Constructivism Theory and its Linkage with Sexualities in Social Work

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Social work
Student Name
Institution

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Introduction
Social work remains an area with a diversified understanding of humanity as a social
being in society. The sociology view on human social behavior in contemporary society is
challenging especially with current emerging social stratifications. One area that currently
determines the social groups is the sexualities. Sexualities refer to various sexual expressions,
behaviors and sexual classifications. Sexuality is a multifactorial phenomenon with the diverse
understanding that has attracted many views both from psychological and sociological
perspectives. The theory of constructivism refers to the learning process and the way people
acquire knowledge through experience and interaction within the environment. Constructivism
has linkage with sociology in various ways. The constructivism perspective has shaped social
work activities through the provision of the knowledge and understanding of various social
issues. In addition, understanding of these issues is important for the training of social class for
better socialization within society. The following paper, therefore, explores constructivism
theory and its linkage with sexualities as a social work area of practice.
Constructivism theory
Constructivism refers to the learning theory that describes the way people acquire
knowledge and learn. The theory explains the process and the ways people get new ideas from
past and current knowledge. People learn from through their experience in active dialogue and
understanding of a particular issue. There are some principles of the constructivism theory that
play an important role in the understanding of the theory as used in sociology (Sigelman &
Rider, 2011). Firstly, learning should be based on experience and context that enable learners to
learn comfortably. Secondly, learning needs to be a structure that is easy to learn by learners.

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Thirdly, learning need to be designed that increases research and filling of the gap in knowledge
already available to learners (Slezak, 2010).
History of constructivism theory
The theory of constructivism emerges first through developmental work of Jean Piaget
(1896-1980) that coined the theory of mind development through evolution function of
cognition. According to Jean, the development of humans is through adaptation and organization
where adaptation is assimilations of external events and organization is the accommodation of
assimilations in mind. Russian Lev Vygotsky (1896 - 1934) also explains the theory of
constructivism based on thought, and language (Boudry & Buekens, 2011). According to this
view, an individual internalizes various external or social events in the environment such as
communication and interaction with other people. In addition, this constructivism view holds that
social speech, on the other hand, is internalized at the adulthood stage of life. A collection of the
two perspectives of Jean and Vygotsky show development of theory through various aspects of
the two perspectives. Piaget demonstrates the transformative aspect f the learning process that
has highly contributed to the development of the constructivism sociology theory. Vygotsky, on
the other hand, contributed to the communication interaction aspect of the learning process
(Björn, 2015).
The development of the constructivism theory has been shaped through studies of various
perspectives on the learning process. Firstly, real and authentic problems perspective hold to the
view that learners, participation in problem-solving issues and real issues increase the
understanding and learning experience of learners (Schacter, Daniel & Wegner, 2011). Secondly,
prior knowledge that is mostly based on solving problems share similarities with past and present

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knowledge on that issue being analyzed. Thirdly, the constructivist curriculum is a view that has
also contributed to the learning and understanding the learning process. This view holds to the
training materials that are designed based on what learners know, what learners are thinking
about and teachers learning goals. Lastly, the role of the teacher is also an important aspect of the
constructivism theory as teacher enhances the learning experience through the sharing of
information with the learner (Sarkar, 2016).
Figure 1: Constructivism theory principles
Criticism of constructivism theory
The perspective of constructivism learning theory has been criticized by many different
people based on understanding the learning process and studies that have been conducted on the
learning process. There are many people that have argued against the sociology perspective of
constructivism. Firstly, many researchers argue that Jean's developmental argument does not
consider the adult usage of formal operations normally follow their area of expertise. Secondly,
secondly, other studies indicated that contrary to the constructivism theory of learning, children