Basically, this is the idea that education cannot be simply the passive acceptance of outside information, but must also involve a process of internalization, with additional "construction" using the personal intelligence of the individual. Only then, the argument goes, can what is taught really be transformed into knowledge truly possessed by the student.
大致說來，它指的是人的學習不能完全被動接受外來訊息，必須經過內化歷程，重新用自我認知的功能加以建構，才能轉化成真正擁有的知識。