I think that constructivism is akin to religion in that if you hold to the tenets of the theory, then they will affect your view of every aspect of the world.
This site gives a clear explanantion of what constructivism in education entails: http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html
The true constructivist ascribes to the idea that knowledge is relative, there is no KNOWN set of ideas that can be imparted to someone else. This implies that there is no absolute truth or fact, becoming a worldview that defines reality. This world view is in direct contratst to other religious world views and thus elevates constructivism to the status of a religion.
The chart on the linked website draws a clear contratst between constructivists and traditionalists. In my own practice, I find myself incorporating elements of contstructivism into a primarily traditional world view. I encourage students asking questions, and exploring answers. I promote collaborative learning experiences in my classroom, BUT I do believe that there is a body of facts that exist independent of the learners’ individual experienices. This means that rather than spending all of the instructional time pursuing ideas identified as important to the learner by the learner, there are pre-existing objectives that I want the learner to accomplish. In reality, I am accountable for these identified pre-existing objectives to administration through standardized testing of my students. (In my opinion, thentire educational system seems to be a bit schizophrenic in the delivery of instuction and assessment practices.)
