Chapter 2, page 57
that paved the way for the building of the Panama Canal (Britt & Aglinskas, 2002). During inquiry
projects of this sort, students have the opportunity to construct rich knowledge bases relevant to the topics
they are studying.
In contrast to the transmission model of learning, in which students learn by rote memory, students
in constructivist learning environments are engaged in higher-order thinking processes, which are
characterized by the quest for alternative explanations or solutions to problems. This type of learning
involves deciding what information is needed, evaluating evidence, thinking critically, formulating
arguments, integrating disparate ideas, and so on (Zohar, 2004). These processes are necessary in order to
carry out inquiry and construct new knowledge.
Rachel’s constructivist teacher believes that Rachel needs to be engaged in meaningful inquiry as
she learners about lobsters and coastal ecosystems. If Rachel simply reads a textbook chapter on wetlands
to acquire knowledge, she is unlikely to integrate other information or remember much of what she read if
she is not applying this knowledge in some way. Conversely, she is more likely to understand and
remember what she reads if she is trying to figure out the answer to a question that interests her, such as
deciding whether she will advocate for or against a new local mall that critics say would cause damage to
wetlands.
Learning Environments. According to the constructivist approach, the teacher’s job is to design
environments in which students can construct knowledge effectively. The principles of learning described
above about how learners learn have clear implications for designing learning environments.
Learning environments should facilitate inquiry and the use of higher-order thinking processes. If
students learn best via inquiry, learning environments should foster inquiry. Two implications are that (1)
much of the curriculum should be organized around problems that afford inquiry and (2) students should
have access to many sources of information that are needed to address the problems.
Constructivists design learning environments that are centered around problems that students
attempt to solve. For instance, a constructivist teacher who teaches high school business classes would
organize the curriculum not around a textbook but around realistic cases that pose business problems for
students to solve (see DaCosta & Chinn, 2006). Students would be provided a broad array of resources to
address this problem, including information on the Internet, information from newspapers, from business
magazines, and so on. A middle school health teacher with a constructivist orientation might organize her
course around health related problems such as how to reduce obesity in the U.S. or how to reduce tobacco,
drug, and alcohol use among teens. Each problem becomes the center of a three- to five-week unit.
Students would seek information from a variety of sources to try to develop the best way to solve the
problem posed. They would learn to discriminate between more trustworthy and less trustworthy sources
(Brem, Russell, & Weems, 2001). Constructivists hold that students learn by gathering and mastering
whatever information is needed to solve these problems, rather than by studying ideas in thematically
organized topics.
For students to gather the information needed to solve problems, teachers must create learning
environments that provide many resources for students to use. In setting up a unit organized around why
the lobster population in Chesapeake Bay is decreasing, Rachel’s teacher could provide trade books,
magazine articles, simple summaries of scientific research reports, access to internet resources, and
equipment for a variety of hands-on investigations that students might decide to undertake. Setting up
inquiry-oriented learning environments is very challenging, as it takes a great deal of thought and planning
to gather age-appropriate resources, especially for students at younger ages.
Learning environments should center around learners’ choices and learning goals. Most
constructivists emphasize that learners should have a great deal of choice over what they are learning.
Students are unlikely to be engaged in inquiry if they are not interested in the inquiry tasks. Choice