Principle 3. Multiple Perspectives:

Learning in the constructivist classroom is perceived as an ongoing process whereby a learner builds and rebuilds knowledge as he/she confronts new information and experience (Marlowe and Page, 1998). In the constructivist worldview, an objective reality does not exist, only ones’ subjective interpretation of it. The will to learn, therefore, arises from an ongoing need to build and re-build knowledge to “fit” the needs of an individual or a particular context (Jaworski, 1993). In this way, as students learn, each individual’s situated interpretation of reality comes to have meaning. This has significant implications in the content that students access to support their learning, as well as the ways in which they can demonstrate their understandings. According to Gardner (1999), effective teaching necessarily entails the provision of diverse representations of content, and a variety of opportunities in which learners can demonstrate understanding.

Given the importance of both honoring and accessing multiple perspectives in the constructivist classroom, web 2.0 integration considerations include: How can web 2.0 technologies enable access to multiple and diverse representations of content? How do web 2.0 technologies enable learners to demonstrate their understanding in diverse ways?

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