Reductionism & Constructivism

The purpose of this research is to examine Poplin and Stone's article on the differences between the learning-disability treatment paradigm classified as reductionism, which parses learning-instruction strategies to treat disability symptoms with a view toward providing them with the ability to reach meanings, and that of constructivism, which aims to "assist students in creating new meanings of their own" (153). The plan of the research will be to set forth characteristics of each paradigm and then to discuss how Poplin and Stone come to favor a paradigm known as holistic constructivism.

Reductionist strategies are classified as medical, psychological, behavioral, or strategic, but what they share is a tendency to treat a part of the student's learning disabilities rather than the student as a whole organism. The result appears to be that the focus is on the practitioner rather than the student, on teaching rather than learning. Poplin and Stone basically argue against the

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Category: Psychology - R