Contra Garrisonian Social Constructivism

In a recent paper in this journal, Jim Garrison (1997) opines that a Deweyan social constructivism ought to be embraced by science educators in preference to the subjectivist variety espoused by Ernst von Glasersfeld as it ...retains all of the latter's] virtues and does not get caught up in its confusions' (p. 543). In this response, I argue that key elements of Garrison's complaints are misguided and that his preferred Deweyan social constructivism is a theoretical framework without apparent superiority and with enough flaws that it is best eschewed by science educators (and metascientists generally).