CONSTRUCTIVISM AND EDUCATION

MARIO CARRETERO

WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION?

CONSTRUCTIVISM AND EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
The opportunity to compare educational systems of different countries and societies from
from both a theoretical and applied viewpoint, although there are notable differences,
There are also impressive similarities.
The difference often has to do with the structure of the systems. Almost all the
educational systems inspired by the Western model manage to awaken the interest of the
students in the early years. Through the presentation of activities that result
motivating and seem to serve an important function in their psychological development
general (Gardher 2000 and 2004). We will see that students aged five to about ten years,
they carry out semi-structured games and other activities in which they use their skills
linguistic and cognitive in a rather informal way, we could say that it
Establish an appropriate relationship between the spontaneous learning capabilities of
student and the objectives that must be achieved in this segment of education.
However, this situation usually changes as soon as the school year begins,
approximately at the age of ten. The contents become increasingly more
academic and formalist, resulting in a clear loss of interest on the part of the student.
What is also quite clear is that with the onset of adolescence,
the mentioned trend intensifies and a very pronounced break occurs between the
students' usual interests, the content and activities offered by the system
school. This is usually accompanied by extremely academic subjects that have
much more in common with university teaching than with the ability to
student comprehension.
We encounter the following paradox: on one hand, the student has greater
cognitive ability that at earlier ages and has also acquired greater ability
of information on numerous issues. However, in general terms, their
overall performance and their interest in school is usually much lower than in the
first courses. Ultimately, it's as if the educational system were
wasting the improvement that has occurred in the minds of the students and instead of
to obtain a better match will establish the conditions to produce the opposite.
On the other hand, the sociological and cultural conditions of the different media
impose some changes and restrictions on the situation.
For example: one can cite the cases of disadvantaged social classes in the
that what is called 'school failure' is almost the norm well before the
adolescence; or the case of indigenous societies in which it has been
imposed a Western educational model, without any consideration for
its indigenous culture.
This problem consists in that most contemporary societies have
I have undertaken educational transformations because, among other reasons, there is a huge
distance between what students learn and are interested in learning and what they
Present the school institution.
The search for a solution to the mentioned problems is what usually underlies the
use of psychological concepts and theories in transformation processes
educational. The current curriculum design of Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and other countries
Latin Americans will have been able to verify that in the proposals for renewal...
try to explain the general principles that underpin what is commonly referred to
psychological source of the curriculum, that is, the aspects that must be taken into account
the time to select, develop, and specify a series of activities that concern the
capacities and dispositions of the individual who learns. These principles aim to
based on the knowledge and results found in the research of psychology
evolutionary, namely:
a) Start from the student's level of development.
b) Ensure the construction of meaningful learning.
c) enable students to achieve meaningful learning on their own.
d) seek for students to modify their knowledge schemas.
e) establish rich relationships between new knowledge and the schemas of
existing knowledge.
This set of formulations implies a type of teaching quite different from what
has usually been understood as traditional teaching. Its application involves the
implementation of a compilation of educational activities and decisions that
would not only involve the acquisition of knowledge by the students, but
also the formation of citizens with better critical capacity.
In general terms, most of the mentioned principles can be considered
constructivist. In fact, constructivism has made very important contributions to
processes of change in the education of numerous societies. Some of these
processes have been linked to educational transformations, especially in what
refers to psychological and didactic aspects.
Constructivism, like any position related to changes in the school,
it must be approached from a critical perspective.
It is an open perspective that, although it has well-founded proposals within it.
established, also includes doubts, debates, criticisms, and self-criticisms. Consequently,
we understand that constructivism is a starting point and not a finishing point.
Since the early 1990s, approximately, the base started to be applied
theoretical framework of the constructivist position in relation to its application in the classroom and,
As a consequence, the scope of the concept of "constructivism" expanded. The approaches
cognitive or knowledge acquisition, which had undergone significant development
intense since the sixties, the sociocultural contributions, in addition to other positions
they also began to be important references in the attempt to build perspectives
theoretical and applied to achieve a school that broke with the traditional model and
will be more significant.
There are several types of constructivism that can be discussed; in fact, it is a position.
shared by different trends in psychological and educational research. Among
The theories of Piaget, Vygotsky, and current cognitive psychology are found there.
When educational renewal proposals talk about constructivism, it is done
in a loose sense and not in a strict sense which is probably what it has
coherence for the majority of educators since, ultimately, the
The different trends mentioned have more elements in common than differences.

THE CENTRALIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE

REPRESENTATION

Constructivism is based on the idea that the individual (both in the

cognitive and social aspects of behavior as in the affective ones) is not merely
product of the environment, not a simple result of its internal provisions, but a
own construction that is taking place day by day as a result of interaction
between those two factors. Consequently, according to the constructivist position, the
Knowledge is not a copy of reality, but a construction of the human being.
What instruments will the person use to carry out the construction? Mainly with the
schemas that it already has, that is, with what it has already built in its relationship with the environment
that surrounds it.

What does it depend on? It mainly depends on two aspects, namely: on the representation.
initial information that we have from the new information and from the activity, external or internal.

