Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions
(such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individuals who choose
the subject they will study, their studying material, and the studying
rhythm and time. Autodidacts may or may not have formal education, and their study may be either a complement or an alternative to formal education. Many notable contributions have been made by autodidacts.
Various terms are used to describe self-education. One such is heutagogy, coined in 2000 by Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon of Southern Cross University in Australia; others are self-directed learning and self-determined learning. In the heutagogy paradigm, a learner should be at the centre of their own learning.
Modern education
Autodidacticism is sometimes a complement of modern education. As a complement to education, students would be encouraged to do more independent work. The Industrial Revolution created a new situation for self-directed learners.
Before the twentieth century, only a small minority of people received an advanced academic education. As stated by Joseph Whitworth
in his influential report on industry dated from 1853, literacy rates
were higher in the United States. However, even in the U.S., most
children were not completing high school. High school education was
necessary to become a teacher. In modern times, a larger percentage of
those completing high school also attended college, usually to pursue a
professional degree, such as law or medicine, or a divinity degree.
Collegiate teaching was based on the classics (Latin, philosophy,
ancient history, theology) until the early nineteenth century. There
were few if any institutions of higher learning offering studies in
engineering or science before 1800. Institutions such as the Royal Society
did much to promote scientific learning, including public lectures. In
England, there were also itinerant lecturers offering their service,
typically for a fee.
Prior to the nineteenth century, there were many important
inventors working as millwrights or mechanics who, typically, had
received an elementary education and served an apprenticeship. Mechanics, instrument makers and surveyors had various mathematics training. James Watt was a surveyor and instrument maker and is described as being "largely self-educated". Watt, like some other autodidacts of the time, became a Fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the Lunar Society.
In the eighteenth century these societies often gave public lectures
and were instrumental in teaching chemistry and other sciences with
industrial applications which were neglected by traditional
universities. Academies also arose to provide scientific and technical
training.
Years of schooling in the United States began to increase sharply
in the early twentieth century. This phenomenon was seemingly related
to increasing mechanization displacing child labor. The automated glass
bottle-making machine is said to have done more for education than child
labor laws because boys were no longer needed to assist.
However, the number of boys employed in this particular industry was
not that large; it was mechanization in several sectors of industry that
displaced child labor toward education. For males in the U.S. born
1886–90, years of school averaged 7.86, while for those born in 1926–30,
years of school averaged 11.46.
One of the most recent trends in education is that the classroom
environment should cater towards students' individual needs, goals, and
interests. This model adopts the idea of inquiry-based learning
where students are presented with scenarios to identify their own
research, questions and knowledge regarding the area. As a form of discovery learning,
students in today's classrooms are being provided with more opportunity
to "experience and interact" with knowledge, which has its roots in
autodidacticism.
Successful self-teaching requires self-discipline and reflective
capability. Some research suggests that being able to regulate one's own
learning is something that must be modeled to students, for it is not a
natural human tendency in the population at large.
To interact with the environment, a framework has been identified to
determine the components of any learning system: a reward function,
incremental action value functions and action selection methods.
Rewards work best in motivating learning when they are specifically
chosen on an individual student basis. New knowledge must be
incorporated into previously existing information as its value is to be
assessed. Ultimately, these scaffolding techniques, as described by Vygotsky (1978) and problem solving methods are a result of dynamic decision making.
The secular and modern societies gave foundations for a new
system of education and a new kind of autodidacts. While the number of
schools and students rose from one century to the other, so did the
number of autodidacts. The industrial revolution produced new
educational tools used in schools, universities and outside academic
circles to create a post-modern era that gave birth to the World Wide
Web and encyclopaedic data banks such as Wikipedia. As this concept becomes more widespread and popular, web locations such as Udacity and Khan Academy
are developed as learning centers for many people to actively and
freely learn together. The Alliance for Self-Directed Education (ASDE)
is also formed to publicize and provide guidance or support for
self-directed education.
In history, philosophy, literature, and television
The first philosophical claim supporting an autodidactic program to the study of nature and God was in the philosophical novel Hayy ibn Yaqdhan (Alive Son of the Vigilant), whose titular hero is considered the archetypal autodidact.
The story is a medieval autodidactic utopia, a philosophical treatise
in a literary form, which was written by the Andalusian philosopher Ibn Tufail
in the 1160s in Marrakesh. It is a story about a feral boy, an
autodidact prodigy who masters nature through instruments and reason,
discovers laws of nature by practical exploration and experiments, and
gains summum bonum through a mystical mediation and communion with God. The hero rises from his initial state of tabula rasa
to a mystical or direct experience of God after passing through the
necessary natural experiences. The focal point of the story is that
human reason, unaided by society and its conventions or by religion, can
achieve scientific knowledge, preparing the way to the mystical or
highest form of human knowledge.
Commonly translated as "The Self-Taught Philosopher" or "The
Improvement of Human Reason", Ibn-Tufayl's story Hayy Ibn-Yaqzan
inspired debates about autodidacticism in a range of historical fields
from classical Islamic philosophy through Renaissance humanism and the
European Enlightenment. In his book Reading Hayy Ibn-Yaqzan: a Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism,
Avner Ben-Zaken showed how the text traveled from late medieval
Andalusia to early modern Europe and demonstrated the intricate ways in
which autodidacticism was contested in and adapted to diverse cultural
settings.
Autodidacticism apparently intertwined with struggles over Sufism in
twelfth-century Marrakesh; controversies about the role of philosophy in
pedagogy in fourteenth-century Barcelona; quarrels concerning astrology
in Renaissance Florence in which Pico della Mirandola pleads for
autodidacticism against the strong authority of intellectual
establishment notions of predestination; and debates pertaining to
experimentalism in seventeenth-century Oxford. Pleas for autodidacticism
echoed not only within close philosophical discussions; they surfaced
in struggles for control between individuals and establishments.
In the story of African American self-education, Heather Andrea
Williams presents a historical account to examine African American's
relationship to literacy during slavery, the Civil War and the first decades of freedom. Many of the personal accounts tell of individuals who have had to teach themselves due to racial discrimination in education.
