Constructivist approaches to learning and teaching science

Abstract

This chapter examines constructivism, an approach to modelling learning that has been extensively referred to in science education. The central assumptions of constructivism are introduced – pupils' prior knowledge will impact how they interpret new information, and they may develop conceptions of scientific ideas that differ from those of experts. Different varieties of constructivism are examined, and the chapter includes an introduction to the work of two influential constructivist thinkers, Piaget and Vygotsky. Several critiques of constructivism are considered. Following this theoretical introduction, four approaches to applying the consequences of the constructivist model in the science classroom are suggested: inhibition training (teaching students to supress alternative conceptions and preferentially activate scientific concepts), bridging analogies (a sequence of activities to link a well-understood context with a novel scenario), self-explanation (supporting students to develop coherent accounts), and knowledge organisers (representations of the relationships between concepts that can guide learning).