Defending constructivism in science education

Abstract

After an impressive development throughout the last two decades, supported by a great amount of research and innovation, science education seemed to be becoming a new scientific domain. This transformation of Science Education into a specific field of research and knowledge is usually associated with the establishment of what has been called an ‘emergent consensus’ about constructivist positions. However, some voices have begun to question these constructivist positions and therefore the idea of an advancement towards a coherent body of knowledge in the field of science education. The goal of this work is to analyse some of the current criticisms of the so-called constructivist orientations and to study their implications for the development of science education as a coherent body of knowledge.