Contemporary Literature

As any glance at contemporary educational literature demonstrates, the concept of "constructivism" carries with it enormous appeal. Contemporary literature also reveals that many current educational reform initiatives encourage teaching practices that many people refer to as constructivist (Brooks and Brooks 1993; Roth 1993; Crawford and Witte 1999; Lord 1998). Despite, or even because of, the popularity of constructivism, this approach to teaching should be studied, analyzed, and discussed as it becomes more widespread in the language of educators. To date, few writers have attempted to connect contemporary constructivist concepts to teaching ideas from past centuries. This essay, therefore, has three purposes. First, it seeks, as best as possible, to develop a working definition of constructivism. Second, this article strives to connect these contemporary notions of constructivism to the work of three educators from past centuries. Third, and finally, this essay seeks to draw attention to and ask questions about why constructivist-like teaching practices often have such difficulty impacting the practical world of classroom action. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software.