Constructivist and Constructionist Learning Theory, Teaching, and Learning

Constructivist and constructionist learning theories provide a powerful framework for understanding how students learn best in the 21st century, particularly in technology-rich classrooms. Constructivism emphasizes that learners actively construct knowledge based on prior experiences, while constructionism extends this idea by arguing that learning is most effective when students create tangible, shareable artifacts that allow them to externalize and reflect on their thinking (Orey, 2001 & Walden University, 2015). Because of technological advancements of the 21st-century such as the accessibility of the personal computer, the revolution of the Internet, and the explosion of artificial intelligence, constructionist learning is more accessible and more imperative than ever before (Levin, 2025, pp. 10, 19). Together, these theories form the foundation for instructional strategies such as project-based learning, learning by design, problem-based instruction, and inquiry-driven approaches like Genius Hour by engaging “students in a variety of structured tasks” (Pitler, 2012, p. 204).

Constructivist/Constructionist Learning Theories, Instructional Strategies, and Technology Tools

Constructivist and Constructionist learning theories and instructional strategies are magnified through the technological educational tools of the 21st Century. Constructivist-based strategies such as project-based learning, learning by design, and problem-based instruction are designed to place students at the center of the learning process, encouraging them to explore authentic problems, collaborate with peers, and construct meaning through active engagement rather than passive reception of information (Orey, 2001). Constructionist-based strategies take Constructivism a step further by having the students become the content creators of their own learning (Levin, 2025). Clark (2023) emphasizes that a vital trait of how these theories and strategies play into technology is that the technology must be used as an environment for learning through creation and exploration rather than tools for delivering instruction. Technology tools enhance these strategies by expanding students’ ability to research, create, collaborate, and reflect.

Orey (2001) states that Constructionism builds on Constructivism by focusing on the creation of external artifacts, noting that “learners don’t get ideas; they create ideas” through designing and constructing meaningful products (p. 130). Dr. Orey in Walden University (2015) makes sure to point out that Constructionism and Constructivism are different, though they are often confused: Constructivism at its simplest form is building knowledge based on our own personal experience which determines our understanding and that Constructionism is taking that understanding to build an artifact that shows our knowledge. Instructional strategies such as Learning by Design and Project-Based Learning operationalize this theory by requiring students to plan, design, test, revise, and present their work for real audiences. Technology tools, such as Google Slides, Canva, video creation tools, simulations, and collaborative platforms, support this process by making it easier for students to iterate on ideas, visualize complex concepts, and share their learning beyond the classroom.

Pitler (2012) applies Constructionist and Constructivist learning theory through the strategy of “generating and testing hypotheses” (p. 204). While this strategy is most often attributed to science class, it can be effectively used across all content areas, including high school English/ Language Arts, like I teach. No matter what students are learning, they can begin with developing a hypothesis or theory based on what they already know; they can then spend the duration of the unit testing and adjusting their hypotheses through Systems analysis, problem solving, experimental inquiry, and investigation (Pitler, 2012, p. 205). 

Levin's (2025) research applies Constructionist Learning Theory into the era of generative artificial intelligence (genAI), arguing that genAI represents a new phase in digital learning where tools become “partners to think with” rather than passive instruments (p. 14). From a Constructionist perspective, genAI allows students to engage in dialogue, explore ideas creatively, and construct knowledge through interaction rather than simple information delivery. When paired with inquiry-based strategies like the Genius Hour Project, these tools can scaffold higher-order thinking and promote student agency. 

Classroom Application, Genius Hour and ISTE Standards

Beginning on January 6th, as soon as my students come back from Christmas Break, I will be diving into my first intentional application of Constructivism and Constructionism by introducing a Genius Hour project to my high school speech class. One of the requirements of Speech in my school district is that students do research on a topic to present an informative speech. The course is meant to expose students to a variety of public speaking scenarios and different presentation methods. I have completely redesigned my Informative Speech Module for the class using the guidelines set by The Genius Hour Guidebook: Fostering Passion, Wonder, and Inquiry in the Classroom (Krebs, 2016). Rather than assigning students a traditional informational speech focused on summarizing a topic, students will develop an inquiry question, conduct research, form a claim, and create a presentation that communicates both their question and their conclusion. This structure aligns closely with Constructivist and Constructionist principles by emphasizing learner choice, authentic inquiry, and artifact creation. This formula of project preparation also aligns with Pitler's (2012) generating and testing hypotheses Constructionist/Constructivist learning strategy.

