Constructivism in Peru: a necessary review

_____________________________________________________________________________
Juan Carlos Aguirre Neyra

SUMMARY:

Constructivism is a position shared by different trends of the

psychological and educational research. Constructivism is a theory that
intends to explain the nature of human knowledge. Learning
is essentially active. A person who learns something new incorporates it into their
previous experiences and their own mental structures. Each new piece of information
it is assimilated and deposited in a network of knowledge and experiences that exist
previously. The process is subjective, as each person modifies it according to
your experiences. Experience leads to the creation of mental schemas that
we store in our minds and that grow and become more
complexes through two complementary processes: assimilation and
adjustment Constructivism also has a strong social component, the
cultural development appears doubly, first at a social level and then at a cultural level
individual.

Keywords:

Constructivism, reform, competence, skill, teaching, learning

capacity, reform.

Constructivism in Peru: a necessary revision

ABSTRACT:

Constructivism is a position shared by different trends in psychological and

educational research. Constructivism is a theory that tries to explain what is the
nature of human knowledge. Learning is essentially active. A person who learns
something new incorporates it into his previous experiences and to his own
mental structures. Each new information is assimilated and deposited in a network
of knowledge and experiences that previously exist. The process is subjective,
since each person changes according to their experiences. The experience leads to
the creation of mental schemes that we store in our minds and that grow and
become more complex through two complementary processes: assimilation and
accommodation. Constructivism also has a strong social component, cultural
Development appears doubly, first on a social level and then on an individual level.

Keywords:

Constructivism, reform, competence, ability, teaching, learning, reform.

1. INTRODUCTION

The subject of this article is 'Constructivism in Peru: A Review'

necessary", which addresses a detailed review of the application of this
focus on the entire educational reform process that is being implemented in
our country for almost three decades.
The fundamental purpose of this document is to conduct a historical review with
regarding the fundamental nuances and the proposals for application in the classroom. So
also, address the interrelation of this approach in the so-called Curriculum
National Basic Education (CNEB) proposed by the Ministry of Education
since the year 2017.
Constructivism, understood as a broad pedagogical approach, brings with it a
a wide range of methods, techniques, strategies, and forms of evaluation. This new
vision, applied in education should entail a substantial change and
transcendental to allow education in our country to be the pillar and support
of the socio-economic takeoff of Peru.
Constructivism differs substantially from the previous approaches that have
governing Peruvian education, for

Constructivism differs from other viewpoints in which learning

it is forged through the exchange of information between people (teacher-student), in
In this case, building is not what is important, but rather receiving. In constructivism, the
learning is active, not passive. A basic assumption is that people
they learn when they can control their learning and are aware of
control they possess. This theory is about learning, not a description of how
to teach. Students build knowledge on their own. Each one
individually constructs meanings as they learn.
(Hernández, S. 2008 : 27).

Unfortunately, this concept or vision has been distorted in its authenticity.

essence. Without having a vast knowledge, this perception has become a
relaxed exercise of autonomous knowledge construction that I should carry out
a student. The intervention of the teacher, therefore, becomes necessary.

2. ORIGIN OF CONSTRUCTIVISM

Although George Nelly (1905-1967) and Jean Piaget (1896-1980) are considered the
most prominent representatives of constructivism concerning its application
pedagogical; three centuries ago, the Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico (1668-1744)
he wielded a phrase in which he asserted that human truth is what man
He knows by building it with his actions, forming it through them. The postulates.
from this thinker, very close to the rationalism of the 17th century, brings us very
clearly to what would later be proposed as the fundamental thesis of the centuries later
constructivism.

From the philosophical field, the precursor of Constructivism is Immanuel Kant (1724-
1804), whose a priori ideas, synthetic a priori judgments, analytical and dialectical
Transcendental reflect the systematizing and unifying character of the human spirit.
Therefore, to understand learning, philosophers attempted to conceptualize the
knowledge, seen as a central problem, acknowledging that it is the relationship between
the subject and the object, through mutual contact. In the description of the process of
knowledge, the phenomenon of it appears, where for it the act of
to know is the one where a subject apprehends an object; that is, it represents it in its
cognitive structure. If it does so as it is, knowledge is true.

The basic idea of most of these works, regardless of whether they have been
were carried out in the context of didactic research or psychology of the
education, is that the knowledge of ideas and representations of the
students about the contents that are the object of school learning is
extremely important to improve the teaching of said content is practice
education in general. Undoubtedly, these works have contributed to highlighting the
importance of content in learning processes and have contributed a
abundant information about the students' conceptions and ideas.

