Theoretical foundation
Dewey
Vygotsky
Piaget
Bruner

Contributions
of later work
Papert
CTGV
Gardner

Characteristics

Criticisms

Contributions of later work-CTGV

The Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (CTGV): Trying Technology to Constructivism A research team located at the Learning Technology Center at Vanderbilt University has helped establish some practical guidelines for integrating technology based on constructivist principles. They proposed an instructional approach based on concepts introduced by Vygotsky, Whitehead, and Brown, Collins, and Duguid. It has also developed several technology product modeling this approach that have achieved widespread use in North American education. Several related concepts provide the theoretical foundation for their approach:

1. Preventing inert knowledge. The CTGV hypothesized that if children learned without creating a direct connection to their personal experience, it would often result in their acquiring what Whithead referred to as inert knowledge. That is, students never actually applied the knowledge they had learned because they could not see its relationship to problem they encountered. Inert knowledge is "knowledge that can usually be recalled when people explicitly asked to do so, but is not used spontaneously in problem solving even though it is relevant".

2. The nature of situated cognition and the need for anchored instruction. Brown, Collins, and Duguid suggested that teachers could prevent the problem of inert knowledge by situating learning in the context of what they called authentic experiences and practical apprenticeships activities that learners considered important because they emulated the behavior of experts (adults) in the area. In this way, students see the link between school learning and real life activities. The CTGV felt that teachers can meet the criteria for situated cognition by anchoring instruction in highly visual problem-solving environments. "Anchored instruction provides a way to recreate some of the advantages of apprenticeship training in formal educational settings involving groups of students".

3. Building knowledge through generative activities. Like Vygotsky, the CTGV believes that learning is most meaningful to students when it builds (scaffolds) on experiences they have already had. Students are also more likely to remember knowledge that they build or "generate" themselves, rather than that the simply receive passively.