The Emptiness of Constructivist Teaching

Browse any mainstream educational source, from articles to curriculum, and you’ll quickly encounter a learning theory known as constructivism. Presented as a foundational belief in many teacher education programs, and forming the basis of many curricula, constructivism is a worldview that posits that individuals create knowledge for themselves by interacting with the world. This sounds positive, affirming, and child-centered, making it particularly attractive to educators. But constructivism, which has served as the theoretical and conceptual basis for much educational practice, provides an unstable foundation for understanding objective reality and, as a result, is an untenable approach to help students understand meaning in the world. Read Full Article »