So Jean Piaget,
he was very much I think we would call him the Father of Constructivism.
But his focus, he looked at his own children in a laboratory and
it was very individual pursuit.
So he noticed how they made sense of their environment,
if they were left to their own devices.
So they would explore things and then they would say, things and be making sense and
they would explore more things.
And he noticed the stages that people went through in doing this.
How they were able to abstract more as they got older.
Vygotsky who tragically died in 1934,
so way before Dewey and Piaget.
He also talked about constructing learning, but
his famous zone of proximal development that every student essay includes.
Suggested that yes, learners made sense of their own world.
They made sense themselves of the world, but they could be guided by what
he called a more expert other to a certain extent, depending on the individual.
And for Vygotsky language was very important,
because he was interested in promoting the Soviet idea.
So he knew that through language,
we carry cultural meanings and that was his goal.
So, even these classic learning theories have their agenda and
I think that's really important to remember.
Anyone writing about learning fits in somewhere with their own agenda,
whether it be political or cognitive or psychological.
I think it's a good idea to explore where they're coming from and why.
So the idea is that you can structure in learning and
constructivism with the support of a more expert other or
without on your own, that's what we might call experiential
learning when it's without the support of a teacher or and with peers.
So in a typically constructivist classroom,
one that is based on the theory of constructivism,
you would expect to find a lot of dialogue where people
are supporting each other in developing their own ideas.
>> So would it be true to say that there is some of these different approaches to
learning are better suited for some of the different purposes that we discussed?
>> Absolutely.
I mean, if your purpose is which it may well be in many countries at this
moment to get through that exam, to get that qualification,
to get you out of the country or to get you out of poverty.
Then you best sit down and read your book and check it over and
memorize, because that's what the system it.