Example: if I have to place a screw of certain dimensions, I

A certain type of screwdriver will prove to be essential. If
I can't do it, I will have to replace it with some other instrument that
can perform the same function in an approximate way.
To understand most situations in everyday life, I have to possess a
representation of the different elements that are present.
A scheme is a representation of a specific situation or a concept that
allows the subject to manage internally and face similar or alike situations
In reality, the schemes can be very simple or very complex, of course.
they can also be very general or very specialized, they are cultural products and
historical, therefore, have their origin and meaning in a certain culture and in a
determined moment of its development.
The human being does not act on reality directly, but does so through
the schemes it possesses. Therefore, its representation of the world will depend on those
schemes. Of course, interaction with reality will cause the schemes of
individuals are changing. That is to say, as they gain more experience with certain tasks,
People are using tools that are increasingly complex and specialized.
A very simple scheme is what a child builds when learning to grasp.
The objects. It is commonly referred to as 'grasping scheme' and consists of surrounding a
object totally or partially with the hand. The child, when acquiring this scheme,
it goes from a disordered motor activity to a regularity that allows sustaining
the objects and not just push them to cover them.

Another scheme would be the one that is constructed through the ritual that
small children do when going to bed. It usually consists of listening to a
brief history, putting the blankets in a certain way and receiving a kiss from their
parents. Therefore, even if one day the father or mother do not do it and are
absent, the child will think that they must also perform all those actions too.
to go to bed
In the case of adults, the schemes tend to be more complex and include the
school and scientific notions. For example, most people have
a very defined scheme of what their work consists of, but in some cases
such representation does not match that of their bosses.
Many people have an inadequate framework of numerous notions.
scientific, even though we have studied them repeatedly and interpret them
reality according to that scheme, even if they are incorrect.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLIGENCE AND ITS CONSTRUCTION

SOCIAL

The contribution of the ideas of Piaget (1896-1980) and Vygotsky (1896-1934) has been
fundamental in the elaboration of a thought about the construction of
knowledge in the educational environment.
Intelligence goes through qualitatively distinct phases. Piaget states that the child
at seven years old, who is in the stage of concrete operations, knows reality and
solves the problems that this presents to him in a qualitatively different way than how
it is done by the twelve-year-old boy, who is already in the stage of formal operations. The
the difference between one stage and another is not a matter of accumulating requirements that
gradually they are being added, but there is a completely different structure
that serves to order reality in a different way as well.
Consequently, when moving from one stage to another, one acquires schemes and
new structures.
The structure consists of a series of elements that, once they interact, produce
a result very different from the sum of their effects when taken separately.
Piaget's theory has clearly shown that children of different ages,
corresponding to the stages defined by that theory, are progressively capable
to solve problems that, although not similar in their specific content,
They have in common precisely their structure. These ideas are central to understanding the
intellectual development and its relationship with learning.
The acquisition of cognitive instruments largely depends on the social environment.
in which the subject lives. For this reason, it is often qualified as sociocultural or sociohistorical.
to Vigotsky's theory. The mode of production of material life determines the
social, political, and spiritual processes. It is not the consciousness of men that
it is not their being that determines them, but on the contrary, it is their social being that determines their consciousness;

that is to say this macrosocial vision complements the conception of influence

from the microsocial. Obviously, this position does not oppose, but rather is supportive. With the
vision in which human consciousness is the most developed product of the
evaluation of the subject.
The main objective of his work was to examine the development of cognitive processes.
in adult subjects who belonged to the same community but who had different
educational levels.
Vygotsky and his own group were anticipating forty years ahead of the criticisms that
I would receive Piagetian theory about the scarce use of formal thinking among the
adults of low cultural level (Carretero 2008) and to the current debates of the
cognitive psychology about the rational possibilities of human beings.
First of all, it can be said that its study is quite unique as it consisted of
studying the cognitive processes in subjects who were experiencing a process of
social change. In this sense, it is true that this work was ahead of the current one.
transcultural developmental psychology. A long time ago, this discipline considered that
establishing comparisons between subjects of the same culture is as necessary as
to do it among subjects from different cultures.
On the other hand, one of Vygotsky's most important findings is that
all higher psychological processes (communication, language, reasoning, etc).
They are acquired first in a social context and then internalized. But precisely
this internalization is the product of the use of a certain cognitive behavior
in a social context.
Example: when a small child starts to point at objects with their finger.
For the child, that gesture is simply the attempt to grab the object. But
when the mother pays attention and interprets that movement
pretends not only to grab but also to point, then the child will start to
internalize this action as the representation of signaling.
In the cultural development of the child, every function appears twice: first, on a scale
social and later, on an individual scale.
Vygotsky's conception of the relationships between cognitive development and learning
differs significantly from the Piagetian. While Piaget maintains that what a
A child's ability to learn is determined by their level of cognitive development. Vygotsky
think that it is this last one that is conditioned by learning. Thus, it maintains a
conception that shows the permanent influence of learning on the way in which one
produces cognitive development. Consequently, a student who has more
opportunities to learn that others, not only will acquire more information, but will achieve
a better cognitive development.
According to Piaget, the language characteristic of the preoperational stage, between the ages of two and seven.
Years, it hardly contributes to cognitive development. Rather, it actually shows precisely the
the child's inability at this age to understand the perspective of others. Vygotsky,
on the contrary, he was able to see that such language makes some contributions
important to the child's cognitive development. First of all, because it is a step towards
that the internalized language is produced, which will be essential in later stages and
secondly, because such language has much communicative potential
older than what Piaget had postulated.
Vygotsky's contribution has meant for constructivist positions that the
learning is not considered as an individual activity, but rather a social one. It
it has been proven how the student learns more effectively when they do so in a
context of collaboration and exchange with their peers. The mechanisms of
social characteristics that stimulate and enhance learning, such as group discussions
and the power of argumentation in the disagreement among students with different
levels of knowledge about a topic.

THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

The knowledge transmitted in any learning situation must be
structured not only in itself, but with respect to the knowledge it already possesses
student. The cognitive ability of students changes with age and how those
changes involve the use of different knowledge schemes and structures of
the ones I was using up to that moment. At any educational level, it is necessary to have in
Tell what the student already knows about what we are going to teach them, since the new.
knowledge will be based on the old.
Some authors who have most influenced ideas are Ausubel, Novak, and Hanesian.
(1983), Novak (1998), Perkins (1999) and Gardner (2000 and 2004), whose relationship with the
pioneering contributions of Bruner (1987 and 1999). The fundamental contribution of these authors
it has consisted of the conception that learning must be a meaningful activity
for the person who learns and said significance is directly related to
the existence of relationships between the new knowledge and what the student already possesses.
This will only be possible if the student uses the knowledge they already possess, although
these may not be completely correct.
For the authors, learning is synonymous with understanding. Therefore, what is understood is
what is learned and what will be remembered better later, because it became integrated into our
knowledge structure.
Therefore, it is essential for the teacher not only to know the representations that
students have about what they are going to be taught, but also analyze the process of
interaction between new knowledge and what they already possess. In this way, it is not so
The final product that is emitted is as important as the process that leads to it.
specific answer. For example, this can be applied to exam situations or
evaluation. Often, teachers only pay attention to the correct answers
of the students. In fact, these are the ones we use to assign a grade.
in quantitative terms. However, we do not usually consider the errors, which are
precisely those that inform us about how knowledge is being reworked
that is already possessed from the new information received.
It is interesting to highlight the specific contribution of certain concepts, such as the one that refers to
to the so-called 'previous organizers'. These are precisely presentations that
the teacher does so that they serve the student to establish relationships
appropriate between the new knowledge and the knowledge they already possess. Ultimately, it is about
"cognitive bridges" to move from less elaborated or incorrect knowledge to one
more elaborate. The organized presentation of contents can be a tool
quite effective in achieving an adequate understanding by the students.
This conception aligns with Piaget's view that it is essential.
take into account the student's schemes, but disagrees with her regarding the
importance of self-activity and autonomy of assimilation.
These positions of cognitive psychology have had the merit of showing that the
Knowledge transmission by the teacher can also be an appropriate means.
and effective in producing learning, as long as it takes into account the knowledge
previous knowledge of the student and their comprehension ability.

In general terms, it can be said that the higher the educational levels are
those of us who have to work, the more suitable the teaching strategies can be
based on receptive-significant teaching, since the students will have more
ability to deal with spoken and written language as a means of communication. By
On the other hand, the teaching contents will be more complicated and can only be imparted in a
reasonable time through a strategy of this kind. On the contrary, at the levels
educational experiences before puberty, students may need much more
concrete references of the notions they study. Presented, above all, through the
physical expression.

THREE VISIONS ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE

One of the fundamental ideas in the use of constructivist ideas in

The educational field should not be based on a dogmatic application of general principles,
but rather in the systematic review of our ideas based on the data and the
theories that research provides us regarding this.
Three types of constructivism:
A) Learning as an individual process. Almost a solitary vice, is the vision of
Piaget, Ausubel, and cognitive psychology is based on the idea of an individual who
learns outside of its social context. At the time of theoretical praises
it grants a role to culture and social intersection but does not specify
how they interact with cognitive development and learning. Ultimately,
 these authors do not convey the image of a human being who learns basically
in solitude and somewhat solipsistically.
B) Learning as interaction between the subject and the social context. For example,
for those who have argued that social interaction promotes learning
by creating cognitive conflicts that cause a conceptual change.
That is, the exchange of information between colleagues who have different
levels of knowledge causes a modification of the schemes of
individual and eventually produces learning, in addition to improving the conditions
motivational aspects of instruction. In short: this approach studies the
effect of interaction and social context on the mechanism of change and
individual learning.
C) Learning as a result of the social context. This would be the position
radical Vygotskian that currently has led to positions such as the
"situated cognition" (in a social context). From this position, it is maintained
that knowledge is not an individual product but a social one.
Although the student also carries out an individual activity, the emphasis must
to engage in social exchange.