Instructionism and Constructivism: Reconciling Two Very Good Ideas

Instructionism refers to educational practices that are teacher-focused, skill-based, product-oriented, non-interactive, and highly prescribed. Constructivism refers to educational practices that are student-focused, meaning-based, process-oriented, interactive, and responsive to student interest. There is disagreement regarding which curricular orientation best serves the educational needs of children. Evaluative outcome research is contradictory and the superiority of either instructional orientation has not been clearly established. A combination of instructional methods may ultimately prove most beneficial. For example, intensely teacher-mediated lessons could be sprinkled throughout the school day, thereby minimizing teacher and student mechanization while maximizing student achievement gains. Instructionist-constructivism would promote systematic instruction within a context of individual meaning and personal interest. For example, skills such as spelling and grammar, rather than taught in isolation, could be embedded in meaningful literacy activities. Extreme and exclusionary instructional methods may be the ultimate threat to effective education.