Theory

Constructivism is a learning theory focused on allowing the learner to build their knowledge of a subject through their own experiences and often hands-on explorations. The learner may draw upon prior knowledge of a subject and then work to integrate new information that they learned through investigation. This idea is supported by theorists such as John Dewey and Jean Piaget who believed that young students build their knowledge by experiencing the world around them (Mooney, 2013). The prior knowledge that students bring to each science lesson may vary. As we experience life, explore, listen, and watch, we may develop inaccurate explanations, or have been taught/told explanations that are inaccurate. Students may have misconceptions about phenomena, as well as accurate scientific knowledge! As a science teacher, it is important to elicit students’ prior knowledge, so you can provide learning experiences that may lead to conceptual change or richer understanding. Students are not “empty vessels” or ‘blank slates” — the have observed and experimented, and they have developed ideas about how the world works.

The teacher’s role is especially important in this theory. Teachers must be facilitators of learning, rather than only a source of facts. This means that teachers should ensure that each unique student is being appropriately challenged in their learning while also providing social learning opportunities with peers. Although constructivism as a theory of learning has been around for a while, taking a more dominant role in science education is a shift from what STEM education looked like in the past (or even science and math education separately), as we noted above, when teachers were expected to provide students with information that the students should then memorize.

Teachers can utilize the 5Es framework or similar frameworks to incorporate constructivism in science or integrated STEM education. The frameworks discussed here (and others that are similarly research-based) provide students with ample opportunities to build their knowledge and understanding of scientific phenomena through experience and work with peers, which are core aspects of constructivism. Teachers can also find inspiration in writings about the role of inquiry in science and STEM (see Inquiry section above).