Students will be able to choose their presentation format, Google Slides, Canva, Prezi, PowerPoint, a video, a physical model, or any other presentation method they come up with, allowing them the autonomy to select tools that best support their own unique learning style and creative vision. This approach directly addresses the ISTE Standards for Students, particularly "Knowledge Constructor" as students evaluate sources and synthesize information to answer an inquiry question, "Creative Communicator" as they choose platforms and formats to effectively express their ideas, and "Empowered Learner" as they set goals, make decisions, and take ownership of their learning process (ISTE, n.d.-b). From the educator perspective, this project supports the ISTE Standards for Educators, including "Designer," "Facilitator," and "Learner," as I design flexible learning experiences, guide inquiry rather than dictate outcomes, and continuously adapt instruction based on student needs (ISTE, n.d.-a).

Generative AI tools, when used ethically and transparently, can further support this project by helping students brainstorm ideas, refine inquiry questions, organize research, or receive formative feedback on their claims. I have programmed a custom genAI tool for my class using Magic School AI (n.d.) This tool is designed to help students brainstorm ideas, find and cite reliable sources, and check their work with my rubrics I will be using to grade them. My students have enjoyed utilizing this tool in the past and I am looking forward to seeing how they continue to use it throughout their GH Informative Speech project. Encouraging my students to use genAI in this why aligns with Levin's (2025) argument that offloading lower-level cognitive tasks such as information gathering to AI allows learners to focus on deeper conceptual understanding and creative thinking which also aligning with Constructionist goals of students using that higher-level cognition to apply their learning in creating their artifacts or presentations. 

References

Clark, D. (2023, June 10). Papert, AI and concrete learning. Donald Clark Plan B. https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2023/06/papert-ai-and-concrete-learning.html

International Society for Technology in Education. (n.d.-a). ISTE standards: For educators. ISTE. https://iste.org/standards/educ

International Society for Technology in Education. (n.d.-b). ISTE standards: For students. [Multimedia]. ISTE. https://iste.org/standards/students 

Krebs, D., & Zvi, G. (2016). The genius hour guidebook: Fostering passion, wonder, and inquiry in the classroom. Routledge.

Levin, I., Semenov, A. L., & Gorsky, M. (2025). Smart Learning in the 21st Century: Advancing Constructionism Across Three Digital Epochs. Education Sciences, 15(1), 45. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15010045 

MagicSchool. (n.d.). MagicSchool AI [AI platform]. https://www.magicschool.ai/ 

Orey, M. (2001). Global text: Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. https://textbookequity.org/Textbooks/Orey_Emergin_Perspectives_Learning

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2nd ed.). ASCD.

Walden University, LLC. (2015). Constructionist and constructivist learning theories [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com

Graphic Organizers and Virtual Field Trips – The Uncensored Library

 This week I had the remarkable opportunity to pilot an activity I have been wanting to do with my students for a long time: a virtual field trip to the Uncensored Library. 

What is the Uncensored Library?

The Uncensored Library is the world's largest collection of globally banned literature, mostly consisting of audio recordings and articles written by journalists from heavily censored countries. Where is this library? It is in a place that can only be visited virtually: Minecraft. Reporters Without Borders built a beautiful world in Minecraft to house all this forbidden knowledge for two reasons. The first is that it cannot be destroyed; each time someone accesses the world, they are creating their own individual copy so the countries attempting to censor the material are unable to destroy or restrict every copy. The second reason is that in most of the heavily censored countries, social media is restricted, but Minecraft, being a harmless open-world video game, is not, which means that having the library exist in Minecraft allows access to those in places where the content would otherwise be inaccessible (Reporters Without Borders, n.d.). 

