There are three essential lines of criticism of constructivism in the literature:
- 1.
That the constructivist perspective is indistinguishable from “discovery learning”
- 2.
That the constructivist theoretical perspective is essentially attempting to make something out of a triviality
- 3.
That the constructivist perspective has little or nothing to say about the nature of an effective pedagogy
Each of these is now discussed in turn.
Criticism 1: The Constructivist Perspective Is Indistinguishable from “Discovery Learning”
Central to the basic critique of those who see constructivism as a form of discovery learning is a questioning of the constructivist belief that all knowledge has to be personally constructed. The inference made by these critics is that constructivists believe that knowledge constructed by the students themselves is more valuable than knowledge which is modeled, told, or explained to them; for instance, advocates of discovery learning very commonly concur with Piaget’s...
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Osborne, J. (2014). Constructivism: Critiques. In: Gunstone, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Science Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6165-0_344-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6165-0_344-2
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