CONSTRUCTIVISM AND ITS IMPLICATION IN CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

The aim of present study is to shed light on constructivism and its implication in curriculum development, and how constructivism shapes the development of materials. Constructivism takes an interdisciplinary perspective, inasmuch as it draws upon a diversity of psychological, sociological, philosophical, and critical educational theories. Viewing this, one can say that constructivism is an overarching theory that does not intend to wipe off but reconstruct past and present teaching and learning theories. Constructivism gives importance to learner as the agent who plays pivotal role in the learning process, rather than trying to get the power from the teacher. However within the constructivist paradigm, the stress is placed on the learner than the teacher. It is the learner who interacts with his or her environment and thus gains an understanding of its features and characteristics. The learner constructs his own conceptualizations and finds his own solutions to problems, mastering autonomy and independence. According to constructivism, learning is the result of individual mental construction, whereby the learner learns by matching ‘new’ against ‘given’ information and establishing meaningful connection, rather than by internalising mere given information to regurgitate later on. In constructivist thinking, learning is inescapably affected by the context and the beliefs and attitudes of the learners.