Constructivism assumes that people always have previous ideas and that they learn by combining new information with earlier ideas, creating new understanding. Often the new ideas challenge or conflict with original ones. This leads to questioning, which in turn leads to a modification and reorganization of ideas into new understandings. This way of learning is adaptive.
People make sense of the world for themselves.
Constructivism suggests that the best way to teach is not simply to transmit knowledge to students but to help them expand or reconstruct their original beliefs with more sophisticated ones. The Conservation Potential Review education module and several of the lessons themselves are organized in five phases to help the students acquire and use new ideas. Orientation - This phase helps to focus attention on the problem or idea to be introduced. Elicitation - This phase allows students to identify their original thoughts and ideas. This is their starting place for learning.