Panel/Debate:

CONSTRUCTIONISM AND POLICY

Leader: Valente J.

Panelists: Hoyles C., Stager G., Ackermann E.

At the present time when there are universal moves for cost-cutting in education along with more accountability in schools for student performance as measured against performance in standardised tasks often in automated-digitized forms.  In this context is constructionism in danger of fragmentation and marginalisation, and if so what are the moves that be undertaken to combat these tendencies?
While there is no identifiable specific articulated agenda against constructionism (or any pedagogical stance, theory or method) the value of pedagogy being put into practice is questioned as a whole. What are the evidence-based arguments that can and should be articulated in favour of a constructionist approach to teaching and learning that is aligned to a richer view of the meaning of education for all?
How can the constructionist community best produce such evidence, not only in small scale design experiments but at scale and what might be the means by which this evidence is disseminated?