The role of social interaction. In this view, cognitive abilities and capacities themselves are formed and constituted in part by social phenomena. Whichever the emphasis, however, constructivists agree that social interaction is an important component in the learning process. By continually negotiating the meaning of observations, data, hypotheses, and so forth, groups of individuals construct systems that are largely consistent with one another. However, a number of empirical studies support the power of constructivist theory in explaining the learning process.
Results indicate that all children make progress in their scientific understanding . . .
This suggests that the progress in understanding is brought about not so much through the scaffolding offered by other children's ideas as the opportunity for each individual to reorganize his or her own ideas through talk and listening.