CONSTRUCTIVISM: TOWARDS A PARADIGM SHIFT IN CLASSROOM TEACHING & LEARNING

Constructivism is a theory of Knowledge, a philosophy of learning. Its proponents include Piaget, Vygotsky and later-day philosopher Glasersfeld. The constructivist philosophy has been adopted in teaching of science by many enthusiastic pedagogues and teachers in many countries. A Constructivist pedagogy does not consists of a single teaching strategy. Instead, it has several features that should be attended to simultaneously in a classroom. It has been asserted that for a successful constructivist strategy, the teaching has not only to be student-centred and the teacher a mere facilitator, but the teacher has the added responsibility to create a conducive classroom environment. Research has established that constructive methods of science teaching have been much more successful than the traditional methods. In the present research paper the author has identified some of the most important reasons for lack of success of constructivist strategy, especially in developing countries.