 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||
 |
 |
|
||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||
 |
 |
|
||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||
GLOSSARY INQUIRY: SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM (CONSTRUCTIVISM)
Social constructivism is concerned with the manners in which collective knowledge is generated in the collaborative activities of individuals, and how, in turn, that knowledge operates to frame the activities, understandings, and identities of those individuals.
A diversity of ideologies tends to be represented among constructionists, including Marxist, postcolonial, radical feminist and other critical theoretical perspectives, along with less politically oriented interpretive attitudes. Shared meanings develop through negotiation in the learning environment, leading to the development of common knowledge. Theorists may also uncover ways in which the learning environment or structure of discourse ‘silences’ certain kinds of knowledge.
Complexity science understands social collectives as coherent, complex systems (or “learners”) with cognitive processes of their own. It thus supports current social constructivist accounts of learning and links them to theories of learning dealing with other levels, or learners/bodies.
See related terms: Learner, Knowledge, Identity, Nestedness, Conditions for Emergence, Complex System.
