Designing Environments for Constructive Learning

This book focuses on constructivist pedagogy and the implications of that pedagogy for the principles and strategies of instructional design and for the use of technology in instruction. A constructivist pedagogy emphasizes the "situatedness" of learning. There is always a reason for learning; learning is a tool for accomplishing something else. Our understanding of a concept is based on the context in which it is experienced. Most importantly, that context involves the larger framework orpurpose for engaging in a task. In the first half of this book the authors describe constructivist learning environments and the particular theoretical framework in which they are embedded. The second half of the book focuses on instructional design principles to bederived from constructivism, the implications for the practice of instructional design, including principles for design, and the practical issues of implementing constructivist learning environments.