Re: All the way with Piaget (fwd)

Dewey Dykstra, Jr. (dykstrad who-is-at bsumail.idbsu.edu)
Thu, 7 May 1998 09:00:19 -0600

Mike sez:

>Hi Maria-- I agree, acquistion and construction are not binary contradictions
>(how do you spell that "a" word Eva? And teaching and communities of
>practice are not antithetical, and and and.

Just to keep the notion on the table: It depends on what one means by
construction. Not all constructivists use a meaning of this term which
allows one to interpret acquisition and construction as not binary
contradictions. Radical constructivism (rc) as I understand it uses a
notion of "construction" which is not consistent with "acquisition" because
according to rc what is constructed is *not* what is anywhere else.

In fact Piaget's notion of construction was based on actions. (note: these
are personal actions, at early ages physical/external and later they tend
toward the internal/mental, hence they are not constructions composed of
what is "out there" but composed of what is "in here." I know, then where
*does* the "outside world" come in. Ask about it and I'll respond.) Hence,
if these "mental" constructions are not seen as re-constructions of
something "out there", then it is *possible* that this other sort of
constructivism of which I have been speaking might better be seen in a kind
of "participation""camp;" certainly more so than in any "acquisition"
"camp."

This distinction gets at the essence of the difference von Glasersfeld was
pointing to when the attempted the adjectives "radical" and "trivial" to
differentiate the constructivisms. It is also a distinction that sets rc
apart from most other notions of the nature of "knowing."

>Dewey fought to get us to give up either or thinking, but heck, there
>are only two kinds of people int he world, right? Those who can give
>up either/or thinking and those who cannot! :-)

Tee hee...

Dewey (the *other* one)

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Dewey I. Dykstra, Jr. Phone: (208)385-3105
Professor of Physics Dept: (208)385-3775
Department of Physics/MCF421/418 Fax: (208)385-4330
Boise State University dykstrad who-is-at bsumail.idbsu.edu
1910 University Drive Boise Highlanders
Boise, ID 83725-1570 novice piper

"Physical concepts are the free creations of the human mind and
are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external
world."--A. Einstein in The Evolution of Physics with L. Infeld,
1938.
"Every [person's] world picture is and always remains a construct
of [their] mind and cannot be proved to have any other existence."
--E. Schrodinger in Mind and Matter, 1958.
"Don't mistake your watermelon for the universe." --K. Amdahl in
There Are No Electrons, 1991.
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