It’s All Relative!

I have enrolled in my first online course with the goal of obtaining a certificate in Instructional Design. My first class, titled “Learning Theory and Instruction,” has introduced me to the 3 prevailing theories of learning; behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism.  As I completed the required readings from the text, additional articles, and supplemental documents that described the constructivist view, I found myself disturbed by the statement, “constructivists believe that the mind filters input from the world to produce its own unique reality.” (Ertmer and Newby,1993, pg. 62)Two things bothered me about this statement; one is the question of the input we get from the world and second is the creation of our own unique reality. Where do we get our input? If the answer is internet web sites, social media, and blogs then I think we are in big trouble.  I have observed an increasing dependence in these areas of our lives and inclusion of them into mainstream education as viable resources for information. Students are taught that it’s not what you learn that’s important but how you learn. The information is out there, we just need to be good at accessing it. The content therefore becomes secondary or even irrelevant as long as the process for its acquisition is learned. I see an increasing relativism developing that makes fact, truth, and concrete science seem less important. Instead, it’s really what people think about something that makes it “real.” This leads me to my second concern, and that is with people using this input to create “their own unique reality.” A constructivist believes that “Humans create meaning as opposed to acquiring it. Since there are many possible meanings to glean from any experience, we cannot achieve a predetermined, “correct” or fixed meaning. Learners do not transfer knowledge from the external world into their memories:  rather they build personal interpretations of the world based on individual experiences and interactions. Thus, the internal representation of knowledge is constantly open to change; there is not an objective reality that learners strive to know.” (Ertmer and Newby,1993, pgs. 62-63) I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like the idea of there not being an objective reality. Everybody determining their own reality- that seems pretty relative to me. So, the way I see it, we have relative truth and relative reality. Where is right and wrong? By the way, don’t try arguing with me because I have already created my own reality for this new information and who are you to tell me my reality is wrong?