Ernst Von Glasersfeld’s Teaching Thoughts Of Radical Constructivism Study

Piaget used the phrase "constructivist epistemology" in 1967, and many people began to write about constructivism since then. In its development, the concept and ideological system of constructivism became very complicated and emerged many genres. In 1974, Ernst von Glasersfeld came up with radical constructivism that is one of constructivism genres. Ernst von Glasersfeld defined radical constructivism with two principles about knowledge and cognition:(1) a. Knowledge is not passively received either through the senses or by way of communication; b. knowledge is actively built up by the cognizing subject. (2) a. The function of cognition is adaptive, in the biological sense of the term, tending towards fit or viability; b. cognition serves the subject’s organization of the experiential world, not the discovery of an objective ontological reality. In the explanation of radical constructivism, it is very difficult or impossible to get the truth. The customary conception of truth as the correct representation of states or events of an external world is replaced by the notion of viability. Concepts, models, theories, etc. are viable if they are proved adequate in the contexts in which they were created.Ernst von Glasersfeld’s radical constructivism theory which has abundant substance is a new theory of knowledge. But in our country, the researches about this theory are very scattered and less. By using the research methods of literature analysis and case study, this dissertation analyzes the forming process of Ernst von Glasersfeld’s radical constructivism theory and explains Ernst von Glasersfeld’s teaching thoughts of radical constructivism which include knowledge-based view, learning view and teaching view. This dissertation also chooses a course named "Knowing and Learning in Math and Science" which comes from University of California, Berkeley to do analysis as a teaching case. This course can foster students’problem-solving ability, logical reasoning ability, creativity well, and the design ideas of the course is consistent with radical constructivism’s teaching thoughts, so the study analyzes the consistent points in the course. The dissertation includes seven chapters as follows:Chapter one is the introduction. Chapter two is a research of source of radical constructivism’s epistemology. Ernst von Glasersfeld’s epistemology ideas of radical constructivism came from the works of Giambattista vico, George Berkeley, Humberto Maturana, Francisco Varela etc. Giambattista vico’s "the truth is to create" "truth of human is limited", "poetic wisdom", George Berkeley’s "to be is to be perceived", "the object of human knowledge is ideas", Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela’s "things is what are narrated by observer" influenced formation of Ernst von Glasersfeld’s epistemology ideas.Chapter three analyzes constructivism theoretical basis of Ernst von Glasersfeld’s radical constructivism. Ernst von Glasersfeld built radical constructivism theory based on Piaget’s constructivism perspective. Piaget discussed that how the reality is built by subject, which had a significant effect on Ernst von Glasersfeld’s ideas.Chapter four defines connotation of Ernst von Glasersfeld’s teaching thoughts, then analyzes radical constructivism’s knowledge-based view based on connotation. Knowledge-based view, learning view and teaching view are teaching thoughts’three important aspects. In the knowledge-based view of radical constructivism, the ways of knowledge acquisition are senses, communication, self-constructing, and knowledge has adaption and viability which is the essence of knowledge.Chapter five expounds learning view and teaching view of Ernst von Glasersfeld’s radical constructivism. In the learning view of radical constructivism, learning is an active construction activity which has creativity, individual variation and instrumental nature. The learning objective of students is to construct viable knowledge that is consistent to problem solving. Cooperative learning and problem-based learning methods can assist students to construct viable concepts. In the teaching view of radical constructivism, teachers are given the roles as instructors and facilitators, not imparters of knowledge but assistors in teaching activities. Teachers should learn to infer and understand students’thought, and therefore orient students to construct knowledge into right directions.Chapter six chooses to do a content analysis based on the course named "Knowing and Learning in Math and Science". Many aspects of this course’s teaching are consistent with the viewpoints of radical constructivism. The analysis finds some contents which accord with radical constructivism teaching idea and comes up with several teaching suggestions through exploring the case’s instructional objectives, learning environment, teaching content and teaching process. It should be emphasized that one of the teachers’responsibility is helping students comprehend concepts by understanding their thinking. The ecology of learning environment should be valued. The learning evaluation should be diversified and procedural, and the students’ performance in problem solving process should be considered in an important way. When designing teaching content, teachers can divide a problem which needs to be solved by students into some specific small problems. In teaching process, teachers should listen, infer and understand students’ideas, choose good timing to communicate with students, and guide students to express their real ideas.Chapter seven analyzes the developing trend, contribution and defect of Ernst von Glasersfeld’s radical constructivism theory. Ernst von Glasersfeld’s radical constructivism theory is not a mainstream paradigm of constructivism, but it will keep developing with other genres of constructivism. As a new way of knowing, radical constructivism theory offers a frame of interpretation for communication, knowledge, thinking and learning. But radical constructivism has its own defects, such as the definition of viability, which is one of the key concepts of the theory, is not detailed. The last is the conclusion.In a word, the explanation about knowledge of radical constructivism provides a new way of knowing knowledge. Radical constructivism theory influenced the field of education. Knowledge-based view of radical constructivism can make people have a rethink about some traditional objectivism learning view and teaching view.