These are a few of the questions that we have begun to ask ourselves and our teaching colleagues. One way to make sense of how students learn is through constructivism.
Constructivism is a word used frequently by science educators lately.
It is used increasingly as a theoretical rationale for research and teaching. Many current reform efforts also are associated with the notion of constructivism. Constructivism is an epistemology, a theory of knowledge used to explain how we know what we know. The epistemology that is dominant in most educational settings today is similar to objectivism. That is to say, most researchers view knowledge as existing outside the bodies of cognizing beings, as beings separate from knowing and knowers.