It can be stated that constructivism has been supported by contributions from the
Epistemology, Psychology, and Philosophy. The active school was given two tasks.
from the perspective of constructivism, which are: to rescue the psychological debate and
epistemological, and incorporate that debate into the conceptual field. The approaches
theories that arose from that task are: the conception of epistemology, the vision of the
learning psychology, the theory about human thought, the influence
sociocultural in learning and intellectual development and contributions of the
called cognitive science.

Cuando hablamos del Constructivismo, encontramos que, se asigna al estudiante un

more participatory, dynamic, and practical role for achieving learning from
skills and abilities; of course, for this, the interaction of
subject, with its social, historical, and cultural context; in that individual interaction of it
individual, in this way, constructivism is postponed, based on a
psychological theory of human learning
To understand essentially the scholars who established the fundamental milestones.
From constructivism, we can mention the following:

A. JEAN PIAGET

For Piaget, the process of constructing knowledge is a process

essentially internal and individual, based on the process of balancing, that
The influence of the environment can only facilitate or hinder. The dialogue is established.
between subject and object, and social mediation does not constitute a determining factor,
ago that the construction of progressively more intellectual structures
powerful obeys, ultimately, to an internal need of the mind.

These two facts, fundamentally, have led to the proposals

pedagogical approaches based on Piaget's theory often present some serious
inconveniences, already highlighted and criticized on numerous occasions
like when the following is proposed:

 That the objective of teaching is to promote the construction of

thought structures (classification, conservation, seriation, etc.)
since it is the mastery of such structures that allows for understanding
of the different contents.
 That students must build their own knowledge through
a relatively autonomous discovery process, in which the
the role of the teacher is to propose experiences and situations that help to
this process.
 Piaget's Constructivist Model

B. DAVID PAUL AUSUBEL

The main contribution of Ausubel's theory to constructivism is a model of

teaching by exposition, to promote significant learning instead of
memorization learning. According to meaningful learning, new
knowledge is substantially incorporated into the cognitive structure of the
student, when they relate the new knowledge to the
previously obtained.

According to meaningful learning, new knowledge is incorporated

in substantive form in the cognitive structure of the student, when this
relate the new knowledge with the previously obtained.

Another contribution to constructivism is the 'advance organizers', which

they serve to support the student in the face of new information, they function as a
bridge between the new material and the prior knowledge of the student.

To achieve meaningful learning in addition to valuing the structures

cognitive abilities of the student, appropriate material must be used and
consider motivation as a fundamental factor for the individual to
interest in learning.

TYPES OF MEANINGFUL LEARNING

 Learning of representations: it is when the child acquires the

vocabulary. First learn words that represent real objects
that have meaning for him. However, he does not identify them as
categories.
  Learning concepts: the child, based on concrete experiences,
understand that the word "mom" can also be used by others
people referring to their mothers. It also appears when the
preschool children are subjected to learning contexts by
reception or by discovery and comprehend abstract concepts
como "gobierno", "país", "mamífero"
 Learning propositions: when you know the meaning of the
concepts, it can form sentences that contain two or more concepts in
where I affirm or deny something. Thus, a new concept is assimilated to
integrate it into their cognitive structure with prior knowledge.

C. LEV VYGOTSKY

Lev Semionovich Vygotsky was born in Orsha, a small town in Belarus, on 17

November 1896. After completing secondary education in the city of
Gomel, a partir de 1912 cursó estudios universitarios de derecho, filosofía e
history in Moscow.

During his secondary and university studies, Vygotsky acquired a

excellent training in the field of human sciences (languages and linguistics,
aesthetics and literature, philosophy and history). By the age of 20, he had already written a
voluminous study on Hamlet.

In Vygotsky's work, several specific concepts are present.

relevance that their theoretical positions constitute, such as tools
psychological, mediation and internalization, among others.
On the other hand, his work throughout his life addressed other topics, such as:
  The origin and development of higher mental functions.
 The philosophy of science.
 Methodologies of psychological research.
 The relationship between learning and human development.
 Conceptual training.
 The relationship between language and thought.
 El juego entendido como un fenómeno psicológico.
 The study of learning disorders
 Thought and speech

It is of special importance, to understand the development of the functions

higher psychological processes, the psychic phenomenon of the subject's 'internalization',
whose self-education process is based on gradual appropriation
and progressive of a great diversity of operations of a socio –
psychological, shaped by social interactions and in general of
cultural mediation. In this dynamic of operations, culture is being appropriated
of the same subject.

This ongoing process of cultural, scientific, and technological internalization,

evaluative, etc., continuously revolutionizes and reorganizes psychological activity
of social subjects; the internalization that manifests itself in a progressive
control, regulación y dominio de sí mismo, conducta que se evidencia en el
sociocultural scope.

ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT (Z. D. P.) AND SCAFFOLDING

The zone of proximal development (ZPD) refers to the space, gap, or difference
between the skills that the child already has and what they can learn
through the guidance or support that an adult or a peer can provide
competent.

