Should schools adopt a constructivist approach to education?

The first article which is Mark Windschitl, "The Challenges of Sustaining a Constructivist Classroom Culture" promotes the use of Constructivist culture in the classroom. Windschitl explains that Constructivism is not only a technique, but it is a culture that "constitutes the fabric of school life". If this idea is used in the classroom it must be used all the time because it changes the entire classroom setting, the way students interact with the teacher, the other students, their parents and their school work. Windschitl goes on to discuss that teacher's methods of teaching are direct reflections of the way that they were taught which more likely than not was in a traditional manner. It is known that students learn more when they are actively engaged in the lesson, working with groups with hands on projects rather than sitting quietly in desks listening as the teacher lectures to them. People find it hard to break through from these habits because it is all they know, it was how they were taught and how they teach and it is the way that they believe will be the most effective. The author also mentions how teachers would need to be more flexible with subject matter and scheduling. The article conveys the challenges of altering traditional teaching methods to the Constructivist approach but is also supporting the Constructivist method because they believe that it is more effective in educating students and helping them to relate to the material that is being taught.
The second article which is E. D. Hirsch Jr., "Reality's Revenge: Research and Ideology" also argues in favor of Constructivism. Hirsch believes that students learn more and more quickly when they can use their previous knowledge to help them solve problems through Discovery Learning. Hirsch believes that if a student has backround information about a topic or can relate to it then they will fully understand the concept a lot better than a student who simply memorizes newly learned information. He also speaks about the negative results of memorization and looked-up data. Hirsch believes that students are not really learning if they are simply memorizing concepts and looking up formulas and ideas.
I absolutely agree that schools should adopt the constructivist approach approach to teaching. It is a fact that students learn more when they are engaged in a lesson through hands on activities, games, media, and group discussion. When students are given jobs and responsiblities and have to answer questions or come up with hypotheses on how to solve the problem they feel important and work harder to find solutions. This also builds their creativity skills, social skills, and cognitive skills. It would definitely be a challenge to get schools to switch over from their traditional teaching techniques to the construcivist method but with so much technology available to us and so many young and able teachers that want to help children to succeed I think that it would be well worth the time and effort.