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Radical Constructivism—von Glasersfeld

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Science Education in Theory and Practice

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Abstract

Radical constructivism was defined by von Glasersfeld as a theory of knowing that provides a pragmatic approach to questions about reality, truth, and human understanding. Radical constructivism draws heavily on Jean Piaget’s constructivism, but also on ideas about epistemology, or how we come to acquire knowledge, from British empiricism, Kant’s idealism, and Saussure’s structuralism, among others. Following Piaget, von Glasersfeld argued that we construct our concepts and our understanding of the world, developmentally. Knowledge is categorized by its viability in the domain of experience, rather than by the traditional philosophical position that it is constitutive of Truth, that is, that it corresponds to an objective reality. The two basic principles of radical constructivism are that knowledge is not passively received through the senses but is actively constructed by the cognizing subject, the learner, and that the function of cognition is organization of the experiential world rather than discovery of an independent reality. This chapter gives an overview of the theory underpinning radical constructivism and explores its implications for science education. It also examines critiques of radical constructivism, such as it neglects the social aspect of cognition and that it leads to an anti-realist stance on science teaching and learning.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Gráinne Walshe

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  1. Gráinne Walshe
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Correspondence to Gráinne Walshe .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Science Teachers Association of Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria

    Ben Akpan

  2. University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX, USA

    Teresa J. Kennedy

Resources

Resources

von Glasersfeld, E. (1995). Radical constructivism: A way of knowing and learning. London and Washington DC: The Falmer Press.

von Glasersfeld, E. (2001). Radical constructivism and teaching. Prospects, 31(2), 161−173. doi:10.1007/bf03220058

von Glasersfeld, E. (2007). Key works in radical constructivism, M. Larochelle (Ed.). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Matthews, M. R. (2012). Philosophical and pedagogical problems with constructivism in science education. Tréma, 38, 40−55.

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Walshe, G. (2020). Radical Constructivism—von Glasersfeld. In: Akpan, B., Kennedy, T.J. (eds) Science Education in Theory and Practice. Springer Texts in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43620-9_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43620-9_24

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-43619-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-43620-9

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