Constructivistic Teaching Practices and Principles
(from Curtis J. Bonk and Donald J. Cunningham, "Searching for Learner-Centered, Constructivist, and Sociocultural Components of Collaborative Educational Learning Tools," Electronic Collaborators, Bonk and King, eds., 1998, pp. 33-34)
Cognitive Constructivism 
(Guru: Piaget)
Social Constructivism 
(Guru: Vygotsky)
The MIND is in the head; focus on "cognitive reorganization" The MIND is in social transactions and emerges from acculturation into a community of practice
RAW MATERIALS; uses primary data, "manipulatives," or other interactive materials AUTHENTIC PROBLEMS; learning environments reflect real-world complexities
STUDENT AUTONOMY; thinking and learning responsibility in students' hands to foster ownership TEAM CHOICE AND COMMON INTERESTS; builds on common interests and experiences within a learning group, and gives some choice to that group; learning activities are "relevant, meaningful, and both product and process oriented"
MEANINGFULNESS AND PERSONAL MOTIVATION; learning related to personal ideas and experiences SOCIAL DIALOGUE AND ELABORATION; uses activities with multiple solutions, uncertainty, novelty, etc, demanding dialogue, idea sharing, etc.; encourages student elaboration/justification for their responses through discussion, questioning, group presentations
CONCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION/ COGNITIVE FRAMING; information organized around concepts, problems, questions, themes, interrelationships; activities framed within thinking-related terminology GROUP PROCESSING AND REFLECTION; encourages group processing of experiences
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE AND MISCONCEPTIONS; builds on prior knowledge and addresses misconceptions TEACHER EXPLANATIONS, SUPPORT, AND DEMONSTRATIONS; demonstrates problem's steps and provides hints, prompts, cues, and clarifications where requested.
QUESTIONING; promotes individual inquiry with open-ended questions; encourages question-asking behavior MULTIPLE VIEWPOINTS; fosters multiple ways of understanding a problem; builds in audiences beyond the instructor
INDIVIDUAL EXPLORATION AND GENERATING CONNECTIONS; promotes individual discovery of information, ideas, and relationships, and knowledge connections metaphors, insights, projects COLLABORATION AND NEGOTIATION; encourages students' collaboration, negotiation of meaning, consensus building, general social interaction
SELF-REGULATED LEARNING; identifies and fosters skills needed to manage learning; collaborative learning is important insofar as it supports increase of individual metacognitive skill LEARNING COMMUNITIES; creates an atmosphere of joint responsibility for learning, where "participation structures are understood and ritualized." Technology can be valuable element uniting the community
ASSESSMENT; focuses on individual cognitive development via portfolio, performance-based measures ASSESSMENT; focuses on team as well as individual in "socially organized practices"; "educational standards are socially negotiated"; "assessment is continual, less formal, subjective, collaborative, and cumulative."