Student attitudes towards constructivist assumptions were investigated in a study conducted at Erasmus University Rotterdam (Loyens, Rikers & Schmidt, 2007) using a questionnaire containing statements about four constructivist assumptions:
- The importance of knowledge construction
- Cooperative learning
- Self-regulation
- The use of authentic problems
A sample of first-year psychology students (n=209) were issued the 95-item questionnaire to measure their agreement with these four constructivist learning assumptions. The results in summary revealed that a hypothesised model of these four factors matched with the data collected, indicating that ‘even first-year university students could already distinguish constructivist concepts as important for their learning.’ (p. 193)
I would be interested in the results of a comparable questionnaire issued here in Taiwan, investigating whether there were any cultural factors at play in the reception of constructivist learning theory. I’ve emailed Prof. Loyens to ask if I could get a copy of the questionnaire used for the study, so I could at least examine it as a research instrument if not attempting to replicate the study in some form.
I’ve also found a proponent of flipped learning at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology who may be willing to talk to me about cultural responses to constructionist and constructivist pedagogy here in Taiwan: http://www.idlslab.net/
Sources
Loyens, S. M. M., Rikers, R. M. J. P. & Schmidt, H. G. (2007). Students’ conceptions of distinct constructivist assumptions. European Journal of Psychology of Education (22) 2, 179-199.
