Constructivism: Constructivist theories of learning and knowing considers how learners construct understanding through their active involvement in experiences with objects in their environment. Knowledge is therefore built within the learner’s mind. Piaget is widely believed to be the “father of constructivism.” If you imagine a child playing with a rattle, Piaget would say that the child is constructing knowledge through the actions of mouthing, shaking, and holding the toy.

Assimilation and accommodation: Piaget theorized that human development is driven by adaptation to the environment through processes called assimilation and accommodation. New experiences or interactions with objects allow the child to form schemas. When encountering new information, it may fit with, or be assimilated into, the existing schemas. However, if the information does not fit with the existing schemas, it may be necessary to accommodate it by expanding the existing schemas or creating new ones. According to this perspective, then, learning is a process of acquiring new representations of the world or altering existing ones.

Schemas: Schemas are mental representations of the world. Piaget believed that children’s experiences with objects in their environment helped them create schemas. For example, the child who encounters a bird for the first time forms representations for that bird: it has wings, it has feathers, it makes a squawking noise, etc. Other flying creatures that the child sees will then be compared to the bird based on these schemas the child has formed.

Equilibrium and disequilibrium: When children encounter objects or have experiences that neatly fit into their existing schemas, they are said to be in a state of balance or equilibrium. However, when children encounter objects or has experiences that are dissonant with their existing schemas, they are in a state of imbalance or disequilibrium and must revise their thinking (accommodate) to regain balance.

Readiness: The theories of some developmental psychologists, such as Piaget, suggest that children are able to achieve particular milestones or stages at a certain age. Learning environments and experiences can be used to create a developmental match with the child’s abilities. 

Age-appropriate: Arising from Piaget’s theory, age-appropriate learning tasks support the child’s current developmental level and the skills and competencies they should be able to achieve at a specific age.

Child-centred: Child-centredness is a concept that is informed by Piaget’s theory. The teacher might structure the learning environment and experiences, but children’s interests inform the curriculum. 

Learning through discovery: The idea that children learn through discovery, or through their play and experimentation with materials, emerged from Piaget’s theory. Teachers who follow this approach would carefully arrange materials and spaces to facilitate children’s own explorations.

Self-directed: Related to Piaget’s idea that children can discover the world for themselves is the notion of self-directed learning. Children direct their own learning according to their interests and fascinations and build logical thinking.

Peer-collaborative: Peer-collaborative learning stems from Piaget’s theory and suggests that the learner engages in collaborative research on topics of interest with a peer to build logical thinking.

Social constructivism: Like constructivism, social constructivism is a theory which emphasizes that learners actively construct knowledge. While constructivists (such as Piaget) see this process as occurring through the learner’s interactions with objects, social constructivists argue that the learner’s interactions with other people are central in knowledge construction. Social constructivism emerged from Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory which highlights the importance of culture and other contextual factors in learning. According to social constructivist theory, the child playing with a rattle might engage in experimentation, but it is through social interaction with others in the present (or the past memory of seeing others use the rattle) that facilitates knowledge construction. 

Psychological tools: According to Vygotsky, psychological tools are artifacts that contribute to the construction of higher psychological structures. These tools help enhance one’s as attention, memory, perception, and other cognitive functions. 

Tool of the mind: Vygotsky contended that language was the dominant psychological tool or tool of the mind. Once children learn language, it allows them to learn to use other tools. 

Lower to higher order functions: Vygotsky believed that mental functions could be divided into two types: lower and higher order. According to Bodrova and Leong (2007), lower order functions are innate, develop as one matures, and are shared with animals. They include sensations, reactive attention, associative memory, and sensorimotor thought (see Table XX). Higher order functions are uniquely human and develop during teaching, learning, or shared social activities. Some examples include mediated perception, focused attention, deliberate memory, and symbolic or logical thought. 

Meaning-making (perezhivanie): This term was used by Vygotsky to define the ways in which children appropriate or internalize social experiences. Children make meaning as they participate in shared activities with others situated in a particular sociocultural context. The adult role is to mediate or mentor during these interactions.

Mediation: Vygotsky argued that young children’s development of higher mental functions such as perception, attention, and reasoning depends on the presence of mediating agents. 

Mediating agents: Mediating agents can either be symbolic or human. Symbolic mediators are signs and tools which represent objects in the environment. For example, the word “bird” or a picture of a bird represents or is symbolic of an actual bird. When mastered, these tools and signs become inner psychological tools. Human mediators are interactions with others that allow learners to co-construct shared understandings and appropriate the tool. For example, a teacher’s cue or instructions can allow the children to complete a task. 

Internalization: In Vygotsky’s theory, learners are believed to first construct meaning in social interactions with others and then to internalize this learning within their own mind. For example, two children are playing with wooden blocks trying to build structures. One child, Kade, is able to build a quite high tower, but the other one, Tyson, struggles as the blocks keeps falling down. Kade points out that he can “start with the big block on the bottom”. Tyson internalizes this information. 

