Excerpt: Most contemporary neurobiologists and cognitive scientists agree: knowledge is actively constructed. The implications of constructivism for education, however, remain controversial. In the last ten years schools have been engaged in a flurry of reform initiatives encompassing new curricula, new forms of assessment, new standards, and professional development. But various interpretations of constructivism abound, often equating it with “hands-on“ learning, discovery, and a host of pedagogical strategies. Resulting confusion and misinterpretation has resulted in public attacks by the media, by parents, and even at times various groups in the academic community. Thus it seems appropriate in this speech, to reflect on the biological and cognitive science evidence and to provide further implications for an application of the theory to education.

Psychology – the way learning is defined, studied, and understood – underlies much of the curricular and instructional decision-making that occurs in education. Constructivism, perhaps the most current psychology oflearning, is no exception. Initially based on the work ofJean Piaget and LevVygotsky, and then supported and extended by contemporary biologists andcognitive scientists as they studied complexity and emergence, it is having major ramifications on the goals that teachers set for the learners with whomthey work, the instructional strategies teachers employ in working towardthese goals, and the methods of assessment used by school personnel to document genuine learning. What is this theory of learning and develop-ment that is the basis of the current reform movement and how is it different from other models of psychology?

Key words: radical constructivism, education