The working-class protagonist of Jack London'sMartin Eden
(1909) embarks on a path of self-learning to win the affections of
Ruth, a member of cultured society. By the end of the novel, Eden has
surpassed the intellect of the bourgeois class, leading him to a state
of indifference and ultimately suicide.
Comic-book superhero Batman
is frequently depicted as an autodidactic polymath who has acquired a
vast range of skills over the years either by various trainers or having
trained himself, and his expertise in various disciplines is virtually
unmatched in the DC comics universe.
In The Ignorant Schoolmaster (1987), Jacques Rancière describes the emancipatory education of Joseph Jacotot, a post-Revolutionary philosopher
of education who discovered that he could teach things he did not know.
The book is both a history and a contemporary intervention in the
philosophy and politics of education, through the concept of
autodidacticism; Rancière chronicles Jacotot's "adventures", but he
articulates Jacotot's theory of "emancipation" and "stultification" in
the present tense.
The 1997 drama film Good Will Hunting follows the story of autodidact Will Hunting, played by Matt Damon.
Hunting demonstrates his breadth and depth of knowledge throughout the
film but especially to his therapist and in a heated discussion in a Harvard bar.
One of the main characters in The Elegance of the Hedgehog (2006), by Muriel Barbery,
is an autodidact. The story is told from the viewpoint of Renee, a
middle-aged autodidact concierge in a Paris upscale apartment house and
Paloma, a 12-year-old daughter of one of the tenants who is unhappy with
her life. These two people find they have much in common when they both
befriend a new tenant, Mr. Ozu, and their lives change forever.
In the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, Ekalavya
is depicted as a tribal boy who was denied education in the science of
arms from royal teachers from the house of Kuru. Ekalavya went to the
forest, where he taught himself archery in front of an image of the Kuru
teacher, Drona, that he had built for himself. Later, when the royal
family found that Ekalavya had practiced with the image of Drona as his
teacher, Drona asked for Ekalavya's thumb as part of his tuition.
Ekalavya complied with Drona's request, thus ending his martial career.
In Suits,
the protagonist (Mike Ross) possesses a highly competent knowledge of
the law despite not receiving any formal education in any law school.
His knowledge is attributable to both his affinity for reading
(autodidacticism), in addition to his eidetic memory.
Dr. Spencer Reid in Criminal Minds, played by Matthew Gray Gubler, is an autodidact with an eidetic memory.
In architecture
Tadao Ando is a famous autodidact architect of the twenty-first century
There are very few countries allowing autodidacticism in architecture today. The practice of architecture or the use of the title "architect", are now protected in most countries.
When a political state
starts to implement restrictions on the profession, there are issues
related to the rights of established self-taught architects. In most
countries the legislation includes a grandfather clause, authorising established self-taught architects to continue practicing. In the UK, the legislation, allowed self-trained architects with 2 years of experience to register. In France, it allowed self-trained architects with 5 years of experience to register. In Belgium, the law allowed experienced self-trained architects in practice to register. In Italy, it allowed self-trained architects with 10 years of experience to register. In The Netherlands, the "wet op de architectentitel van 7 juli 1987"
along with additional procedures, allowed architects with 10 years of
experience and architects aged 40 years old or over, with 5 years of
experience, to access the register.
However, other sovereign states chose to omit such a clause, and many established and competent practitioners were stripped of their professional rights. In the Republic of Ireland, a group named "Architects' Alliance of Ireland" is defending the interests of long-established self-trained architects who were recently deprived from their rights to practice as per Part 3 of the Irish Building Control Act 2007.
Theoretical research such as "Architecture of Change, Sustainability and Humanity in the Built Environment" or older studies such as "Vers une Architecture" from Le Corbusier
describe the practice of architecture as an environment changing with
new technologies, sciences, and legislation. All architects must be
autodidacts to keep up to date with new standards, regulations, or methods.
Self-taught architects such as Eileen Gray, Luis Barragán,
and many others, created a system where working is also learning, where
self-education is associated with creativity and productivity within a
working environment.
While he was primarily interested in naval architecture, William Francis Gibbs learned his profession through his own study of battleships and ocean liners.
Through his life he could be seen examining and changing the designs of
ships that were already built, that is, until he started his firm Gibbs and Cox.
Future role
The
role of self-directed learning continues to be investigated in learning
approaches, along with other important goals of education, such as
content knowledge, epistemic practices and collaboration. As colleges and universities offer distance learning degree programs and secondary schools provide cyber school
options for K-12 students, technology provides numerous resources that
enable individuals to have a self-directed learning experience. Several
studies show these programs function most effectively when the "teacher"
or facilitator is a full owner of virtual space to encourage a broad
range of experiences to come together in an online format.
This allows self-directed learning to encompass both a chosen path of
information inquiry, self-regulation methods and reflective discussion
among experts as well as novices in a given area. Furthermore, massive open online courses (MOOCs) make autodidacticism easier and thus more common.
Constructivism is a theory in education that recognizes the
learners' understanding and knowledge based on their own experiences
prior to entering school. It is associated with various philosophical positions, particularly in epistemology as well as ontology, politics, and ethics. The origin of the theory is also linked to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development.
Background
Constructivism in education has roots in epistemology,
which - in philosophy - is a theory of knowledge, which is concerned
with the logical categories of knowledge and its justificational basis.
Epistemology also focuses on both the warranting of the subjective
knowledge of a single knower and conventional knowledge. In
constructivism, hence, it is recognized that the learner has prior
knowledge and experiences, which are often determined by their social
and cultural environment. Learning is therefore done by students'
“constructing” knowledge out of their experiences. While the Behaviorist
school of learning may help understand what students are doing,
educators also need to know what students are thinking, and how to
enrich what students are thinking.
There are scholars who state that the constructivist view emerged as a
reaction to the so-called "transmission model of education", including
the realist philosophy that it is based on.
