Teaching a Constructivist Approach to Clinical Practice

Abstract

Constructivism and social constructionism provide the philosophical underpinning of an approach to practice teaching that emphasizes the ways knowledge derives from individually and socially constructed experience. Constructivist practices such as generating multiple ideas through questioning or collaborating with clients in the co-construction of meaning and the creation of alternative narratives are taught through an experiental format. The exercises presented provide students with firsthand experiences of seeing how they shape their own learning. While the conceptual challenges inherent in teaching from this position are many, a constructivist approach is ideally suited to practice in a multicultural society.