Constructivism in simple terms is when the learners create the knowledge, asks the questions, and draw their own conclusion about a concept presented, instead of just getting the information from someone like a teacher or something else like a book. Back in high school, one of my classmates asked our science teacher why does the outside of a glass of water get wet? Instead of giving the class a straight answer, our teacher asked us, “how do you think it happens?” Naturally, everyone in class started thinking and throwing in their own answers, one classmate , who happens to be artistic, wants to try and see if she has the correct answer but she thought she could explain it better if she drew a glass of water in the blackboard. Our teacher enthusiastically agreed and said that it’ll be better if she can give like a visual support for her answer. So my classmate draw on the board and explained how she thought that the room temperature had an effect on the cold water in the glass and how it produced droplets outside the glass. It was a detailed explanation (with visuals) and she was actually correct. Because our classmate was able to explain it well, the class finally knows how the outside of a glass of water gets wet. And it’s easier to understand because the person, the classmate, who explained it is in the same group and age as the rest of the class which could mean that we could have the same level of intelligence and vocabulary, in short, the class can relate.

For me, this is an example of constructivism. The teacher knew the answer to the question but she let the class think it through. This is the advantage of constructivism in a classroom, the students get to think critically, it improves the students’ communication skills, and gives them confidence to speak up.

The only disadvantages or limits I can think of is that not all the time constructivism can be used. It depends on the context to be discussed. Also, this can be sometimes time-consuming, what if an answer given by a student happens to be wrong or very far from the context, the teacher will spend so much time and effort to explain to the whole class of why or how the answer is wrong. This can be avoided if the teacher has given the correct answer in the first place. Moreover, it was mentioned that having a classmate or peer explain a concept may be easier and relatable, but if the explanation is wrong, correcting that error may cause more confusion among other students.