Upshot: In view of Kenny’s clinical insights, Hug’s notes on the intricacies of rational vs. a-rational “knowing” in the design sciences, and Chronaki & Kynigos’s notice of mathematics teachers’ meta-communication on experiences of change, this response reframes the heuristic power of bisociation and suspension of disbelief in the light of Kelly’s notion of “as-if-ism” (constructive alternativism. Doing as-if and playing what-if, I reiterate, are critical to mitigating intra-and inter-personal relations, or meta-communicating. Their epistemic status within the radical constructivist framework is cast in the context of mutually enriching conversational techniques, or language-games, inspired by Maturana’s concepts of “objectivity in parenthesis” and the multiverse.

For some years, there have been in‐service efforts to help teachers become familiar with constructivist ideas about learning, and to apply them in their science teaching. This study is a vignette of one teacher’s science teaching some time after such an in‐service activity. It explores the ways in which the teacher implemented his perceptions of constructivist ideas about learning in his teaching of a topic. The extent to which the teacher used teaching principles based on constructivism was influenced by his views of science and of learning, how he usually planned his teaching, and his confidence in his own understanding of the topic. Features of the teaching which reflect a constructivist view of learning are discussed and some problems are identified. We conclude with some reflections about in‐service programs within a constructivist framework.

In this article a constructivist framework is proposed in order to integrate emergentist thought with systemic studies on biological autonomy – specifically: the autopoietic theory - which are focused on the role of organization. A particular attention is paid to the role of the observer’s activity, especially to the different operations he performs in order to identify the pertinent elements at each descriptive level and to the relationships between the different models he builds from them. An epistemological notion of emergence as non-derivability – that of “complex emergence” – is introduced, that allows a) a distinction between autonomy and self-organization, and b) a reinterpretation of downward causation not as a direct or indirect influence of the whole on its parts, but instead as an epistemological problem of interaction between descriptive domains.

Educational technology is firmly grounded in the rational tradition. However, there are growing numbers of educational technologists who consider themselves constructivist in orientation. In this paper I look at design in the field of educational technology through the lens of an enactive constructivist framework in order to locate trends that suggest a convergence with the enactive position as explicated in the works of Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela. The enactive position provides a coherent framewok within which to guide constructivist practice.

Context: Constructivist teachers who find themselves working within an educational system that adopts a realist epistemology, may find themselves at odds with their own beliefs when they catch themselves paying closer attention to the knowledge authorities intend them to teach rather than the knowledge being constructed by their learners. Method: In the preliminary analysis of the mathematical learning of six low-performing Year 7 boys in a Maltese secondary school, whom one of us taught during the scholastic year 2014-15, we constructed a conceptual framework which would help us analyze the extent to which he managed to be sensitive to constructivism in a typical classroom setting. We describe the development of the framework M-N-L (Mathematics-Negotiation-Learner) as a viable analytical tool to search for significant moments in the lessons in which the teacher appeared to engage in what we define as “constructivist teaching” (CT) during mathematics lessons. The development of M-N-L is part of a research program investigating the way low-performing students make mathematical sense of new notation with the help of the software Grid Algebra. Results: M-N-L was found to be an effective instrument which helped to determine the extent to which the teacher was sensitive to his own constructivist beliefs while trying to negotiate a balance between the mathematical concepts he was expected to teach and the conceptual constructions of his students. Implications: One major implication is that it is indeed possible for mathematics teachers to be sensitive to the individual constructions of their learners without losing sight of the concepts that society, represented by curriculum planners, deems necessary for students to learn. The other is that researchers in the field of education may find M-N-L a helpful tool to analyze CT during typical didactical situations established in classroom settings.

Key words: Mathematics teaching, mathematics learning, constructivist teaching, constructivist framework

Open peer commentary on the article “Systems Theory and Algorithmic Futures: Interview with Elena Esposito” by Elena Esposito, Katrin Sold & Bénédicte Zimmermann. Abstract: Esposito’s theoretical approach indicates the fertility, first, of transplanting social systems theory into other fields, and next, of bringing classical cybernetic topics such as computation by algorithms back into Luhmann’s multi-modal constructivist framework of differentiated system operations.

This paper outlines a constructivist framework to describe spiritual thought. Western society at present is changing rapidly, and while this development is culturally pluralist globalisation and consumerism are dominant values. In this economic context the increase of flexible and short-term contract employment, with attendant job insecurity, raises important questions about social management of the quality of work experience (V. Gash, 2004). In the context of the quality of other life experiences, I initiated a conversation at this conference in 2002 (Gash and Thompson, 2002) to explore spirituality from a constructivist perspective. That paper focused mainly on spiritual moments concerned with personal transformation, for example the Sacraments of the Catholic Church. Broadening my approach here, I consider spiritual moments as epiphanies that may arise when contemplating the gap between the known and the unknown: Moments when people perceive their lack of control over events – when faith may help overcome uncertainty. We close gaps, for better or for worse, at moments where we learn. Could it be that applying this partial model of the spiritual might help to prioritise such moments in art, culture, science and education?

Key words: spirituality, constructivism, tolerance, multiculturalism.