Constructivism can be traced back to educational psychology
in the work of Jean Piaget (1896–1980) identified with Piaget's theory
of cognitive development. Piaget focused on how humans make meaning in
relation to the interaction between their experiences and their ideas. His views tended to focus on human development in relation to what is occurring with an individual as distinct from development influenced by other persons. Lev Vygotsky's (1896-1934) theory of social constructivism
emphasized the importance of sociocultural learning; how interactions
with adults, more capable peers, and cognitive tools are internalized by
learners to form mental constructs through the zone of proximal development.
Expanding upon Vygotsky's theory Jerome Bruner and other educational psychologists developed the important concept of instructional scaffolding,
whereby the social or informational environment offers supports (or
scaffolds) for learning that are gradually withdrawn as they become
internalized.
The concept of constructivism has influenced a number of disciplines, including psychology, sociology, education and the history of science.
During its infancy, constructivism examined the interaction between
human experiences and their reflexes or behavior-patterns. Piaget called
these systems of knowledge "schemes."
Schemes are not to be confused with schema, a term that comes from schema theory, which is from information-processing perspectives on human cognition. Whereas Piaget's schemes are content-free, schemata (the plural of schema) are concepts; for example, most humans have a schema for "grandmother", "egg", or "magnet."
Piaget's theory of constructivist learning has had wide-ranging impact on learning theories and teaching methods in education, and is an underlying theme of education reform movements.
Research support for constructivist teaching techniques has been mixed,
with some studies in support and others contradicting constructivist
results.
History
Earlier educational philosophies did not place much value on what would become constructivist ideas; children's play and exploration were seen as aimless and of little importance. Jean Piaget did not agree with these traditional views; he saw play as an important and necessary part of the student's cognitive development and provided scientific evidence for his views. Today, constructivist theories are influential throughout the formal and informal learning sectors. In museum education, constructivist theories inform exhibit design. One good example of constructivist learning in a non-formal setting is the Investigate Centre at The Natural History Museum, London. Here visitors are encouraged to explore a collection of real natural history
specimens, to practice some scientific skills and make discoveries for
themselves. Writers who influenced constructivism include:
The
formalization of constructivism from a within-the-human perspective is
generally attributed to Jean Piaget, who articulated mechanisms by which
information
from the environment and ideas from the individual interact and result
in internalized structures developed by learners. He identified
processes of assimilation and accommodation that are key in this interaction as individuals construct new knowledge from their experiences.
When individuals assimilate new information, they
incorporate it into an already existing framework without changing that
framework. This may occur when individuals' experiences are aligned with
their internal representations of the world, but may also occur as a
failure to change a faulty understanding; for example, they may not
notice events, may misunderstand input from others, or may decide that
an event is a fluke
and is therefore unimportant as information about the world. In
contrast, when individuals' experiences contradict their internal
representations, they may change their perceptions of the experiences to
fit their internal representations.
According to the theory, accommodation is the process of
reframing one's mental representation of the external world to fit new
experiences. Accommodation can be understood as the mechanism by which
failure leads to learning: when we act on the expectation that the world
operates in one way and it violates our expectations, we often fail,
but by accommodating this new experience and reframing our model of the
way the world works, we learn from the experience of failure, or others'
failure.
It is important to note that constructivism is not a particular
pedagogy. In fact, constructivism is a theory describing how learning
happens, regardless of whether learners are using their experiences to
understand a lecture or following the instructions for building a model airplane. In both cases, the theory of constructivism suggests that learners construct knowledge out of their experiences.
However, constructivism is often associated with pedagogic approaches that promote active learning, or learning by doing. There are many critics of "learning by doing" (a.k.a. "discovery learning") as an instructional strategy (e.g. see the criticisms below). While there is much enthusiasm for constructivism as a design strategy,
according to Tobias and Duffy "... to us it would appear that
constructivism remains more of a philosophical framework than a theory
that either allows us to precisely describe instruction or prescribe
design strategies."
Constructivist learning intervention
The nature of the learner
Social constructivism not only acknowledges the uniqueness and complexity of the learner, but actually encourages, utilizes and rewards it as an integral part of the learning process.
The importance of the background and culture of the learner
Social constructivisms or socioculturalism encourage the learner or learners to arrive at his or her version of the truth, influenced by his or her background, culture or embedded worldview. Historical developments and symbol systems, such as language, logic, and mathematical systems,
are inherited by the learner as a member of a particular culture and
these are learned throughout the learner's life. This also stresses the
importance of the nature of the learner's social interaction
with knowledgeable members of the society. Without the social
interaction with other more knowledgeable people, it is impossible to
acquire social meaning of important symbol systems and learn how to
utilize them. Young children develop their thinking abilities by
interacting with other children, adults and the physical world. From the
social constructivist viewpoint, it is thus important to take into
account the background and culture of the learner throughout the
learning process, as this background also helps to shape the knowledge
and truth that the learner creates, discovers and attains in the
learning process.
Responsibility for learning
Furthermore, it is argued that the responsibility of learning should reside increasingly with the learner. Social constructivism
thus emphasizes the importance of the learner being actively involved
in the learning process, unlike previous educational viewpoints where
the responsibility rested with the instructor to teach and where the
learner played a passive, receptive role. Von Glasersfeld (1989)
emphasized that learners construct their own understanding and that they
do not simply mirror and reflect what they read. Learners look for
meaning and will try to find regularity and order in the events of the
world even in the absence of full or complete information.
The Harkness discussion method
It is called the "Harkness" discussion method because it was developed at Phillips Exeter Academy with funds donated in the 1930s by Edward Harkness.
This is also named after the Harkness table and involves students
seated in a circle, motivating and controlling their own discussion. The
teacher acts as little as possible. Perhaps the teacher's only function
is to observe, although he/she might begin or shift or even direct a
discussion. The students get it rolling, direct it, and focus it. They
act as a team, cooperatively, to make it work. They all participate, but
not in a competitive way. Rather, they all share in the responsibility
and the goals, much as any members share in any team sport. Although the
goals of any discussion will change depending upon what's under
discussion, some goals will always be the same: to illuminate the
subject, to unravel its mysteries, to interpret and share and learn from
other points of view, to piece together the puzzle using everyone's
contribution. Discussion skills are important. Everyone must be aware of
how to get this discussion rolling and keep it rolling and interesting.
