have acquired this knowledge from watching others or being coached by their own family members. In any case, students would all be at varying degrees of mastery of swimming with some being very proficient and others having very little practical knowledge.

As such for the first lesson, the instructor would ask the students to try to swim or go from point A to B in safe shallow water to assess their prior knowledge. An important assumption is that the students would understand that learning to swim is important and be intrinsically motivated to learn it for their own good. If that were not the case, another complimentary or alternative approach would have to be considered by the instructor.

Once the instructor has a good idea of each learner’s swimming proficiency, he would give students tasks of increasing difficulty where swimmers would learn from each other and be coached on an individual basis as they are performing the tasks. This would provide a scaffolding for students at a lower level to safely make progress and stay within the Zone of Proximal Development thereby making steady progress.

In this way students at lower levels would be taught the requisite skills to stay within the Zone of Proximal Development such as how to float in water and swim forward. As their proficiency increases, they would be given tasks of increasing difficulty such as perhaps swimming breaststroke, diving, and swimming freestyle. Those having reached mastery would be asked to help their peers and be given more and more leeway to discover how to improve their swimming skills through group practice and self-exploration of new aspects of swimming. This could include playing water sports such as water polo where learners would learn socially from each other.

1. Mcleod, S. A. (2018, June 6). Jean Piaget’s theory and stages of cognitive development. Simply Psychology. Retrieved February 19, 2023, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html[↩]
2. Mcleod, S. A. (2022, May 5). Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory. Simply Psychology. Retrieved February 19, 2023, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html[↩]