The concept of the ZPD is based on the relationship between the child's current skills and
its potential. A first level, the child's current performance, consists of working
and solve tasks or problems without the help of another, with the name of level of
Real Development. This basal level would be what is commonly evaluated in the
schools.

The level of potential development is the level of competence that a child can
to reach when guided and supported by another person. The difference or gap
between those two levels of competence is what is called ZDP.

The idea that a significant adult (or a peer - like a classmate -)

The media between the task and the child is what is called scaffolding. This last concept
has been quite developed by Jerome Bruner and has been fundamental for the
development of your concept of scaffolding in your instructional model.
3. CONSTRUCTIVISM STUDIES IN PERU

For over two decades, there has been an urgent need in the current governments.
the need to implement an educational model that prevails and is unrelated to
political discussions or trials.

One of the aspects that has gained the most relevance in this process of change has been
regarding the so-called educational quality, which, together with concepts such as
competencies, capacities or skills, has found in the approach
constructivist the support of this entire range of terms.

Looking back, each government has been implementing a model

according to their particular criteria and visions, distant from the authentic
needs of the population.

In this context, it is necessary to coordinate efforts and criteria in order to

to grant education the transformative axis of the country.

In 1990, the World Conference was held in Jomtiem (Thailand)

Education for all, under the direction of UNESCO (United Nations Organization)
United for Education, Science and Culture), the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme
United for Development), UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund)
and the World Bank. It is one of the first global meetings whose central theme is
education.

The World Conference on Education for All (Jomtien, Thailand, 1990)

marks a milestone in terms of the assumption of international commitments related to
to education. The main proposal that arose from there recognized the
universalization of basic education (EPT) and the so-called basic needs
of learning (NBA) as a requirement that had to be met for the
totality of student populations in the world. The Jomtien proposal
ultimately aimed to reconcile the justified concern for the
 education and to consider it as a right, pointing out the concern about
of its quality (Cuenca, 2001, p. 18).

It is from this meeting and the subsequent ones that education becomes the axis.
central to the concerns of the countries adhering to those instances
supranational.

Due to this crucial role, the need to implement an education arises.

with a different perspective. For this shift, it was necessary to contextualize various
authors like Piaget, Ausubel, Bruner, or Vygotsky, who had previously been
ignored by the harsh behaviorist structure.

It was in the year 1995 when this new perspective was brought to our country as the
basic core that should govern the educational reform initiated by the dictatorship
fujimorista and continued by the subsequent governments.

This new pedagogical vision was to gradually abandon the harsh permanence of
the Behaviorist School that had governed our country for several decades. Given
what was a policy that had been proposed in Jomtiem, the vast majority of countries
Latin Americans had already taken the first steps toward implementation and
sustaining everything that involved the implementation of these new practices
pedagogical.

Teaching and learning are ideas that are often presented together, and what
regarding their permanent relationship has given rise to positions, approaches, and models
varied, ranging from the perception that the teacher is the protagonist of
learn (instructional paradigm), up to the relationship between the teaching process,
and the consequent product, called academic performance (process paradigm
product). This proposal was related to the useful behavior of the teacher in the classroom,
the ways of thinking of the teacher, all of them, have nonetheless assumed that the
the teacher is the transmitter of knowledge and the students, as passive agents who
They receive this knowledge (Beingochea, P., 1997).

All research conducted around intelligence has allowed the

reconsiderations that manifest during the teaching-learning process. Therefore, it
has proposed student learning from the perspective of the student themselves
student, focusing on the fact that he is the main builder of his learning so that
they in turn become significant, establishing a significant shift in the
teacher, in which he will no longer teach knowledge to the student, but
fundamentally promote their independent thinking, through an active process
and constructive.

In constructivism, knowledge is produced through the interaction between the new

information and the information that is already available; therefore, learning means building
models to analyze and interpret the information we receive.
According to Pezo (1996, cited by Bengoechea, 1997), this construction is
on pause when the process of knowledge construction is generated as
product of new information and prior knowledge, and acquires
dynamism when the processes with which knowledge intervenes
they change, therefore, learning is a reform of knowledge (Beingochea,
1997).

For the implementation of all these concepts in our educational system, it was
It is necessary to carry out a diagnosis of the state of the entire educational system in place.
until that year. With the support and guidance of UNDP, the World Bank, UNESCO and the
GTZ (German Technical Cooperation); it was reached by the Ministry of Education (1993) what
next:

A) Lack of a National Education Program and the limited leadership of

Ministry of Education in most of the country, as its influence was
reduced to Lima and Callao.
B) Inadequate investment in the sector, with minimal public investment evident.
In education, it should gradually be raised to a minimum of 6% of GDP.
in the subsequent years.
C) Monolithic and rigid bureaucracy, supported by an excessive regulatory framework, that
overemphasizes educational legislation, sidelining purely
pedagogical, postponing the initiatives of the teachers.
D) The curriculum was considered basically adequate, although saturated with content.
disconnected from each other requiring to be energized, flexible, and diversified.
E) Lack of relevant educational materials, unrelated to reality, designed without
the advice of specialists and a marked absence of school libraries.
F) Deficiency in terms of infrastructure and inappropriate school furniture.

