To teach or not to teach: Controversy surrounding constructivism in early childhood education

Constructivism is one of the most influential education theories in the 20th century. It promotes that knowledge is socially constructed and the child is an active participant in meaning making. The central controversy surrounding the constructivism in early childhood education is whether the teacher should teach children knowledge or leave them to discover on their own. The current paper analyzed theoretical and empirical evidence from evolutionary developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, and theory of mind, and concluded that the teacher’s purposeful teaching is vital to preschoolers’ learning; closely scaffolded instructions may work better for young children; and the teacher should make explicit to children the teaching intention and the knowledge change. Implication to early childhood education reform is discussed.
建構主義是20世紀最有影響的教育理論之一。它提倡知識是社會建構的產物，而兒童是意義建構的積極參與者。圍繞建構主義在早期教育中的中心議題是否應該教給兒童知識，還是應該讓兒童自己去探索發現。本文通過分析來自進化發展心理學，認知心理學，以及心理理論領域的理論與實證證據，認為教師的有目的的教學對兒童學習至關重要；環環緊扣的鷹架教學對幼兒可能更加有效；以及教師應該向兒童明確指出教學意向以及知識的轉變。文中還討論了教還是不教的問題對幼教變革的意義。 Copyright © 2009 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.