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Tiffany Plummer
Dr. Hawkes
Educational Psychology
4 November 2015
Constructivism
For years, different approaches to learning have been studied by psychologists, who have
then formed many theories on how to teach. One of those theories is constructivism. There are
many theorists who helped create ideas for constructivism including Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky,
Jerome Bruner, and John Dewey. This theory is based largely on the way people create
knowledge from their observations and experiences (Ormrod 19). Learning from the perspective
of constructivism has many different concepts about how children learn including Piagets
schemes, Vygotskys Zone of Proximal Development, Bruners discovery learning, and Deweys
directed living, with these theories come a multitude of different ways it can be applied in the
classroom setting.
Jean Piaget was born in 1896, and in 1936 when he worked to develop questions in
French from English intelligence tests, he described his work as genetic epistemology which
means the origins of thinking (McLeod). He concluded from his research on children that their
logic and thinking are entirely different from those of adults (Constructivism as a Paradigm 5).
Jean Piaget created a Cognitive Theory of learning, to show his findings from his work with
children, which included three components, schemes, adaptation processes, and the stages of
development. The first component is schemes; they are the organization of things that children
learn to do. Schemes organize these into groups of similar thoughts or actions used repeatedly in
response to their environment (Ormrod 142). For example, a student may have a scheme for

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identifying mice that includes their long thin tail, beady eyes, and there short tiny bodies. Once a
scheme is produced, it must go through the adaptation process.
The next components of Jean Piagets cognitive theory is the adaptation process. This
process includes assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration. Assimilation means someone is
using an existing scheme to interpret or respond to a new event or object. Accommodation means
someone needs to modify or form a new scheme that can interpret or respond to a new event or
object (McLeod). The final step in the process is equilibration which is the movement from
equilibrium, the state of being able to process new events with old schemes, to disequilibrium,
state of not being able to process new events with old schemes, is said to develop more complex
thought and understandings (Ormrod 145). This process will help children easily be able to learn
new things by combining them with new things or changing up old schemes. Of course their
schemes will become more elaborate and numerous as the children go through the stages of
development.
The final component of Jean Piagets Cognitive theory are the stages of cognitive
development. There are four stages sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and
formal operational. The sensorimotor stage occurs between birth and age two, it states that in this
stage schemes are based largely on behaviors and perceptions, meaning they focus on what they
are doing and seeing at the moment. This is also when object permanence is learned (Ormrod
149). The preoperational stage occurs between two and six or seven years old, in this stage
language, symbolic thought and egocentrism begin to develop more but the children still do not
reason like adults yet. The concrete operational stage occurs between six or seven and eleven or
twelve, in this stage they begin to gain adult like logic but only concrete, real-life reasoning and
are able to understand conservation. The formal operational stage occurs between eleven or

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twelve through adulthood. In this stage they can reason about abstract and concrete ideas
(McLeod). These stages help to determine what children will be able to accomplish at their age
and ability level, in ways of thinking. Piagets theory focused more on the process of knowledge
rather than on the social aspects like Lev Vygotsky did.
Lev Vygotsky is another theorist of constructivism focused more on the social aspects of
learning. He emphasized the role of language in learning by showing that in children
communication is a prerequisite to childrens acquisitions of concepts and language, but they
learn this not only through facts but through meaning and personal significance as well
(Constructivist Learning Theory). This means that language is co-constructed because other
people are giving meaning to the language to help someone construct it. Co-constructing does
not just work for language but for many other things that require help or persuading to learn. If
an adult or peer discusses a topic with a student, they are co-constructing ideas to learn
information, which leads us into Vygotskys Zone of Proximal Development.
Vygotsky believed that the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which is the range of
tasks that one cannot yet perform individually but can with the help of others, helps children
develop (Ormord 146). In order to ensure children develop in the ZPD the assistance must have
features of inter-subjectivity and scaffolding. Inter-subjectivity is the process that two
participants with different understandings will arrive at a shared understanding, and scaffolding
means that the support will be adjusted throughout the teaching session to fit the current level of
performance (Constructivist learning theory). With these two features, the student will be able to
develop better through their ZPD. Students' ZPD changes as they master tasks, meaning tasks
that are more difficult will arrive to replace their old ones in the ZPD.