The Field Trip

My intention with this project is to organized a school-wide virtual field trip in October 2026 during banned book week. So far, I have created a graphic organizer that was completed by a colleague at my school with whom I will be organizing the field trip as well as by two students who volunteered to stay after school to help me. 

My students and the teacher I collaborated with are both very excited about this idea. The next step is to take our planning to the principal for his approval. Then we can begin sorting out the details of having enough devices that can run the program and organizing the actual field trip.

Below is a picture one of the completed graphic organizers from my demo-activity. A PDF of the completed graphic organizer as well as the link to the original file on Canva can be accessed at the bottom of this post under "Appendix."

References

Reporters Without Borders. (n.d.). The Uncensored Library [Multimedia]. https://www.uncensoredlibrary.com/en

Appendix

Student Example- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OFybM-1svWxmy5hS4ypsC4EUTz-9m0Nn/view?usp=sharing

Activity- https://www.canva.com/design/DAG64Dse7G4/GQwGTGzA2cx4IHoQLxg3cw/edit?utm_content=DAG64Dse7G4&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Behaviorist Learning Theory, Instructional Strategies, and Technology Tools

What is the relationship among behaviorism, the instructional strategies, and the technology tools? How do the strategies and the technology tools work together to support student learning? 

Behaviorism is based on the idea of simple operant conditioning: wanted behaviors are rewarded and unwanted behaviors are punished (Walden University, LLC, 2015). Punishment is the less effective form of behaviorism and can often be harmful, causing fear and even trauma in students. The worst forms of punishment are confinement and restraint which rarely have the desired outcome and can easily cause injury. A resource officer working at an elementary school in Kentucky in 2015 handcuffed a student and made him sit in a chair as a response to the child having behavioral outbursts in class; the student sustained minor injuries and the school was sued (Gonzalez, 2017). To prevent harmful uses of behaviorism, my school district now requires teachers to complete an online training each year about restraint and confinement. The summary of the hour-long training: don’t do it.

The more effective side of behaviorism is rewarding wanted behaviors. This can be done through rewards, praise, or recognition. Oftentimes, a system of recognition and reward in a classroom can mirror the instructional strategy of gamification or the “practice of strategically adding some game elements into a learning experience in order to boost motivation” (McNaughton-Hussain, n.d., para. 5). In the classroom, this is typically done through a Positive Behavior Support (PBS) or an Electronic Behavior Management Program (eBMP) which is a form of PBS based in technology. The most popular eBMP used by more than 90% of k-8 schools in the United States in ClassDojo (Corser, 2025). When using eBMPs like ClassDojo, students typically create avatars or characters to represent themselves and the teacher awards points or badges similar to points or badges one might earn in a video game. These can be linked to digital rewards like upgrades for their avatar or physical rewards provided by the teacher like getting to pick a prize from the class prize box. Corser (2025) and McNaughton-Hussain (n.d.) have discussed that as children are granted rewards for positive behaviors, they will continue to do those positive behaviors intentionally in seeking rewards, but then they will eventually exhibit the same positive behaviors naturally out of habit. 

How do you currently, or how might you in the future, use behaviorist-based instructional strategy(ies) and technology tool(s) in your classroom setting? 

I do not teach elementary school, so many eBMPs don’t really fit my students. I teach high-schoolers, specifically alternative high-schoolers, students who notoriously detest school with every fiber of their being and are at risk of dropping out or going to jail. Even though my students are too old for ClassDojo, they are far from too old for praise and recognition and other forms of positive behavior reinforcement. When it comes to my students’ work, what I struggle with the most is getting them to do anything more than the bare minimum. I assign a creative digital poster project, and they turn in a Google Doc with a white background and a few copied and pasted images with a single sentence at the top in 11-point Arial font. They don’t care about receiving a low grade, as long as they get at least a 59.5% overall grade at the end of the course. They don’t respond to the punishment of a low grade, but they do respond to positive reinforcement, especially the kind that puts them in the spotlight even when they are no longer in the class. 

