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Constructing a Pragmatic Science of Learning and Instruction with Functional Contextualism

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Abstract

Constructivism has been embraced by many in the field of instructional design and technology (IDT), but its advocates have struggled to move beyond theory to practice or to empirically demonstrate the effectiveness of their approach. As an alternative to constructivism, a new perspective emerging in psychology, known as functional contextualism, is presented. Like constructivism, functional contextualism also rejects objectivist epistemology, but provides a much more coherent philosophical basis on which to build an empirical science of learning and instruction. The philosophical worldview known as contextualism is reviewed to outline the similarities and differences between constructivism and functional contextualism, and the key characteristics of functional contextualism and the science it supports, behavior analysis, are described. Implications of functional contextualism for research and practice in IDT are then explored.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Western Michigan University, Michigan

    Eric J. Fox (assistant professor)

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Correspondence to Eric J. Fox.

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Eric Fox [eric.fox@wmich.edu] is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Western Michigan University. This article was written while he was a doctoral student in the Learning & Instructional Technology program at Arizona State University.

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Fox, E.J. Constructing a Pragmatic Science of Learning and Instruction with Functional Contextualism. EDUCATION TECH RESEARCH DEV 54, 5–36 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-006-6491-5

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