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Jerome Bruner is another theorist who focused more on social constructivism like
Vygotsky. Bruner focused more on the fact that a student selects information to make hypotheses
and decision to integrate the new experiences into existing mental concepts (Dimitrios). He
focused more on the aspect of discovery learning. This is where the student must discover new
things on their own. Discovery learning lies at the heart of effective education because the
students want to learn (Dimitrios). Bruner came up with three principles for constructivistic
learning. The principles are readiness, spiral organization, and going beyond what is given. For
readiness, instruction must be concerned with the experience and context that make students
willing and able to learn (Constructivist learning theory). For spiral organization, he said
instruction must be easy to understand by the student. For going beyond the information given,
instruction must facilitate extrapolation (Dimitrios). Therefore, Bruner states that teachers should
allow for discovery learning, because students are more likely to attain knowledge from real
world problems and problem solving. John Dewey has a similar theory as Bruner but it goes
along the line of directed living.
John Deweys theory was that students could only learn by directed living. Directed
living is where concrete activities are combined with a theory (Domitrios). He agreed with
Vygotsky that knowledge emerges from situations where learners have to draw knowledge out of
meaningful experiences. In his method of directed living students should engage in real world,
practical workshops where one can demonstrate knowledge through creativity and collaboration
(Constructivist learning theory). Dewey says that students cannot learn by memorizing things so
students need to work together to construct knowledge that is meaningful. Directed living is what
Dewey thinks teachers should practice in their classroom.

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Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner, and Dewey have made unique contributions to constructivist
learning theory, but all of their theories are useful for teachers to use when wanting to use the
constructivist theory. One aspect of the theory is that students learn best by trying to make sense
of something on their own with the teacher acting as a guide to help them along the way
(Teaching with the Constructivist learning theory). For example, when students are learning
about butterflies they are to observe and learn about them on their own, while the teacher may
give them questions to help them get it right. Another way to include constructivism in the
classroom is by looking for students prior experiences and knowledge on the topic before
teaching them (Hoover). For example, if a teacher notices that the students have been to a
butterfly house or farm she can use the knowledge they learned there to teach the students. If a
teacher puts a student in a situation that challenges their previous conceptions that will create
contradictions and encourage discussion, the students will be learning from the constructivist
theory (Teaching with the Constructivist Learning Theory). For example If a student has a
previous conception that all frogs are green and are nice the teacher could bring them to a zoo
and show them the different colors and give them books about poisonous frogs to challenge their
previous thoughts. That is a process of creating disequilibrium for the child but it helps the
student to reconstruct their perception of the world. These ways of using constructivism in the
classroom will help students with new and prior knowledge.
Collaboration with other students is also important because they will be able to learn
from each others strategies and methods about how to learn other than just their own. So a
teacher could have students do an activity on their own, and then come back and discuss with a
partner on how they did it (Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching). Another thing that will
help students is by keeping journals and writing what they felt about the projects, what others

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thought of their project, and what they could have changed. Occasionally the teacher could
collect their journals and discuss what the student learned and how they learn best. One other
way that constructivism can be used is by allowing students to have multiple interpretations and
expressions of learning (Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching). A teacher should use many
different ways to teach a subject so if they are learning about the moon they should use hand on
activities, visuals, books, discussions with the class, etc., so that the student is able to learn in
different ways. These are all great ways for students to be able to learn first, how to learn and
second, to understand what they are learning.
Through the theories of Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner, and Dewey constructivism forms.
Constructivism is when one creates knowledge from their own experiences and observations, and
builds it on to their prior knowledge. Learning through constructivism helps when a student finds
something that is meaningful within the lesson. When a topic or lesson is in the ZPD then it is
best that they receive the needed help to learn it completely. When a teacher uses constructivism
in a classroom by only guiding students, learning their prior knowledge, putting them in
situations that contradict their prior knowledge, letting them collaborate with others, and
reflecting with them on their work, the students will benefit. Constructivism is one of many
learning theories that will help all students to learn to the best of their ability.

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Bibliography
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Teaching and Learning. Educational Broadcasting Corporation, 2004. Web. 06 Nov.
2015.
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2015.
Dimitrios Thanasoulas, Greece. "Constructivist Learning." Constructivist Learning. Web. 07
Nov. 2015.
Hoover, Wesley A. "The Practice Implications of Constructivism." SEDL. SEDL Letter, Aug.
1996. Web. 06 Nov. 2015.
McLeod, Saul A. "Jean Piaget." Simply Psychology. 17 Sept. 2009. Web. 07 Nov. 2015.
Ormrod, Jeanne Ellis. Essentials of Educational Psychology: Big Ideas to Guide Effective
Teaching. Third ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
"Teaching with the Constructivist Learning Theory." Constructivist Learning Theory. NDT
Resource Center. Web. 07 Nov. 2015.