Just as in any sport,
a number of skills are necessary to work on and use at appropriate
times. Everyone is expected to contribute by using these skills.
The motivation for learning
Another crucial assumption regarding the nature of the learner concerns the level and source of motivation for learning. According to Von Glasersfeld, sustaining motivation to learn is strongly dependent on the learner's confidence in his or her potential for learning. These feelings of competence and belief in potential to solve new problems,
are derived from first-hand experience of mastery of problems in the
past and are much more powerful than any external acknowledgment and
motivation. This links up with Vygotsky's "zone of proximal development"
where learners are challenged in close proximity to, yet slightly
above, their current level of development. By experiencing the
successful completion of challenging tasks, learners gain confidence and
motivation to embark on more complex challenges.
The role of the instructor
Instructors as facilitators
According to the social constructivist approach, instructors have to adapt to the role of facilitators and not teachers. Whereas a teacher gives a didactic
lecture that covers the subject matter, a facilitator helps the learner
to get to his or her own understanding of the content. In the former
scenario the learner plays a passive role and in the latter scenario the
learner plays an active role in the learning process. The emphasis thus
turns away from the instructor and the content, and towards the
learner.
This dramatic change of role implies that a facilitator needs to
display a totally different set of skills than that of a teacher.
A teacher tells, a facilitator asks; a teacher lectures from the front,
a facilitator supports from the back; a teacher gives answers according
to a set curriculum, a facilitator provides guidelines and creates the
environment for the learner to arrive at his or her own conclusions; a
teacher mostly gives a monologue, a facilitator is in continuous dialogue with the learners.
A facilitator should also be able to adapt the learning experience 'in
mid-air' by taking the initiative to steer the learning experience to
where the learners want to create value.
The learning environment should also be designed to support and challenge the learner's thinking.
While it is advocated to give the learner ownership of the problem and
solution process, it is not the case that any activity or any solution
is adequate. The critical goal is to support the learner in becoming an
effective thinker. This can be achieved by assuming multiple roles, such as consultant and coach.
A few strategies for cooperative learning include:
Reciprocal Questioning: students work together to ask and answer questions
Jigsaw Classroom: students become "experts" on one part of a group project and teach it to the others in their group
Structured Controversies: Students work together to research a particular controversy
Learning is an active process
Social
constructivism, strongly influenced by Vygotsky's (1978) work, suggests
that knowledge is first constructed in a social context and is then
appropriated by individuals. According to social constructivists, the process of sharing individual perspectives — called collaborative elaboration — results in learners constructing understanding together that wouldn't be possible alone.
Social constructivist scholars view learning as an active process
where learners should learn to discover principles, concepts and facts
for themselves, hence the importance of encouraging guesswork and intuitive thinking in learners.
In fact, for the social constructivist, reality is not something that
we can discover because it does not pre-exist prior to our social
invention of it. Kukla (2000) argues that reality is constructed by our
own activities and that people, together as members of a society, invent
the properties of the world.
Other constructivist scholars agree with this and emphasize that
individuals make meanings through the interactions with each other and
with the environment they live in. Knowledge is thus a product of humans and is socially and culturally constructed. McMahon (1997) agrees that learning is a social process. He further
states that learning is not a process that only takes place inside our
minds, nor is it a passive development of our behaviors that is shaped
by external forces. Rather, meaningful learning occurs when individuals
are engaged in social activities.
Vygotsky (1978) also highlighted the convergence of the social
and practical elements in learning by saying that the most significant
moment in the course of intellectual development occurs when speech and
practical activity, two previously completely independent lines of
development, converge. Through practical activity a child constructs
meaning on an intra-personal level, while speech connects this meaning with the interpersonal world shared by the child and her/his culture.
Good relationship between instructor and learner
A
further characteristic of the role of the facilitator in the social
constructivist viewpoint, is that the instructor and the learners are
equally involved in learning from each other as well.
This means that the learning experience is both subjective and
objective and requires that the instructor's culture, values and
background become an essential part of the interplay between learners
and tasks in the shaping of meaning. Learners compare their version of
the truth with that of the instructor and fellow learners to get to a
new, socially tested version of truth (Kukla 2000). The task or problem is thus the interface between the instructor and the learner.
This creates a dynamic interaction between task, instructor and
learner. This entails that learners and instructors should develop an
awareness of each other's viewpoints and then look to their own beliefs,
standards and values, thus being both subjective and objective at the
same time.
Some studies argue for the importance of mentoring in the process of learning.
The social constructivist model thus emphasizes the importance of the
relationship between the student and the instructor in the learning
process.
Some learning approaches that could harbour this interactive learning include reciprocal teaching, peer collaboration, cognitive apprenticeship, problem-based instruction, web quests, Anchored Instruction and other approaches that involve learning with others.
Collaboration among learners
Learners with different skills and backgrounds should collaborate in
tasks and discussions to arrive at a shared understanding of the truth
in a specific field.
Some social constructivist models also stress the need for
collaboration among learners, in direct contradiction to traditional
competitive approaches.
One Vygotskian notion that has significant implications for peer
collaboration, is that of the zone of proximal development. Defined as
the distance between the actual developmental level
as determined by independent problem-solving and the level of potential
development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance
or in collaboration with more capable peers, it differs from the fixed
biological nature of Piaget's stages of development. Through a process of 'scaffolding'
a learner can be extended beyond the limitations of physical maturation
to the extent that the development process lags behind the learning
process.
If students have to present and train new contents with their classmates, a non-linear process of collective knowledge-construction will be set up.
The importance of context
The social constructivist paradigm views the context in which the learning occurs as central to the learning itself.
Underlying the notion of the learner as an active processor is
"the assumption that there is no one set of generalised learning laws
with each law applying to all domains".Decontextualised
knowledge does not give us the skills to apply our understandings to
authentic tasks because we are not working with the concept in the
complex environment and experiencing the complex interrelationships in
that environment that determine how and when the concept is used. One social constructivist notion is that of authentic or situated learning,
where the student takes part in activities directly relevant to the
application of learning and that take place within a culture similar to
the applied setting. Cognitive apprenticeship
has been proposed as an effective constructivist model of learning that
attempts to "enculturate students into authentic practices through
activity and social interaction in a way similar to that evident, and
evidently successful, in craft apprenticeship".