Appropriation: During the process of internalization, the learner is seen to socially construct knowledge alongside experts; this knowledge is then internalized. Appropriation expands on this idea, considering further how the learner takes an active role in shaping and creating this understanding and does not simply internalize or take it on. Both learner and expert are transformed. In the case of the children building structures with blocks, appropriation considers how both children contribute to building a shared understanding of their mutual activity. As a more expert builder, Kade may assist Tyson in understanding that towers need a big block for the foundation, but Tyson likewise contributes to the construction. They achieve intersubjectivity or mutual understanding. 

Co-construct: Co-construction describes the process whereby individuals work collaboratively to build shared understandings of a task, tool, or concept. 

Scaffolding: Wood, Bruner, and Ross’ (1976) concept of scaffolding brings Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development into the learning context. The expert adult or peer is seen to offer skilled assistance or intervention which allows the learner to achieve more than they could independently. They proposed numerous approaches to scaffolding. 

Recruitment: This scaffolding approach involves initially engaging the learner’s interest in a particular task. For example, the teacher begins a lesson on places in the community by asking students to share about their favourite place.

Reduction in degrees of freedom: In some instances, the learner finds a task to be too difficult. By reducing the degrees or freedom or simplifying the task, the teacher can situate it within the learner’s zone of proximal development. For example, if the child is struggling to sort objects by two attributes, the teacher might suggest sorting only by colour. 

Direction maintenance: This scaffolding strategy involves helping the learner continue to attend to the task. In this way, the learner remains motivated and engaged. The teacher might point out how close the child is to finishing or some interesting aspect of the task that might become accessible with just a bit more work. Educational apps will often build in direction maintenance in the form of levels or stages to help the child visualize their progress. 

Marking relevant features: Sometimes when a child is engaged in a task, they have difficulty visualizing the steps they need to complete it or they encounter an obstacle they cannot overcome. The teacher might point out relevant aspects of the task to help guide the child toward completion. For example, a child has made several attempts to complete a mathematics problem without success. The teacher indicates to the point in the problem where a wrong calculation was made and suggests the child try again from that spot. 

Controlling frustration: This strategy is somewhat similar to direction maintenance. When a learner is repeatedly trying to complete a task and struggles to do so, it can lead to frustration. By finding ways to minimize frustration, the teacher ensures that the learner continues to persist. For example, imagine the child is trying to fit a particular piece in a puzzle and is getting increasingly frustrated. The teacher might intervene, saying: “I wonder what would happen if you turned the piece around the other way?” If the child can successfully fit the piece in the correct spot, they might want to continue. 

Demonstration: Demonstration is a commonly used scaffolding strategy where the teacher models the task so the learner is able to visualize how it might be completed. If the children are learning how to cut, the teacher might model how to hold and manipulate the scissors. 

Explicit mediators: Wertsch (2007) defined external mediators as concrete objects which the teacher inserts into the learner’s ongoing activity. Charts, tables, diagrams, posters, props, books, and learning materials are some examples of explicit mediators. For example, if the teacher is supporting the children in learning to read, they might label all the materials in the room with word cards and produce name cards for each child showing the name and a photo.

Implicit mediators: Wertsch (2007) explained that implicit mediators are more abstract and transitory. Speech and gestures can be used as mediators when they are brought into the learner’s ongoing activity. For example, the teacher is teaching the students classroom routines and expectations at the beginning of the year. A particular clap might remind the children it is time for the next experience, and a verbal cue can remind them what to do next (that is, the word ‘shoes’ reminds the children to change their shoes for physical activity). 

Structuring: Structuring is a common form of scaffolding where the teacher creates boundaries or parameters for learning. For example, the teacher might create the environment or space for learning, outline processes to follow, choose who the children will work with, and arrange which materials they will use. In this way, the teacher creates a structure for a task that supports the children in achieving a particular learning goal or outcome. 

Bridging: This strategy involves using the learner’s own past experiences as a bridge for building understanding of a new, unfamiliar concept. Teachers often do this quite naturally when they try to find out what the children already know about a topic. This strategy can be especially effective for immigrant or refugee children who have moved from a very different context. For instance, when beginning a unit on structures, the teacher asks “what kinds of buildings have you seen in your country? Can you describe them to me or show me a picture?”

Guided participation: This teaching and learning approach combines structuring and bridging. Rogoff (1990) states that it is a process where expert adults or peers structures the learner’s participation in an activity and help them bridge between their current understandings and new understandings. This approach does not view the learner as a passive recipient of knowledge, but rather both learner and expert take an active role in negotiating their involvement in the activity and co-constructing meanings.

Everyday or spontaneous concepts: Vygotsky conceived of everyday concepts as being those concepts which the child learns in their home and community as they participate in their daily living activities. Everyday concepts were thought to be the dominant concepts formed in early childhood and the foundation for scientific concepts formed in school.

Scientific concepts: Scientific concepts, Vygotsky believed, were systematic and organized symbolic systems that the child might learn in institutional school settings. Literacy and numeracy skills are two examples.

Shared activity: Shared activities are those activities where a mental function is shared between two people such as working together to solve a problem or to complete a task (Bodrova and Leong 2007).