Constructivism in Science and Science Education: A Philosophical Critique

Abstract

This paper argues thai construttivisl science education works wall an unsatisfactory account of knowledge which affects both us account of the nature of science and of science education. The paper begins with a brief survey of realism and anti-realism in science and the varieties of constructivism that can be found. In the second section the important conception of knowledge and teaching that Plato develops in the Meno is contrasted with constructivism. The section fnds with an account of the contribution that Vico (as understood by constructivists), Kant and Piaget have made to constructivist doctrines. Section three is devoted to a critique of the theory ol knowledge and die anti-realism of von Glasersfeld. The final section considers the connection, or lack of it, between the constructivist view of science and knowledge and the teaching of science. © 1997 Kluwer Academic Publishers.