Holt and Willard-Holt (2000) emphasize the concept of dynamic assessment,
which is a way of assessing the true potential of learners that differs
significantly from conventional tests. Here, the essentially
interactive nature of learning is extended to the process of assessment.
Rather than viewing assessment as a process carried out by one person,
such as an instructor, it is seen as a two-way process involving
interaction between both instructor and learner. The role of the
assessor becomes one of entering into dialogue with the persons being
assessed to find out their current level of performance on any task and
sharing with them possible ways in which that performance might be
improved on a subsequent occasion. Thus, assessment and learning are
seen as inextricably linked and not separate processes.
According to this viewpoint, instructors should see assessment as
a continuous and interactive process that measures the achievement of
the learner, the quality of the learning experience and courseware. The feedback created by the assessment process serves as a direct foundation for further development.
The selection, scope, and sequencing of the subject matter
Knowledge should be discovered as an integrated whole
Knowledge should not be divided into different subjects or compartments, but should be discovered as an integrated whole.
This also again underlines the importance of the context in which learning is presented.
The world, in which the learner needs to operate, does not approach one
in the form of different subjects, but as a complex myriad of facts,
problems, dimensions, and perceptions.
Engaging and challenging the learner
Learners
should constantly be challenged with tasks that refer to skills and
knowledge just beyond their current level of mastery. This captures
their motivation and builds on previous successes to enhance learner
confidence.
This is in line with Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, which can
be described as the distance between the actual developmental level (as
determined by independent problem-solving) and the level of potential
development (as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance
or in collaboration with more capable peers).
Vygotsky (1978) further claimed that instruction is good only
when it proceeds ahead of development. Then it awakens and rouses to
life an entire set of functions in the stage of maturing, which lie in
the zone of proximal development. It is in this way that instruction
plays an extremely important role in development.
To fully engage and challenge the learner, the task and learning
environment should reflect the complexity of the environment that the
learner should be able to function in at the end of learning. Learners
must not only have ownership of the learning or problem-solving process,
but of the problem itself.
Where the sequencing of subject matter is concerned, it is the
constructivist viewpoint that the foundations of any subject may be
taught to anybody at any stage in some form.
This means that instructors should first introduce the basic ideas that
give life and form to any topic or subject area, and then revisit and
build upon these repeatedly. This notion has been extensively used in
curricula.
It is important for instructors to realize that although a
curriculum may be set down for them, it inevitably becomes shaped by
them into something personal that reflects their own belief systems,
their thoughts and feelings about both the content of their instruction
and their learners. Thus, the learning experience becomes a shared enterprise. The emotions and life
contexts of those involved in the learning process must therefore be
considered as an integral part of learning. The goal of the learner is
central in considering what is learned.
The structuredness of the learning process
It
is important to achieve the right balance between the degree of
structure and flexibility that is built into the learning process.
Savery (1994) contends that the more structured the learning
environment, the harder it is for the learners to construct meaning
based on their conceptual understandings. A facilitator should structure
the learning experience just enough to make sure that the students get
clear guidance and parameters within which to achieve the learning
objectives, yet the learning experience should be open and free enough
to allow for the learners to discover, enjoy, interact and arrive at
their own, socially verified version of truth.
In adult learning
Constructivist ideas have been used to inform adult education.
Current trends in higher education push for more "active learning"
teaching approaches which are often based on constructivist views.
Approaches based on constructivism stress the importance of
mechanisms for mutual planning, diagnosis of learner needs and
interests, cooperative learning climate, sequential activities for
achieving the objectives, formulation of learning objectives
based on the diagnosed needs and interests. While adult learning often
stresses the importance of personal relevance of the content,
involvement of the learner in the process, and deeper understanding of
underlying concepts, all of these are principles that may benefit
learners of all ages as even children connect their every day
experiences to what they learn.
Pedagogies based on constructivism
Various approaches in pedagogy derive from constructivist theory.
They usually suggest that learning is accomplished best using a hands-on
approach. Learners learn by experimentation, and not by being told what
will happen, and are left to make their own inferences, discoveries and conclusions.
Supportive research and evidence
Hmelo-Silver, Duncan, & Chinn cite several studies supporting the success of the constructivist problem-based and inquiry learning methods. For example, they describe a project called GenScope, an inquiry-based
science software application. Students using the GenScope software
showed significant gains over the control groups, with the largest gains
shown in students from basic courses.
Hmelo-Silver et al. also cite a large study by Geier on the effectiveness of inquiry-based science for middle school students, as demonstrated by their performance on high-stakes standardized tests.
The improvement was 14% for the first cohort of students and 13% for
the second cohort. This study also found that inquiry-based teaching
methods greatly reduced the achievement gap for African-American students.
Guthrie et al. (2004) compared three instructional methods for third-grade
reading: a traditional approach, a strategies instruction only
approach, and an approach with strategies instruction and constructivist
motivation techniques including student choices, collaboration, and
hands-on activities. The constructivist approach, called CORI (Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction), resulted in better student reading comprehension, cognitive strategies, and motivation.
Jong Suk Kim found that using constructivist teaching methods for 6th graders
resulted in better student achievement than traditional teaching
methods. This study also found that students preferred constructivist
methods over traditional ones. However, Kim did not find any difference
in student self-concept or learning strategies between those taught by
constructivist or traditional methods.
Doğru and Kalender compared science classrooms using traditional
teacher-centered approaches to those using student-centered,
constructivist methods. In their initial test of student performance
immediately following the lessons, they found no significant difference
between traditional and constructivist methods. However, in the
follow-up assessment 15 days later, students who learned through
constructivist methods showed better retention of knowledge than those
who learned through traditional methods.
Criticism
Several cognitive psychologists
and educators have questioned the central claims of constructivism. It
is argued that constructivist theories are misleading or contradict
known findings.
