Constructivism is the bedrock on which the whole reform movement, especially the three NCTM volumes [N1]-[N3], rests. Roughly, this is the education philosophy which holds that the acquisition of knowledge takes place only when the external input has been internalized and integrated into one’s own mind. Thus learning requires the construction of a mental image in response to the external input. So far so good, except that current proponents of constructivism go further and stipulate that classroom time should be used for the students to re-discover or re-invent the concepts or the methods of solution in order to help along this mental construction, and that the best way to.
