Constructivist approaches in education

Constructivism can be traced back to the 18th century and works of Giambattista Vico who asserted that people could only understand their own activities. Many philosophers and educators have worked on this supposition; however, Jean Piaget and John Dewey were the ones who developed ideas on constructivism. Contemporary teachers are greatly interested in the constructivist approaches in education in order to develop better classrooms and schools in almost every country. This is partly because of the fact that constructivist approaches, makes learning easier by connecting, the newly learned information with pre-existing knowledge. The National Ministry of Education in Turkey has attempted radical changes in elementary school curriculum in recent years and stated that the new curriculum would be developed based on the constructivist approaches. It seems that such philosophical changes in teaching and learning affect teacher training programs in Turkey.