Constructionist Learning

Constructionism is a framework for action for sociocognitive constructivist learning, which suggests that people learn by constructing knowledge and understanding through a combination of context, experience, and social interaction. Constructionism has been described as learning through social making, but the father of constructionism—Seymour Papert—considered this to be an impoverished view; constructionism might be better described as learning by creating personally meaningful, working artifacts with and for a community. Constructionist learning refers to learners coming to understand complicated content by engaging in the process of making working things with and for other people. Constructionist research suggests that constructivist activities work well when learners have the necessary supports to build concrete, working artifacts in a meaningful social context. This entry further defines constructionist learning; describes its cognitive, ...