A big idea in constructivism is the concept of “schema”—basically, the mental filing cabinets in our brains where we store everything we know. When we learn something new, our brains try to fit it into the right “folder.” For example, a kid who knows what a dog is might see a wolf and go, “Whoa, that’s one hardcore dog,” until someone explains it’s a different animal. Then they update their mental files. This idea is great because it shows learning isn’t just stuffing your brain like a turkey—it’s about making sense of stuff. But one downside is that constructivism can sometimes act like we’re all learning in our own little bubbles and forget that people usually learn a lot from each other—like copying your classmate’s notes (with permission, of course).