The Importance Of Constructivism In The Modern Era Of Education

In the modern era of education, there is a resounding call for educational reform throughout the nation’s schools. There is a push to move away from traditional methods of educating students and toward more progressive ideas. In the past, it was believed that the best way to educate students was through rote memorization and direct lecture and instruction from the teacher. Today, however, it has been realized by most that children actually benefit from differentiated methods of instruction that require more student involvement in the learning process. One such theory of learning is constructivism, in which students are encouraged to truly discover learning on their own. In this sense, learners are expected to become more than just a face in

Constructivism as a word has several different possible meanings; it can refer to “an umbrella catch-all covering any approach to studying people that focuses on how they individually and socially construct understandings” (Raskin, 2015, p. 1) or it can be narrowed down to focus on a more specific subject such as psychology or education. It can be “applied both to learning theory and to epistemology---both to how people learn, and to the nature of knowledge” (Hein, 2016, p. 1). More specifically in the educational realm, the term refers to the notion that students in a classroom are allowed to construct knowledge for themselves in a learning community through facilitated social interaction. This stands in direct contrast to direct instruction, which for over a century has been the primary way in which students were expected to learn. Constructivism differs from direct instruction in several ways, particularly in that constructivism is centered on the learner

Since my beliefs do not necessarily line up with that of radical constructivism, I am willing to admit that there is a time and place for both methods of instruction in the classroom. Perhaps when students are totally unfamiliar with the concepts being presented, some form of direct instruction is necessary to properly introduce the topic (Eggen, 2007, p. 364). Once the basic concepts are thoroughly understood, then it is possible to move forward with a more constructivist approach in teaching. Allow the students to take the concepts they have already learned through direct instruction and expand further on their knowledge of the subject. Constructivism has enormous potential to benefit students in the mathematics classroom, because almost each and every concept taught builds off of another one previously learned. Giving the students an opportunity to further develop this knowledge themselves ensures a truer and deeper connection to what has been learned rather than listening to yet another lecture and simply being expected to soak up the information being endlessly hurled at