When I assign my students creative digital projects like posters, slideshows, brochures, etc, I try to always show them my “showcase” of examples from past students. I keep the projects that look the best and required the most effort. They aren’t always the ones with the most correct information or the highest grades, but they do the best at showing what effort looks like. My students try harder on their projects when they know there is a chance that theirs will be used as a future example. They may not care about their grades, but they do care about their work getting to live on even after they are no longer in my class. As Pitler (2012) suggests, I am reinforcing effort because “effort leads to achievement” (p.57).

When my students are completing any digital projects, they are meeting the ISTE standard 1.6.a “Choose Platforms or Tools” by selecting which digital tools–usually Canva, Adobe Creative Cloud, or Google Docs or Slides–they want to use to meet the requirements of the project (ISTE, n.d.b). When my students understand that their work may be used as examples in the future and that their work will outlive their time in my class, they are meeting the ISTE standard 1.2.a “Digital Footprint” (ISTE, n.d.b).

In order for any of this to work, however, I need to do my part as well by meeting the ISTE Standards for teachers, namely being a leader as described in standard 2.2 and being a citizen as described in 2.3 (ISTE, n.d.a). I must ensure that the digital tools I am expecting my students to use are accessible to all of them and their diverse needs. Part of this is done by my modeling how to use the tools. Typically, when my students are doing a project, I am doing the same project on the board using Canva or one of the other tools that may be new to them and I make sure to model the lesser-known above-and-beyond features that will make their projects showcase-worthy. I meet the standards of being a citizen by doing more than just my part to make the experience as positive and engaging for them as possible, and also by removing names from past-student projects to protect my students’ identities. 

What are ways you can apply the sources you researched for this module’s Discussion? How might you integrate each source into the variation on GH or HoC you selected in Module 2 to support the application of behaviorist learning theory in your classroom?

This weekend, I have just finished a round of classes and will be beginning a fresh term on Monday. Right now, I am looking for ways to incorporate a Genius Hour Project into my Speech class for this block. My plan is to swap out their typical argumentative speech, for which they already choose their own topic or issue to present on, with a project of each student’s own design to argue a relevant issue. Since this is the first time I will be doing this project, I will not have examples from previous students to showcase, but I can invite a few other teachers to come watch their presentations to act as a special guest audience to judge the best project. If the project goes well and I plan to do it again in the future, I can then showcase the winner for the next class. 

As I brainstorm, plan, and prepare this project for my speech students, I will be studying The Genius Hour Guidebook: Fostering Passion, Wonder, and Inquiry in the Classroom by Krebs (2016) and looking for application ideas on the Genius Hour blog (Genius Hour Guidebook, n.d.). I will also be on the hunt for other resources and ideas so if you know of any, please, let me know in the comments.

References

Corser, K., Manolev, J., & Danby, S. (2025). Problematising ClassDojo as a digital tool for behaviour management and home-school communication. Learning, Media and Technology, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2025.2553184  

Genius Hour Guidebook. (n.d.). Let’s collaborate! blog. Routledge. https://www.geniushourguide.org/

Gonzalez, J. (2017, October 16). When we lose the right to call ourselves professionals. Cult of Pedagogy. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/confinement-handcuffs/  

International Society for Technology in Education. (n.d.a). ISTE standards: For educators. ISTE. https://iste.org/standards/educators 

International Society for Technology in Education. (n.d.b). ISTE standards: For students [Multimedia]. ISTE. https://iste.org/standards/students 

Krebs, D., & Zvi, G. (2016). The genius hour guidebook: Fostering passion, wonder, and inquiry in the classroom. Routledge.

McNaughton-Hussain, H. (n.d.). Gamification in the Classroom: Learning through Play. Discovery Education. https://www.discoveryeducation.com/blog/teaching-and-learning/gamification-in-the-classroom-learning-through-play/ 

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2nd ed.). ASCD. 

Walden University, LLC. (2015). Behaviorist learning theory [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com