Constructivism : A Shifting Paradigm for Educational Practice in Information Society

정보화사회의 교육 패러다임으로서 구성주의 -본질과 교육적 적용-

The information society is characterized by rapidly increasing and changing information. Traditional models of learning and instruct on have emphasized forms of mastering the information in content domains. Storing information and being able to recall it has been central to formal education. But it is no longer possible to master content domains. This paper discusses constructivism as a shifting paradigm for educational research and practice in information society. Constructivism provides an alternative epistemological base to the objectivist tradition. Constructivism holds that there is a real world that we experience. However, the argument is that meaning is imposed on the world by us, rather than existing in the world independently of us. Meaning is seen as rooted in experience. The experience in which an idea is embedded is critical to the individual's understanding of that idea. From the constructivist perspective, learning is not a stimulus-response phenomenon. It requires self-regulation and the building of conceptual structures through reflection and abstraction. Problems are not solved by the retrieval of rote-learned right answers. The effective motivation to continue learning can be fostered by leading students to experience the pleasure that is inherent in solving problems chosen as one's own. Constructivism requires the change of the teacher's role from a knowledge transmitter to a coach or facilitator of student's understanding. Constructivist teachers inquire about students' understanding of concepts before sharing their own understandings of those concepts, and encourage students to engage in dialogue, both with them arid with one another. In Korea, the educational reform called open education has been spreading through out the country. There should be a paradigm shift in learning and instruction from objectivism to constructivism for better educational reform in Korea.