Constructivism and Education

Year 2007, Issue: 18, 156 - 159, 01.07.2007

Seyfi Kenan

Abstract

Constructivism is an umbrella concept that comprises theoretical schemes like cognitive subject, the learner/social actor, and the locus of knowledge. It is basically a description of the human cognitive process that is frequently associated with educational methods which support learning by doing, a phrase coined by John Dewey at the turn of the 20th century. This term has been interpreted in Turkish in a number of ways, but I prefer to use the term yapılandırmacılık in Turkish, which I found most fitting to the philosophy of learning that constructivism promotes. If I were to give some historical figures who contributed to constructivism in education, these would include Giambattista Vico, J.J. Rousseau, J. Dewey, J. Piaget, L. Vygotsky and V. Glasserfeld in the Western world. But there are also some important historical personalities in the Muslim world, such as Ebû Bekir Râzi, Ibn Haldun, Katip Çelebi, Selim Sâbit Efendi and Hasan Âlî Yücel, who can be considered to be constructivist educators in the general sense in their own sui generis contexts, as well as being prominent thinkers in Turkish or Muslim educational history.

Keywords

constructivism, education, John Dewey

References

• Larochelle, Marie, Nadine Bednarz and Jim Garrison (ed.), Constructivism and Education, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.