Engineering Education for a Smart Society by Michael E. Auer & Kwang-Sun Kim

Author:Michael E. Auer & Kwang-Sun Kim
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

2.1.3 Radical Constructivism

Radical constructivism represents the opposite end of the constructivist continuum from cognitive constructivism. Radical constructivism fully embraces the first three epistemological principles (1-2-3), that is, that knowledge acquisition is an adaptive process that results from active cognizing by the individual learner, rendering an experientially based mind, rather than a mind that reflects some external reality.6 These particular epistemological emphases lead to defining principles that maintain the internal nature of knowledge and the idea that, while an external reality may exist, it is unknowable to the individual. Reality is unknowable since our experience with external forms is mediated by our senses, and our senses lack deftness at rendering an accurate representation of these external forms (e.g., objects, social interactions).

Radical constructivism has long been considered a “strong” form of constructivism, as it fully embraces three (1-2-3) of the constructivist epistemological principles and at least partially embraces the fourth. That is, radical constructivism is concerned with the construction of mental structures, the position of cognitive constructivists and the construction of personal meaning (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3.The indicative emphases of the four essential principles (radical constructivism)

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