Main Theorists - Contributors

John Dewey (1933/1998) is often cited as the philosophical founder of this approach.

Bruner (1990) and Piaget (1972) are considered the chief theorists among the cognitive

constructivists, while Vygotsky (1978) is the major theorist among the social

constructivists.

http://www.teach-nology.com/currenttrends/constructivism/piaget/piaget.html

Strength - who is it catering to and why, how effective is it

One writer said constructivism is a good strategy in teaching learners who are high

functioning or those learners with above average to superior intelligence. He said it

avoids direct instruction; instead the teacher guides students in discovering knowledge on

their own. (It allow students to work on their own, as well they doing a particular

whenever he/she chooses to do it). He stated that the students are actively involved,

rather than passively absorbing information and that the learning environment is

democratic and the teacher is not seen as an authority figures as much as a learning guide.

https://jroxas1179.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/is-constructivism-effective/

Another writer said constructivist teaching fosters critical thinking and creates active and

motivated learners. He stated too that constructivist teaching is to be used to create

learners who are autonomous, inquisitive thinkers who question, investigate, and reason.
https://sites.google.com/site/constructivism512/Home/implementation

According to International Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities

(2015), constructivism learning caters for students’ interaction and engaging in the

lesson/material. It is effective because it teaches students to work in groups through

practical experiences as well as it can help students learn their subject matter individually

through experiment.

http://www.irapub.com/images/short_pdf/1453989541_Pranab_Barman_7.pdf

Weakness - who is it not catering to and why, what would cater to them -

According to Bright Hub Education (2017), constructivism lack structure. It proposed

that some students require highly structured environments in order to be able to excel,

which is not supported by constructivism.

Another disadvantage that Bright Hub Education pointed out is that it removes grading in

the traditional way and instead places more value on students evaluating their own

progress, which may lead to students falling behind but without standardized grading and

evaluations teachers may not know that the student is struggling.

Bright Hub Education concluded that constructivism can also lead students to be

confused and frustrated because they may not have the ability to form relationships and
abstracts between the knowledge they already have and the knowledge they are learning

for themselves.

Bright Hub Educationhttp://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-methods-tips/76645-

pros-and-cons-of-constructivist-learning-theory
 REFERENCE

Bright Hub Education (2017), Retrieved on October 30, 2017, from:

http://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-methods-tips/76645-pros-and-cons-of-

constructivist-learning-theory

International Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities (2015), Retrieved on

October 29, 2017, from:

http://www.irapub.com/images/short_pdf/1453989541_Pranab_Barman_7.pdf

My Blog, Word Process.Com (2010), Retrieved on October 29, 2017,

from:https://jroxas1179.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/is-constructivism-effective/

Word Process.Com (n.d.), Retrieved on October 30, 3017, from: http://www.teach-

nology.com/currenttrends/constructivism/piaget/piaget.html