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Constructivism in Science Education: The Need for a Clear Line of Demarcation

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Science Education Research in the Knowledge-Based Society

Abstract

Some voices have recently begun to question the constructivist positions, which have been considered the most important contribution of the last decades in science education. It could be thought then, that the“constructivist consensus” might just be a new fashion that would once again lead us back to the immovable reception model of science learning. This questions, at the same time, the idea of an advance in the field of science education towards the construction of a coherent body of knowledge.

However, these criticisms are frequently focused on the contributions of authors, such as Glaserfeld or Kelly, none of whom have worked in science education. We believe this is misleading, because it denies the possibility for science education to give way to a specific body of knowledge and reduces its theoretical bases to the application of external knowledge. The goal of this work is to analyse some of the current criticisms to the constructivist orientations in science education, without entering into other philosophical or psychological debates.

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Gil-Pérez, D. (2003). Constructivism in Science Education: The Need for a Clear Line of Demarcation. In: Psillos, D., Kariotoglou, P., Tselfes, V., Hatzikraniotis, E., Fassoulopoulos, G., Kallery, M. (eds) Science Education Research in the Knowledge-Based Society. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0165-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0165-5_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-6337-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-0165-5

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