Matthews (1993) attempts to sketch the influence of constructivism in
current mathematics and science education, aiming to indicate how
pervasive Aristotle's empiricist epistemology is within it and what problems constructivism faces on that account.
In the neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development
it is maintained that learning at any age depends upon the processing
and representational resources available at this particular age. That
is, it is maintained that if the requirements of the concept to be
understood exceeds the available processing efficiency and working memory
resources then the concept is by definition not learnable. This
attitude toward learning impedes the learning from understanding
essential theoretical concepts or, in other words, reasoning.
Therefore, no matter how active a child is during learning, to learn
the child must operate in a learning environment that meets the
developmental and individual learning constraints that are
characteristic for the child's age and this child's possible deviations
from her age's norm. If this condition is not met, construction goes
astray.
Several educators have also questioned the effectiveness of this
approach toward instructional design, especially as it applies to the
development of instruction for novices.
While some constructivists argue that "learning by doing" enhances
learning, critics of this instructional strategy argue that little empirical evidence exists to support this statement given novice learners.
Sweller and his colleagues argue that novices do not possess the
underlying mental models, or "schemas" necessary for "learning by
doing".[48]
Indeed, Mayer (2004) reviewed the literature and found that fifty years
of empirical data do not support using the constructivist teaching
technique of pure discovery; in those situations requiring discovery, he
argues for the use of guided discovery instead.
Mayer (2004) argues that not all teaching techniques based on
constructivism are efficient or effective for all learners, suggesting
many educators misapply constructivism to use teaching techniques that
require learners to be behaviorally active. He describes this
inappropriate use of constructivism as the "constructivist teaching
fallacy". "I refer to this interpretation as the constructivist teaching
fallacy because it equates active learning with active teaching." Instead Mayer proposes learners should be "cognitively active" during learning and that instructors use "guided practice."
In contrast, Kirschner et al. (2006)
describe constructivist teaching methods as "unguided methods of
instruction." They suggest more structured learning activities for
learners with little to no prior knowledge. Slezak states that
constructivism "is an example of fashionable but thoroughly problematic
doctrines that can have little benefit for practical pedagogy or teacher
education." Similar views have been stated by Meyer, Boden, Quale and others.
Kirschner et al. group a number of learning theories
together (Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based
learning) and stated that highly scaffolded constructivist methods like
problem-based learning and inquiry learning are ineffective. Kirschner et al. described several research studies that were favorable to problem-based learning given learners were provided some level of guidance and support.
A rebuttal to the criticisms of Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark
While there are critics of the Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark article, Sweller and his associates have written in their articles about:
instructional designs for producing procedural learning (learning as behavior change);
their grouping of seemingly disparate learning theories and;
a continuum of guidance beginning with worked examples that may be followed by practice, or transitioned to practice (Renkl, Atkinson, Maier, and Staley, 2002)
Kirschner et al. (2006) describe worked examples as an instructional design solution for procedural learning.
Clark, Nguyen, and Sweller (2006) describe this as a very effective,
empirically validated method of teaching learners procedural skill
acquisition. Evidence for learning by studying worked-examples, is known
as the worked-example effect and has been found to be useful in many domains (e.g. music, chess, athletics) concept mapping, geometry, physics, mathematics, or programming.
Kirschner et al. (2006)
describe why they group a series of seemingly disparate learning
theories (Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based
learning). The reasoning for this grouping is because each learning
theory promotes the same constructivist teaching technique—"learning by
doing." While they argue "learning by doing" is useful for more
knowledgeable learners, they argue this teaching technique is not useful
for novices. Mayer states that it promotes behavioral activity too
early in the learning process, when learners should be cognitively
active.
In addition, Sweller and his associates describe a continuum of
guidance, starting with worked examples to slowly fade guidance. This
continuum of faded guidance has been tested empirically to produce a
series of learning effects: the worked-example effect, the guidance fading effect, and the expertise-reversal effect.
Criticism of discovery-based teaching techniques
After
a half century of advocacy associated with instruction using minimal
guidance, there appears no body of research supporting the technique. In
so far as there is any evidence from controlled studies, it almost
uniformly supports direct, strong instructional guidance rather
constructivist-based minimal guidance during the instruction of novice
to intermediate learners. Even for students with considerable prior
knowledge, strong guidance while learning is most often found to be
equally effective as unguided approaches. Not only is unguided
instruction normally less effective; there is also evidence that it may
have negative results when students acquire misconceptions or incomplete
or disorganized knowledge
— Why
Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the
Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and
Inquiry-Based Teaching by Kirschner, Sweller, Clark
Mayer (2004) argues against discovery-based teaching techniques and
provides an extensive review to support this argument. Mayer's arguments
are against pure discovery, and are not specifically aimed at
constructivism: "Nothing in this article should be construed as arguing
against the view of learning as knowledge construction or against using
hands-on inquiry or group discussion that promotes the process of
knowledge construction in learners. The main conclusion I draw from the
three research literatures I have reviewed is that it would be a mistake
to interpret the current constructivist view of learning as a rationale
for reviving pure discovery as a method of instruction."
Mayer's concern is how one applies discovery-based teaching
techniques. He provides empirical research as evidence that
discovery-based teaching techniques are inadequate. Here he cites this
literature and makes his point "For example, a recent replication is
research showing that students learn to become better at solving mathematics problems when they study worked-out examples rather than when they solely engage in hands-on problem solving.
Today's proponents of discovery methods, who claim to draw their
support from constructivist philosophy, are making inroads into
educational practice. Yet a dispassionate review of the relevant
research literature shows that discovery-based practice is not as
effective as guided discovery."
Mayer's point is that people often misuse constructivism to
promote pure discovery-based teaching techniques. He proposes that the
instructional design recommendations of constructivism are too often
aimed at discovery-based practice.
Sweller (1988) found evidence that practice by novices during early
schema acquisition, distracts these learners with unnecessary
search-based activity, when the learner's attention should be focused on
understanding (acquiring schemas).
