Glasersfeld meant by constructivism that we construct knowledge, it is not given to us, but rather it builds upon itself through experience and through different things that we've observed. We only learn that we are wrong when we experience a contradiction to what we had previously concluded. According to Glasersfeld, there is no truth because any thing considered "truth" is just something that has not been contradicted.
Knowing and understanding the principles behind constructivism helps me be able to better see how I need to approach things when I'm a teacher. I think it's really important to ask my students a lot of questions because I cannot assume that they have constructed the correct knowledge and the only way to find out if their thinking is correct is to ask them questions. I think it also helps me to realize that one thing needs to build upon the other through a variety of experiences because according to a constructivist perspective all knowledge is gained through experience.
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I agree! Questions can help guide a students towards possible contradictions in their knowledge, or help them feel more secure in their understanding of a concept. Important as this is, you might want to give some consideration to the types of questions you would want to ask, as some are definitely more useful than others
ReplyDeleteYou did a nice job developing how one constructs knowledge.
ReplyDeleteIn constructivism, there is truth. It's just one can never know if his knowledge is the truth.
I agree with you that questions are important to help kids think and evaluate. I also liked how you were direct with the explanation of constructivism. However, the part about truth and reality in the real world could have been developed more to give us more of an idea. Right now it sounds like there is no truth which is not really what von Glasersfeld meant.
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