Constructivism, cognitive psychology and the epistemology of Immanuel Kant

This study argues that pedagogies based on constructivist learning theories can more effectively facilitate students' pursuit of knowledge. Rather than memorizing something told to them by an expert source, learners create mental connections caused by internal and external interactions. The theories of ecological psychology, activity theory, and cognitive information processing all claim that the human mind comes to know through interactions of the external and internal world. What learners come to know during these interactions are shown, through Kant's epistemology, to not be subject to skepticism or dogmatism but to have a foundation as the only possible reality of the learner. Rather than deferring to an expert source, the learner experiences the world for themselves and accepts a belief as knowledge if the reasoning for acceptance becomes greater than reasoning for rejection.;Using the Kant's epistemology and the above listed cognitive theories, it is shown that all learning experiences consist of interactions between the world and the mind, and that pedagogical methods would lead to learners to come to know reality by constructing knowledge through these interactions.;This study discusses of the variations of constructivist theories within the genre and argues for five conditions necessary and sufficient for inclusion in the genre of constructivism. Next, this study examines the contemporary cognitive psychological theories noted above. The discussion of these theories focuses on the cognitive processes believed to be performed by the mind in order to come to know something, This study then examines Kant's The Critique of Pure Reason. The discussion focuses on the epistemological basis of how the mind comes to know something and is secure in the validity of that knowledge. Finally, the study makes connections between constructivism, cognitive psychology and Kant's epistemology to illustrate how constructivist methodologies create a situation in which learners have a greater opportunity for activities that allow them to construct knowledge, At the same time the study shows that the learners can be epistemologically certain of their understanding of that world because of the manner in which they have come to know it.