Chapter 28: A Theory and Practice of Constructivist Curriculum

Constructivism and constructivist thinking have exploded onto our educational stage with a suddenness and strength that was hardly imaginable a decade or so ago, (but not yet clearly understood widely). This chapter will get at that, hopefully, in a down-to-earth way.

In order to achieve the goal of developing an understandable theory and practice (what good is theory without practice?) of constructivist curriculum, we will look at what makes a theory a theory, even looking at the possibility that theory can map “reality” (which gives us a strong thrust into the underlying basis for constructivist thinking). The next logical step we face is to uncover constructivist thinking by peering into its philosophic roots (where we will be utterly amazed at how very long ago the first instance of solid construc-tivist thinking appeared), and then its two major schools of thought, psychological and social construc-tivism, which again provide clues as to how we actually learn. Each school of thought is divided into moderate and radical subdivisions (of course).