Social constructionists
acknowledge the social nature of human life
, while at the same time it encourages individuals to tell their own stories. These underlying assumptions of social constructionism form the epistemological basis for the present study.
What is the epistemological stance in constructivism?
Constructivism is an epistemology,
a learning or meaning-making theory that
.
offers an explanation of the nature of knowledge and how human beings learns
. The real understanding is only constructed based on learners’ previous. experience and background knowledge.
About Transcript. Social constructionism
observes how the interactions of individuals with their society and the world around them gives meaning to otherwise worthless things and creates the reality of the society
.
Social constructivism teaches
that all knowledge develops as a result of social interaction and language use
, and is therefore a shared, rather than an individual, experience. … Instructors should therefore encourage errors resulting from the learners’ ideas, instead of minimizing or avoiding them.
Social constructivism stresses the need for collaborative learning. Learning is promoted through collaboration among students, and between students and teachers. … Some examples of collaborative learning activities are
group problem solving, group inquiry, simulations, and debates
.
An example of a social construct is
money or the concept of currency
, as people in society have agreed to give it importance/value. … Strong social constructs rely on the human perspective and knowledge that does not just exist, but is rather constructed by society.
3 stages of construction.
Externalization, Objectification, & Internalization
. Through interaction, people create a meaning.
What are examples of constructivism?
- Reciprocal teaching/learning. Allow pairs of students to teach each other.
- Inquiry-based learning (IBL) Learners pose their own questions and seek answers to their questions via research and direct observation. …
- Problem-based learning (PBL) …
- Cooperative learning.
Is Constructivism an epistemology?
While constructivists deny the possibility of knowledge of the real world, they do not deny the existence of the world itself. In this sense, it is an
epistemological
rather than an ontological thesis. … We can have no direct or unmediated knowledge of any external or objective reality.
Is positivism an epistemology?
In simple terms,
epistemology
is the theory of knowledge and deals with how knowledge is gathered and from which sources. … Within epistemology there are several approaches and branches, such as for example positivism and interpretivism. These two are by far not the only branches within epistemology.
Social constructivism suggests that successful teaching and learning is heavily dependent on interpersonal interaction and discussion, with the primary focus on
the students’ understanding of the discussion
(Prawat, 1992).
What are the two main types of constructivism?
Two major types of the constructivist learning perspectives are
cognitive constructivism and social constructivism
.
What are the four characteristics of constructivism?
- Knowledge is constructed. …
- People learn to learn, as they learn. …
- Learning is an active process. …
- Learning is a social activity. …
- Learning is contextual. …
- Knowledge is personal. …
- Learning exists in the mind. …
- Motivation is key to learning.
What are the disadvantages of constructivism?
One of the biggest disadvantages of constructivism is that
the learner may be hampered by contextualising learning in
that, at least initially, they may not be able to form abstractions and transfer knowledge and skills in new situations (Merrill, 1991) In other words, there is often, during the initial stage, …
Social constructivism was developed by
Vygotsky
. He rejected the assumption made by Piaget that it was possible to separate learning from its social context. Although Vygotsky died at the age of 38 in 1934, most of his publications did not appear in English until after 1960.
The main criticisms levelled against social constructionism can be summarised by its perceived conceptualisation of realism and relativism. It is accused of
being anti-realist
, in denying that knowledge is a direct perception of reality (Craib 1997).