The study by Kirschner et al. from which the quote at the
beginning of this section was taken has been widely cited and is
important for showing the limits of minimally-guided instruction. Hmelo-Silver et al. responded, pointing out that Kirschner et al. conflated constructivist teaching techniques such as inquiry learning with "discovery learning". (See the preceding two sections
of this article.) This would agree with Mayer's viewpoint that even
though constructivism as a theory and teaching techniques incorporating
guidance are likely valid applications of this theory, nevertheless a
tradition of misunderstanding has led to some question "pure discovery"
techniques.
The math wars and discovery-based teaching techniques
The math wars controversy in the United States is an example of the type of heated debate
that sometimes follows the implementation of constructivist-inspired
curricula in schools. In the 1990s, mathematics textbooks based on new standards
largely informed by constructivism were developed and promoted with
government support. Although constructivist theory does not require
eliminating instruction entirely, some textbooks seemed to recommend
this extreme. Some parents and mathematicians protested the design of
textbooks that omitted or de-emphasized instruction of standard
mathematical methods. Supporters responded that the methods were to be
eventually discovered under direction by the teacher, but since this was
missing or unclear, many insisted the textbooks were designed to
deliberately eliminate instruction of standard methods. In one commonly
adopted text, the standard formula for the area of a circle is to be
derived in the classroom, but not actually printed in the student
textbook as is explained by the developers of CMP:
"The student role of formulating, representing, clarifying,
communicating, and reflecting on ideas leads to an increase in learning.
If the format of the texts included many worked examples, the student
role would then become merely reproducing these examples with small
modifications."
Similarly, this approach has been applied to reading with whole language and inquiry-based science that emphasizes the importance of devising rather than just performing hands-on experiments as early as the elementary grades (traditionally done by research scientists), rather than studying facts. In other areas of curriculum such as social studies and writing are relying more on "higher order thinking skills" rather than memorization of dates, grammar or spelling
rules or reciting correct answers. Advocates of this approach counter
that the constructivism does not require going to extremes, that in fact
teachable moments should regularly infuse the experience with the more
traditional teaching. The primary differentiation from the traditional
approach being that the engagement of the students in their learning
makes them more receptive to learning things at an appropriate time,
rather than on a preset schedule.
Importance of structure in constructivist learning environments
During the 1990s, several theorists began to study the cognitive load
of novices (those with little or no prior knowledge of the subject
matter) during problem solving. Cognitive load theory was applied in
several contexts.
Based on the results of their research, these authors do not support
the idea of allowing novices to interact with ill-structured learning
environments. Ill-structured learning environments rely on the learner
to discover problem solutions. Jonassen (1997) also suggested that
novices be taught with "well-structured" learning environments.
Jonassen (1997) also proposed well-designed, well-structured
learning environments provide scaffolding for problem-solving. Finally,
both Sweller and Jonassen support problem-solving scenarios for more
advanced learners.
Sweller and his associates even suggest well-structured learning
environments, like those provided by worked examples, are not effective
for those with more experience—this was later described as the "expertise reversal effect".
Cognitive load theorists suggest worked examples initially, with a
gradual introduction of problem solving scenarios; this is described as
the "guidance fading effect" Each of these ideas provides more evidence for Anderson's ACT-R framework. This ACT-R framework suggests learning can begin with studying examples.
Finally Mayer states: "Thus, the contribution of psychology is to
help move educational reform efforts from the fuzzy and unproductive
world of educational ideology—which sometimes hides under the banner of
various versions of constructivism—to the sharp and productive world of
theory-based research on how people learn."
Confusion between constructivist and maturationist views
Many people confuse constructivist with maturationist views. The constructivist (or cognitive-developmental) stream "is based on the idea that the dialectic or interactionist process of development and learning through the student's active construction should be facilitated and promoted by adults".
Whereas, "The romantic maturationist stream is based on the idea that
the student's naturally occurring development should be allowed to
flower without adult interventions in a permissive environment."
In other words, adults play an active role in guiding learning in
constructivism, while they are expected to allow children to guide
themselves in maturationism.
Radical constructivism
Ernst von Glasersfeld developed radical constructivism by coupling Piaget's theory of learning and philosophical viewpoint about the nature of knowledge with Kant's rejection of an objective reality independent of human perception or reason. Radical constructivism does not view knowledge as an attempt to generate ideas that match an independent, objective reality. Instead, theories and knowledge about the world, as generated by our senses and reason, either fit within the constraints of whatever reality may exist and, thus, are viable or do not and are not viable.
As a theory of education, radical constructivism emphasizes the
experiences of the learner, differences between learners and the
importance of uncertainty.
Relational constructivism
Björn Kraus' relational constructivism
can be perceived as a relational consequence of radical constructivism.
In contrast to social constructivism, it picks up the epistemological
threads and maintains the radical constructivist idea that humans cannot
overcome their limited conditions of reception. Despite the
subjectivity of human constructions of reality, relational
constructivism focuses on the relational conditions that apply to human perceptional processes.
Social constructivism
In
recent decades, constructivist theorists have extended the traditional
focus on individual learning to address collaborative and social
dimensions of learning. It is possible to see social constructivism as a bringing together of aspects of the work of Piaget with that of Bruner and Vygotsky.
Communal constructivism
The concept Communal constructivism was developed by Leask and Younie in 1995 through their research on the European SchoolNet
which demonstrated the value of experts collaborating to push the
boundaries of knowledge i.e. communal construction of new knowledge
between experts rather than social construction of knowledge as
described by Vygotsky where there is a learner to teacher scaffolding
relationship. "Communal constructivism" as a concept applies to those
situations in which there is currently no expert knowledge or research
to underpin knowledge in an area. "Communal constructivism" refers
specifically to the process of experts working together to create,
record and publish new knowledge in emerging areas. In the seminal
European SchoolNet research where for the first time academics were
testing out how the internet could support classroom practice and
pedagogy, experts from a number of countries set up test situations to
generate and understand new possibilities for educational practice.
Bryn Holmes in 2001 applied this to student learning as described in an early paper, "in this model, students will not simply pass through a course like water through a sieve but instead leave their own imprint in the learning process."
