A Constructivist Approach to "Human Behavior and the Social Environment I"

This paper describes a two-semester foundation course in Human Behavior and the Social Environment, taught from a constructivist perspective. Three levels of constructive activity, related to different intellectual conditions, are identified: the individual, the interactional, and the social-cultural. Questions addressed include: (How) can developmental theories and systemic/cybernetic theories be taught from this perspective? An analogy is drawn between the epistemological demands this course makes of students and the epistemological position of the field.