Building Knowledge

You’ve watched children at play, right? They build worlds, invent dialogue, and establish rules.

In short, they do this:

formulate, form, put together, devise, design, invent, compose, concoct, contrive, work out, hatch; fashion, mould, model, shape, frame; forge, engineer, fabricate, manufacture, hammer out, thrash out.

Above all, they create. Even more astounding, if they are pre-school, they do it without having had any formal instruction. They build their knowledge. Constructivism is this month’s learning theory.

Young children build their knowledge of the world through experience. We’ve all noticed the toddler pick up things and put them in their mouths. (My once two-year-old daughter experienced a lump of dog poo using this method.)

At this age, learners take an active role in constructing their knowledge and understanding of the world. The theory loses its relevance once a child attends school. That’s because it assumes learners already understand much of the material and can design programs to enhance their understanding.

We don’t know what we don’t know.

Child-centred learning comes close, but it is still largely teacher-driven. The child is at the centre of the learning. The teacher determines the content, pacing and complexity.

That doesn’t mean constructivism can’t be used. Children will always build their knowledge through play and interacting with others.