Anthony R. Farley

Boise State

Constructionism and Seymour Papert

Overview

Seymour Papert’s theory of Constructionism states that learning happens through the interaction of a person’s experience with their previous knowledge “in a context where the learner is consciously engaged in constructing a public entity” (Papert, 1991). The “public entity” can be anything from the building of a model volcano to the creation of a computer game.

Contributors

Empiricism is the origin of Constructionism: the view that “experience is the primary source of knowledge” (Schunk, 2004). Empiricism began with Aristotle who “viewed that knowledge is derived from sensory impressions” that “can be hooked together to form complex ideas” (Ertmer, 1993). Piaget’s theory of Constructivism also informed Papert’s Constructionism where “interpretations of the world are based on individual experiences and interactions” (Ertmer, 1993). Papert took Constructivism one step further as he theorized that adding the construction of a “public entity” or artifact to be an important factor in motivating learning.

Major Principles

The major principal of Papert’s Constructionism is that knowledge happens best when the learner is constructing something new, whether it is a snowman, a pamphlet, a multimedia project, or a theory about how things work. The mental processes involved in combining knowledge with new experiences and then translating the new concepts into tangible artifacts is the prime motivator for learning.

Application

An example of the application of Papert’s Constructionism is when a student builds a website for their science course that explains the science concepts they are learning using a constructivist approach. The website is the “public entity” that Constructionism requires and learning happens best when the student processes the concepts and renders them understandable through illustration and explanation on the website. Another application of Papert’s Constructionism is when students design and present a project to a client, expert, or the rest of the class. Papert’s theory says that the most effective way of learning is through “Building a model, reflecting on it, debugging and sharing,” (Noss, 2015).

References

Ertmer, P. A. & Newby, T. J. (1993).  Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective.  Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6(4) pp. 50-72

Noss, R., & Clayson, J. (2015). Reconstructing Constructionism. Constructivist Foundations, 10(3), 285-288.

Papert, S & Harel I. (1991) Preface, Situating Constructionism, in Harel & S. Papert (Eds), Constructionism, Research reports and essays, 1985-1990 (p. 1), Norwood NJ.

Schunk  D. H. (2004). Learning theories: An educational perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.