Glossary / Lexicon

Constructivism refers to a model that views the learner as actively inventing and building representations of reality, rather than as simply discovering what is already out there as illustrated in the theories of Piaget and Bruner.

Constructivism is the position, central to Piaget's theory, that people interpret objects and events that surround them in terms of what they already know, so that one's current state of knowledge guides processing, substantially influencing how and what new information is acquired. Constructivism is a view of development that holds that language (or any form of knowledge) is constructed by the child using inborn mental equipment that operates over information provided by the environment; believing that individuals create their own views or constructs of events or relationships in their own lives.