Constructivism and teaching: a new paradigm in general didactics?

After a long period of paradigmatic stability in the field of general didactics (Allgemeine Didaktik) in Germany, the proponents of the constructivist didactics claim to be formulating a new approach on the theoretical as well as practical levels. This claim is analysed and evaluated. Four background theories of constructivist didactics are sketched; the central arguments of these didactics are reconstructed; some examples of practical constructivist teaching recommendations presented; and, finally, constructivist didactics is critically analysed in the context of a theory of learning in schools. The conclusion is that constructivist didactics is not a new paradigm in the sense that its proponents claim it to be.