At the 2007 American Educational Research Association (AERA) convention, scholars of education and the learning sciences debated the usefulness of constructivist versus explicit instruction. The debate inspired the writing of the book Constructivist Instruction: Success or Failure? by educational psychologists Sigmund Tobias and Thomas Duffy. Each week, a post will summarize and comment on the 18 chapters in this book. By the end of this series, we’ll develop some nuance on this contentious debate.
The book’s pedagogy is itself worth noting. In most chapters, one or several researchers argue in favor or contructivism or explicit instruction. At the chapters’ end, dissenting researchers question and critique the chapter’s authors. The main authors then reply to these critiques. This cycle of critiques and replies digs more deeply into the contructivist/instructivist debate than do scholarly articles.