The paper outlines the significant influence of constructivism in contemporary science and mathematics education and emphasizes the central role that epistemology plays in constructivist theory and practice. It is claimed that constructivism is basically a variant of old-style empiricist epistemology, which had its origins in Aristotle's individualist and sense-based theory of knowledge. There are well-known problems with empiricism from which constructivism appears unable to dissociate itself.

Constructivism and Science Education: Some Epistemological Problems

This paper documents some of the `bad press' that Positivism has received inscience education; it delineates the varied, and sometimes contradictory, waysin which educationalists characterize positivism; it indicates that Constructivismshares the same philosophical commitments as the instrumentalist tradition inpositivism; and it suggests that there is considerable educational gain in reconsideringthe philosophical and educational commitments of the non-instrumentalist, logicalempiricist, tradition in positivism. The paper proceeds by examining and elaboratingupon two educational papers of Vienna Circle members Philipp Frank and HerbertFeigl. It is argued that a number of the philosophical and educational `principles' ofthese foundational positivists are of value to educators facing a worldwide drift fromnatural sciences in schools and universities, and an increasingly strident anti-sciencelobby in universities and society. There are at least some positivist babies that shouldnot be thrown out with the educational bathwater.

Reappraising Positivism and Education: The Arguments of Philipp Frank and Herbert Feigl

(1989). Liberal Education and Open Society: Absolutism and Relativism in Curriculum Theory. Curriculum Inquiry: Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 11-32.

Liberal Education and Open Society: Absolutism and Relativism in Curriculum Theory

As part of a larger research progam on learning to teach, this paper reviews 15 empirical studies that followed students through one or more components of their student teaching program. The review focused on teacher development, constructivism (which ascertains how initial experiences in teacher education interact with the preconceptions held by prospective teachers), and knowledge utilization. The review found much variation in the usefulness of the research in informing the practices of researchers and of teacher educators. No consistent message was found with regard to the effects of different facets of programs on the work of beginning teachers. Where constructivist teacher education programs were the subject of study, generally positive claims were made about results, but in other cases, student teaching experiences were so devastating that little learning seemed to take place. A positive feature of the research studies was the fact that the research was being conducted by individuals working in programs of teacher edv..:ation rather than by researchers twice removed from study subjects. (Contains 34 references.) ODD)

/pdf/the-research-on-learning-to-teach-prospects-and-problems-3slqm2dif2.pdf

The Research on Learning To Teach: Prospects and Problems.

From the epistemologic point of view, some constructivist trends seem to border on a extreme idealism of kantian overtones; they suggest that the natural world has no existence apart from what the individual creates in his mind. On the other hand, from the methodological point of view, sometimes a valid approach is excessively privileged (such as the fact that the interpretation of observation is always done within a previous theoretical framework) or the didactic effectiveness of some specific approaches is highlighted (such as the usefulness of the History of Science for the learning of some concepts and scientific theories). In both cases perhaps the importance of induction is under­estimated, or the essential part of the scientific method is rejected, or the advantages of some other alternatives are forgotten. This paper offers some reflections on the convenience of adopting a middle position instead of leaning to these two different points.

/pdf/reflexiones-sobre-la-ciencia-y-la-epistemologia-cientifica-159hpnq8wo.pdf

Reflexiones sobre la ciencia y la epistemología científica

Some principles of postpositivist philosophy of science

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Some principles of postpositivist philosophy of science