Connectivism
is a theoretical framework for understanding learning in a digital age.
It emphasises how internet technologies such as web browsers, search
engines, wikis, online discussion forums, and social networks
contributed to new avenues of learning. Technologies have enabled people
to learn and share information across the World Wide Web and among
themselves in ways that were not possible before the digital age.
Learning does not simply happen within an individual, but within and
across the networks. What sets connectivism apart from theories such as constructivism
is the view that "learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside
outside of ourselves (within an organization or a database), is focused
on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that
enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of
knowing". Connectivism sees knowledge as a network and learning as a process of pattern recognition. Connectivism has similarities with Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) and Engeström's Activity theory. The phrase "a learning theory for the digital age"
indicates the emphasis that connectivism gives to technology's effect
on how people live, communicate, and learn. Connectivism is an
integration of principles related to chaos, network, complexity, and self-organization theories.
History
Connectivism was introduced in 2005 by two publications, Siemens’ Connectivism: Learning as Network Creation and Downes’ An Introduction to Connective Knowledge.
Both works received significant attention in the blogosphere and an
extended discourse has followed on the appropriateness of connectivism
as a learning theory for the digital age. In 2007 Kerr entered into the
debate with a series of lectures and talks on the matter, as did
Forster, both at the Online Connectivism Conference at the University of
Manitoba.
In 2008, in the context of digital and e-learning, connectivism was
reconsidered and its technological implications were discussed by
Siemens' and Ally.
Nodes and links
The central aspect of connectivism is the metaphor of a network with nodes and connections.
In this metaphor, a node is anything that can be connected to another
node such as an organization, information, data, feelings, and images.
Connectivism recognizes three node types: neural, conceptual (internal)
and external.
Connectivism sees learning as the process of creating connections and
expanding or increasing network complexity. Connections may have
different directions and strength.
In this sense, a connection joining nodes A and B which goes from A to B
is not the same as one that goes from B to A. There are some special
kinds of connections such as "self-join" and pattern.
A self-join connection joins a node to itself and a pattern can be
defined as "a set of connections appearing together as a single whole".
The idea of organisation as cognitive systems where knowledge is distributed across nodes originated from the Perceptron (Artificial neuron) in an Artificial Neural Network, and is directly borrowed from Connectionism,
"a software structure developed based on concepts inspired by
biological functions of brain; it aims at creating machines able to
learn like human".
The network metaphor allows a notion of "know-where" (the
understanding of where to find the knowledge when it is needed) to
supplement to the ones of "know-how" and "know-what" that make the
cornerstones of many theories of learning.
As Downes states: "at its heart, connectivism is the thesis that
knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore
that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those
networks".
Principles
Principles of connectivism include:
Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
Learning is more critical than knowing.
Maintaining and nurturing connections is needed to facilitate
continuous learning. When the interaction time between the actors of a
learning environment is not enough, the learning networks cannot be
consolidated.
Perceiving connections between fields, ideas and concepts is a core skill.
Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of learning activities.
Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn
and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a
shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong
tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the
decision.
Teaching methods
Summarizing
connectivist teaching and learning, Downes states: "to teach is to
model and demonstrate, to learn is to practice and reflect."
In 2008, Siemens and Downes delivered an online course called "Connectivism and Connective Knowledge".
It covered connectivism as content while attempting to implement some
of their ideas. The course was free to anyone who wished to participate,
and over 2000 people worldwide enrolled. The phrase "Massive Open Online Course" (MOOC) describes this model. All course content was available through RSS feeds, and learners could participate with their choice of tools: threaded discussions in Moodle, blog posts, Second Life and synchronous online meetings. The course was repeated in 2009 and in 2011.
At its core, connectivism is a form of experiential learning
which prioritizes the set of formed by actions and experience over the
idea that knowledge is propositional.
Criticisms
The
idea that connectivism is a new theory of learning is not widely
accepted. Verhagen argued that connectivism is rather a "pedagogical
view."
The lack of comparative literature reviews in Connectivism papers
complicate evaluating how Connectivism relates to prior theories, such
as Socially Distributed Cognition
(Hutchins, 1995), which explored how connectionist ideas could be
applied to social systems. Classical theories of cognition such as Activity theory
(Vygotsky, Leont’ev, Luria, and others starting in the 1920s) proposed
that people are embedded actors, with learning considered via three
features – a subject (the learner), an object (the task or activity) and
tool or mediating artifacts. Social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1962) claimed that people learn by watching others. Social learning theory (Miller and Dollard) elaborated this notion. Situated cognition
(Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Greeno & Moore, 1993) alleged
that knowledge is situated in activity bound to social, cultural and
physical contexts; knowledge and learning that requires thinking on the
fly rather than the storage and retrieval of conceptual knowledge. Community of practice
(Lave & Wenger 1991) asserted that the process of sharing
information and experiences with the group enables members to learn from
each other. Collective intelligence (Lévy, 1994) described a shared or group intelligence that emerges from collaboration and competition.
Kerr claims that although technology affects learning environments, existing learning theories are sufficient. Kop and Hill
conclude that while it does not seem that connectivism is a separate
learning theory, it "continues to play an important role in the
development and emergence of new pedagogies, where control is shifting
from the tutor to an increasingly more autonomous learner."
AlDahdouh
examined the relation between connectivism and Artificial Neural
Network (ANN) and the results, unexpectedly, revealed that ANN
researchers use constructivism principles to teach ANN with labeled
training data. However, he argued that connectivism principles are used to teach ANN only when the knowledge is unknown.
Ally recognizes that the world has changed and become more
networked, so learning theories developed prior to these global changes
are less relevant. However, he argues that, "What is needed is not a new
stand-alone theory for the digital age, but a model that integrates the
different theories to guide the design of online learning materials.".
Chatti notes that Connectivism misses some concepts, which are
crucial for learning, such as reflection, learning from failures, error
detection and correction, and inquiry. He introduces the Learning as a
Network (LaaN) theory which builds upon connectivism, complexity theory,
and double-loop learning. LaaN starts from the learner and views
learning as the continuous creation of a personal knowledge network
(PKN).
