ABSTRACT
Is constructivism one or many schools of thought? This is not as trivial a question as it sounds. If one, then perhaps almost everybody belongs, which does not tell us much. It leads to such outcomes as neobehaviorists claiming that we are all constructivists now. Neobehaviorists should not be dismissed too lightly because the models of cognition in the work of Ausubel, Gagné, and others are subtle and complex. Ausubel (1968) said long ago that “the most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows. Ascertain this, and teach him accordingly” (p. i). Coupled with his work on meaningful versus discovery learning, this seems to place him close to some weak form of constructivism. But Lewin (chap. 23) has demonstrated that a lack of clarity in representing constructivism may allow its appropriation by the most authoritarian of pedagogies. One of the central tasks of this chapter is to clarify what is and what is not constructivism.