With the adoption of the constructivist approach and cognitive psychology at the level
Latin American and national, it became essential to conduct a review and propose a
reform that fundamentally includes the training and education of teachers.

Considering the results of this diagnosis, the Ministry of Education

proposed the creation of the Education Quality Improvement Program
Primary (MECEP), focusing its work based on three axes:

A) Improvement of the quality of the learning processes, starting point of the

application of the constructivist approach, which is based on learning in
deterioration of teaching. According to this criterion, the student should achieve the
achievement of basic competencies through the development of knowledge,
procedures and attitudes.
B) Modernization of educational administration, which involves the restructuring of
manuals, training of officials and directors of educational centers, as well
such as the improvement of information and evaluation systems.
C) Improvement of educational infrastructure, rehabilitation of centers
educational, appropriate furniture and equipment.
Specifically regarding the improvement of the quality of the processes of
learning, three specific actions were proposed:

A) Curricular restructuring by competencies and capabilities; which in turn

it involves the facilitator role of the teacher within the teaching process
learning.
B) Development of educational materials from a constructivist perspective. This
material is designed to promote curiosity, creativity, and motivation.
C) Training of teachers, in response to their deficient training

The perspective of the Ministry of Education considered that the training of

the teaching was deficient, this added to their precarious economic condition and limited
social reclamation.

It was necessary to reassess the teaching profession, which in turn entails

the improvement of their salary conditions and working conditions, which
serve for the assumption of commitments for the fulfillment of educational policies,
proposals by the State.

To make all this a reality, that same year (1995) the Plan is implemented.
National Teacher Training Program (PLANCAD) as part of MECEP. The objective
The fundamental aspect of PLANCAD was that students became protagonists.
of their learning and that the role of the teacher would be that of a guide and mediator. This implies,
break the prevailing traditional model in favor of learner-centered education
student.

According to this new approach called the New Pedagogical Approach (NPA)
constructivist

Students learn with activities that are meaningful to them.

B) Los estudiantes son el centro de aprendizaje, pues ellos construyen sus
learning according to their motivations and interests.
C) Learning is linked to the social environment and experiences of the
students.
D) It shifts from teaching as a central activity to teaching-learning.
turning the role of the teacher into that of a guide or mediator.
E) The teacher promotes dialogue, cooperation, and teamwork (Schüssler,
2001).

To develop this ambitious process, alliances had to be established with

various universities, pedagogical institutes, civil associations, non-governmental organizations
governmental, etc. These various instances were dedicated to the training of the
teachers in the various regions of the country.

Based on this training experience, where the fundamental axis was the
internalization of teachers on the various theories that support the approach
constructivist.
 Following this line and perspective, all the various reform plans and projects
implemented by the various ruling governments, have had as their axis and support
the constructivist theory.

4. CONCLUSIONS

When a new perspective or vision is implemented, not everything it proposes

can be considered positive. Despite its undeniable contribution to all the
reform processes implemented in the last 25 years, it is not a solid theory,
absolute and monolithic.

Among the favorable aspects, one can mention:

Articulation with contemporary knowledge about the child and their dimensions
pedagogical, psychological and sociocultural.
From the school, a democratic culture is developed, flexibly adjusting the dynamics.
between teacher and student, which facilitates the student's integration into the world,
after leaving the system.

Among the unfavorable aspects, the following stands out:

As a form of vision or perspective, it is still incomplete. No construction

cognitive exhausts the complexity of real facts; relevant aspects can
to be sidelined without receiving appropriate treatment.
The master element is the most demanded or required. It must be autonomous.
of excellent training and ongoing education.

5. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

Beingochea, P. (1997). A constructivist perspective on teaching and the

Learning. Journal of Educational Psychologists. 3 (2). 125-140

Cuenca, R. (2001). The commitment of civil society in education. Systematization

National Teacher Training Plan (PLANCAD). Ministry of
Education of Peru, GTZ, KfW.

Hernández, S. (2008) The constructivist model with new technologies: applied

in the learning process. Journal of University and Society of
Knowledge. 5 (2). 26-35. E-ISSN: 1698-580X. Retrieved from
[Link]

Schüssler, R. (2001). The new pedagogical approach in the classrooms. Results of a

research with teachers trained by PLANCAD. Lima, Ministry of
Education.