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enhances interest and learning, as we will explore further in Chapter 8 (Motivation and Core Beliefs)
(Chin & Chia, 2006; Deci & Ryan, 1985; Rosebery, Warren, & Conant, 1992).
The most extreme constructivists would say that learners should always choose on their own what
they want to learn (Neill, 1964). In this view, a teacher should never give students a topic to study.
Students who choose to study ecosystems can do so; students who would rather study Asian history can
do that. But because states have recently specified instructional goals that schools must meet, most
teachers would not be able to give Rachel and her classmates the choice of whether to study ecosystems,
because ecosystems are a required curriculum topic. Many constructivists would even agree that
specifying instructional goals is useful (Appleton & Asoko, 1996). But even if teachers make some of the
choices, they can still leave some other choices up to the students.
Even if Rachel’s class is not given the choice of whether to study ecosystem, they can be given
many other choices about what to study about ecosystems. For example, Rachel’s teacher might allow
students to select which of several ecosystems (coastal, forest, etc.) they want to learn about and have
students who made the same choice work together. Students can decide what it is they want to learn about
ecosystems. Rachel’s group might decide that they want to focus on how different coastal animals such as
lobsters adapt to their environmental niches. Another group might want to study how humans affect forest
ecosystems.
Learners should engage in authentic, relevant tasks. Constructivists emphasize that learners should
engage in activities that are as similar to real-world activities as possible. They believe that such
preparation provides learners the experience they need to handle with real-world tasks (J. S. Brown et al.,
1989). For example, if learners always engage in oversimplified mathematical tasks (such as two-sentence
word problems in the back of the book), they will be unprepared for complex, real-life mathematical
problems (such as completing taxes or projecting future profits for a multi-pronged business plan for a
new product) (cf. Hickey, Moore, & Pellegrino, 2001; J. Taylor & Cox, 1997). Conversely, when they
engage in authentic, real-world tasks, such as making recommendations about how to clean up a polluted
river that they have actually studied, they will find science motivating and relevant (cf. Rivet & Krajcik,
2004).
While constructivists stress that students should engage in activities that are similar to real-world
activities, in reality, it is usually necessary to simplify learning environments in some ways. Schools
usually cannot recreate the full complexity of real life, and tasks that are too complex may overwhelm
students (Windschitl, 2002). Yet, teachers who practice the constructivist approach find a balance by
engaging students in tasks that are as authentic as possible and given them appropriate assistance so that
they can carry out the tasks successfully.
Rachel’s teacher can engage students in learning about ecosystems by engaging them in real
research on school grounds. Students can investigate their local ecosystem with real scientific tools such
as thermometers and light meters (cf. Roth & Bowen, 1993). Alternatively, students might investigate how
to use ecosystem concepts to improve the ecosystem of a small wood and stream on the school grounds
(Malhotra, 2006), or they could study the small-scale system of a tropical fish aquarium in the classroom
(cf. Hmelo-Silver, 2004). Such activities are more likely to promote the complex reasoning skills needed
for authentic research than simple lab experiments where students follow “recipes” for experiments (Chinn
& Malhotra, 2001, 2002b).
Learning from Others Constructivists—and especially social constructivists—envision a different
role for students and teachers than in the traditional transmission model of teachers lecturing to students.
The role of teachers is to help students learn on their own and in groups rather than to be the main
provider of information.
Students facilitate each others’ learning. A core idea of social constructivism is that students learn
a great deal from engaging in interactions with peers (A. S. Palincsar, 1998). Likewise, because humans