Pushing back against Constructivism

Pushing back against Constructivism

Bowers was an interesting read on many levels. I think, for practitioners like ourselves, incorporating Bowers suggestions and addressing some of the challenges he has raised requires an impractical shift in the way we make curricular decisions - decisions relating to learning objectives, instructional strategies, assessment, and use of educational tools. For example, Bowers argues computers are not 'culturally neutral technology .... and that many forms of knowledge cannot be digitized'. Well, as educators we cannot do away with technology such as computers, but what other tools could we use that are culturally inclusive, which is worth pursing? In onsite learning, we may use various tools (to create, share and celebrate knowledge) in our teaching; in online learning environment, we might allow a multiplicity of ways in which knowledge is produced and shared. Next, as educators working within online learning space, we can also be mindful of positive and negative effects of a particular technology use.

To Bowers, constructivism represents an ethnocentric orientation that undermines intergenerational knowledge, and diversity of knowledge forms that exist in non-western world. Once we accept this reasoning, how would we justify our curricular decisions (such as the use of debate/forums/reflections/experiments) to support the development of 'learner autonomy' (Dewey) and 'critical enquiry' (Freire)?

I would love to hear how one would go about addressing Bowers' concern in an online learning environment such as ours. It is highly likely that students in this class come from (and any Toronto on-site classroom, for that matter) almost as many cultures as there are students, and with various sets of beliefs, experiences, and aspirations. Despite this, we come together, and create a learning community, and engage in learning within the boundaries set by course materials and our instructor, don't we? Of course, this is not perfect, but I do not know how to respond to Bowers' claim that educating people to construct their own knowledge creates a condition of alienation and disregards intergenerational knowledge. What if specialized learning gained from an online learning platform does not conflict with intergenerational knowledge and diversity of knowledge forms that exist in a society? Perhaps, online learning is a wholly different enterprise and we seek to obtain entirely different knowledges, and so Bowers' discussion of constructivism does not apply to online learning as much as it does to other settings, maybe a relatively homogenous on-site class(?). Not that we cannot make some tweaks in our practice as many of us have noted in our posts in this week's discussion forum, but I feel Bowers is difficult to satisfy.

Bowers, C. A. (2005). False Promises of Constructivist Theories of Learning: A Global & Ecological Critique. Peter Lang.