Nottingham Education Network

NEN Explain: Constructivism 

What is Constructivism? 

Constructivism is the school of thought that holds the idea that learning is not a passive process and is instead constructed, that individuals build new knowledge upon the foundation of previous understanding. Constructivism sees learning as a gradual process that is split into two main sections and one minor section: social, learning from others and the environment that an individual is in and cognitive, the biological process in which the brain interprets, stores, builds or constructs knowledge. The minor section of Constructivism can be split into radical, where knowledge is intended and not created to enable us to function in our environment.


Learning occurs within Constructivism through a process of assimilation, adapting and accommodating information, linking specifically to Piaget. This can be done through social or internal processes. This is where the two sections differ. Assimilation of new information is the process of adding new information to an existing understanding. Adapting current thinking is where the new information changes how to understand something. Finally, within Constructivism, accommodating is the process where new information fits into our current understanding without the need to change. Constructivism, particularly in its “social” forms, suggests that the individual is a more active participant during the learning process, creating (“constructing”) new meanings to their current understanding and developing their thinking.

Exploring the three part of Constructivism

Within the school of thought of Constructivism, there exist three distinct strands that centre around divergent concepts regarding an individual’s capacity for acquiring, mastering and internalising knowledge, skills and behaviours. These three strands are commonly identified as Social Constructivism, Cognitive Constructivism and Radical Constructivism.

What is Social Constructivism?

Social Constructivism emphasises how meanings and understandings develop from social interaction and primarily through the involvement of another person, be they of the same age or older. For example, it could be a pupil and their peer working together on a task or between the pupils and their teacher. 

Building on from this, one of the reasons that Social Constructivism focuses on the influence of another person within the learning processes is because it holds the idea that the transfers of knowledge generally happen between peers and more knowledgeable others. This knowledge transfer, however, is not just through direct information delivery but through methods of interactive learning and guided participation. Both of these methods require the pre-knowledgable other to act as a guide on the side and support the learning in curating their knowledge, understanding and reasoning from their learning. 

Despite Social Constructivisms focusing on the involvement of others within the learning process, it also encompasses cognitive structures similar to that of cognitive Constructivism, which is still in the process of maturing with age but can only do so under the guidance and collaboration with others which is were this strand difference from its counterpart. 

As well as this, Social Constructivism believes that learning begins with the selection of ideas and thoughts from everyday life, which is then developed further when learning is engaged with and connected to real-life situations. Real-world learning adds the needed social and cultural meaning for individuals, allowing for cognitive connection and the retention of meaning. 

This strand within the school of thought of Constructivism is famed by the work of Vygotsky when focusing on its connection to education. Vygotsky is an individual who was at the time living and working within the Soviet Union. The Socialist and Communist stances of his environmental experience can be seen within his work, which emphasises the need for cooperation with others and the sharing of knowledge, support and resources to support one another’s developments. Vygotsky developed the Zone of Proximal Development theory within the Social Constructivist view.

Other topics covered that are linked to this type of Constructivism.

What is Cognitive Constructivism?

Cognitive Constructivism focuses on how the individual understands things and the natural development of knowledge removed from outside stimuli.

One of the main assumptions within Cognitive Constructivism is that it focuses on the mental or cognitive processes or thinking within individuals rather than observable features. This means that it is interested in the way of learning rather than the what of learning. Why learning happens rather than what they learn, which is often linked to behaviourism. This comparison between Behaviourism and Constructivism is important because the development of this school of thought occurred due to the growing dissatisfaction with Behaviourism’s rigid focus on only observable features rather than looking into why these features appeared in the first place. 

Another aspect of Cognitive Constructivism is that it views the development of knowledge, skills and behaviour as an active process where learners must be involved in constructing their understanding for this knowledge to be effective. Apart from this, the experience would be through the engagement of their likes and interests and through their interpretation and connection of past knowledge, skills and behaviours to enable processing, storing and understanding. Therefore, knowledge, skills and behaviours are actively constructed by an individual rather than passively absorbed.

Similar to that of Social Constructivism, because Cognitive views learning as an active process that requires engagement from the individual, it also views learning as an act of discovery. One in which the individual must be provided with an opportunity to ‘discover’ their understanding rather than being taught or provided with information and positioned into passive learning. This act of discovery allows for the assimilation of new knowledge, skills and behaviours to occur and the adaptation of exciting schema. 

Other topics covered that are linked to this type of Constructivism.

What is Radical Constructivism

Knowledge is not also constructed in line with the experience that occurs. The meaning of what is learnt and what is taught can be different as it is based on the interpretation of the learning to process and understand the information. This understanding occurs through the lens of their own personal experiences, options and views. This means that knowledge is invented rather than discovered like in social or cognitive Constructivism.


One of the reasons for knowledge within Radical Constructivism being invented rather than discovered is due to the individual building their understanding based on subjective interpretations of the information. Rather than an objective transfer of facts and understanding.