Radical Constructivism

Plate 1

Radical Constructivism

"Nothing is true; everything is permitted" – Hassan I Sabbah

"…constructivism intends to undermine too large a part of the traditional view of the world. Indeed, one need not venture very far into constructivist thought to realize that it inevitably leads to the contention that man – and man alone – is responsible for his thinking, his knowledge and, therefore, also for what he does. Today, when behaviorists are still intent on pushing all responsibility into the environment, and socio-biologists are trying to place much of it into genes, a doctrine may well seem uncomfortable if it suggests that we have no one but ourselves to thank for the world in which we appear to be living." (Glasersfeld pg. 193)

Knowledge can never be interpreted as a picture or representation of the "real world", but only as a reflection of different pathways to understanding. (Glasersfeld, pg. 194)

"Radical constructivism, thus, is radical because it breaks with convention and develops a theory of knowledge in which knowledge does not reflect an ‘objective’ ontological reality, but exclusively an ordering and organization of a world constituted by our experience. The radical constructivist has relinquished "metaphysical realism" once and for all, and finds himself in full agreement with Piaget, who says: ‘Intelligence organizes the world by organizing itself." (Glasersfeld, pg. 199)

Please think on the full implications of this. In summation, reality is relative, there is no way to know an absolute reality (even if it did exist) so recognize that, only the things to enter into the realm of the experience are to be considered real (if it affects us, it is real).

We construct our knowledge as it fits into our world view.

Plate 2

A model of instruction is proposed with six components (Confrey, pg. 107):

The promotion of student autonomy.

The development of reflective processes.

The construction of case histories.

The identification and negotiation of tentative solution paths (work with students).

The retracing and group discussion of the paths used to solutions.

Adherence to the intent of the materials (We are not to go off on tangents).

Plate 3

Things to stay away from

Direct Instruction – Constituent of three parts according to Confrey(see reference).

Relatively Short Products are expected from students, rather than process oriented answers. (Note how prevalent this is in a good portion of academics).
Teachers, for the most part, simply execute their planned routines. Teachers rarely operating outside of given bounds.
The responsibility for determining what level of learning the student has reached lies solely with the teacher

Plate 4

Bandura’s Model of Reciprocal Determinism

A model of a social cognitive learning theory

Personal factors:

Includes beliefs and attitudes that affect learning, especially in response to environmental stimuli.

Behavioral factors:

Includes responses one makes in a given situation.

Environmental factor:

Includes the role of people, which are in the environment of the person.

Plate 5

Briefly Rehashed

(to improve efficacy in both students and teachers):

Encourage Students Constructively.

Monitor Feedback.

Set Specific Goals.

Expect That The Students will Succeed.

In general be positive , have realistic expectations and, believe in your students.

Plate 6

Cognitive psychologists and mathematicians have been found to agree on certain underlying principles of knowledge restructuring (Seldon, 1997). Note that these principles can be abstracted to almost any field of knowledge that is interactive.

Knowledge is acquired by construction, not transmission alone.
Knowledge acquisition involves restructuring (as new material is learned).
The process of knowledge acquisition is restrained by what one already "knows".
Knowledge is domain specific (also interactive with self efficacy).
Knowledge acquisition is "situated" (see encoding processes chapter 4).

Try and observe these when lesson planning, exam planning etc.

Coming Together

Plate 7

The Relationship with the Listening and the Presentation was this:

I had no purpose, other then to see what you could come up with.

By asking you to look for some correspondence between the listening and the presentation, I caused you (you caused yourself ) to pay more attention to what I was saying and construct relevant meaning for yourselves.

As well as spark your interest with an interesting icebreaker!

The Bomb Goes Off!