Activity 3.4

Ducksworth (1996) would view the implementation of a constructivist approach as a way of allowing the students to own and test their ideas (e.g. Bart mixing chemicals in the lab). However, Airasian and Walsh (1997) would argue that the teacher’s efforts were ineffective. For instance, the teacher did not acknowledge that students learn at different levels and paces, so Bart’s intellectual needs were not being catered to. The teacher’s attempt to have a class structure that allowed students to explore their ideas freely and make their own rules demonstrate some weaknesses in the use of pure constructivist approaches in learning.