The aim of the present chapter is to examine attitudes and images relating to inclusive education programmes with a view to understanding more fully the socio-emotional context within which inclusion takes place. This paper views conceptions of others, as social conservations in the Piagetian sense or as social constructions in a constructivist framework. A number of elements are brought to bear on this issue. They include examination of variations in children’s representations of intellectual disability and Down Syndrome, attitudes towards inclusive education and the issue of the validity of this type of attitude measure. Children in middle childhood are building their self-representations (Harter 1998), and we believe that representations of self and other develop together as youngsters mature. Further, there is good evidence that difficulties with peers place children at risk for developing psychological problems (Harter 1998). In a series of classroom intervention studies the first author has investigated children’s representations of their peers with special needs. Gender and grade level differences have consistently been found in these studies (Gash 1993; Gash and Coffey 1995; Gash 1996). Girls have been found to be more sociable, more socially concerned and more positive towards children with an intellectual disability than boys (Gash 1993). Older children have been found to be more socially concerned, more sociable and more positive towards integration (Gash 1993). Further, girls in a school with a special class were more socially concerned and sociable than peers in a similar school without this facility (Gash and Coffey 1995). Two sets of linked studies are described in this chapter. The first set is based on the use of questionnaire techniques to examine children’s attitudes towards intellectual disability and Down Syndrome. There are four studies in the first set. The first compares attitudes of samples of Irish and Spanish primary school pupils towards integrated or included pupils with intellectual disability. The second re-examines these cross-cultural findings through use of data requiring a more focused or restricted representation of intellectual disability, specifying Down Syndrome. The third provides evidence for the contextual validity of this attitude measure, and the fourth is an evaluation of a programme of integration at second level. The second set of studies examines in more detail children’s and parents’ attitudes towards integration and Down Syndrome. The first of these is a qualitative assessment of Irish and Spanish primary school pupils’ thinking about aspects of Down Syndrome, in particular inclusion of Down Syndrome children in their classrooms, and how pupils feel about socialising with peers with Down Syndrome. The second is based on a nationwide sample of 501 Irish farmers to assess their attitudes towards integration and its management in the Irish educational system. This provides data on adults’ attitudes towards integration. It is important to note that these data were collected just prior to 1996 and so reflect the Irish primary system at that time. Subsequently there has been a dramatic increase in the educational services for children in difficulty in many Irish schools. In the broader cultural domain the process of social identification is known to be important in the integration of minority groups into society (e.g. Lalonde et al. 1992). Learning to make friends and to have an identity in a group of friends is one of the tasks of childhood. A key element in the glue cementing a social group together is an individual’s acceptance of the attitudes that this particular group considers important. If a child is different from other children this matching of attitudes may be more difficult. In the microcosm of classroom or school, attitudes play a central role in determining the success of integration and inclusion. Negative attitudes on the part of teachers or students towards a child with a disability may arise because of limited experience (e.g. Hegarty 1993). Whatever their origin, negative attitudes are likely to affect the quality of classroom and school life. Helen Keller is known to have said that the heaviest burdens of disability arise from difficulties in social relations and not from the disability itself. The present studies are concerned principally with two types of attitudes in children. The first is about sociable acceptance and concern, and the second is about acceptance of integration and inclusion. While these two are not identical, they are closely linked to the context in which friendships are formed in school. In turn, friendships support good outcomes across development in childhood (e.g. Hartup 1983; 1996). Relevance: This paper relies on the idea that children’s ideas about others who are different are constructed on the basis of their experiences. Here differences between children in Ireland and Spain are examined for children of different ages in primary school with a view to relating these differences to the varying social contexts of the samples who participated in the studies. The view taken is that the ideas expressed are social versions of Piaget’s conservations. The hope is that the variation demonstrated provides teachers with opportunities to think about ways to stimulate discussion and promote tolerance which may potentially be dampened by stereotypes.

Key words: Stereotypes, children, social constructions, inclusive education, representation of disability

Science Educators have endorsed and advocated adopting a constructivist approach in science teaching for these past 25 years. This is indicated by the massive research published during this period about children’s ideas and describing teaching schemes developed within a constructivist framework… Yet, as the PISA results [14] highlight, students’ performance across the world vary widely and too many students still lack the basic scientific literacy needed to understand and apply basic scientific principles to contexts. The aim of this paper is to review the development of constructivist learning theory highlighting its main contributions. The main approaches: cognitive conflict; scaffolding; and metacognition will be each discussed in detail. However, like any other theory, constructivism has its shortcomings, particularly in treating the learning context in a holistic way within a sociological perspective. Reasons for which constructivism has not brought about the significant improvement in the understanding of science as predicted by science educators will be put forward. Possible directions that constructivism can take up in dealing with the new demands of the social impact that major current scientific research such as cloning is making, will be proposed.

Key words: constructivism, review, children’s ideas, teaching approaches.

Constructivism, a multifaceted philosophical position on the nature of knowledge and educational practice, has recently emerged both in the literature on learning and in school reform efforts, despite no strong supporting research base. At present, four major perspectives on constructivism in classrooms may be identified. They are the perspectives of Piaget and Vygotsky as well as social and holistic constructivism. Because school psychologists may be asked to work in a constructivist framework, one purpose of this article is to describe the essential characteristics and difficult issues associated with implementing this approach for classroom practice. Included are goals, assumptions about learners, essential teacher skills, and research concerns. A second purpose is a discussion of the implications for school psychologists, highlighting currently recommended school psychology practices that may address important concerns within a constructivist approach. Recommendations for consultation and intervention, needs of students with learning difficulties, and assessment issues are addressed.