Educational philosophies differ from person to person. From behaviorist to constructivist and everything in between, the one thing they have in common is that they attempt to explain how people learn. This article will explain why I tend to lean towards the constructivist theory of education and defend this theory using a variety of current literature. It is important to note that theories that are spoken of as educational theories are often seen as both theories of teaching and learning; however, most of these theories are not theories of teaching but rather of learning (Baviskar, Hartle, Whitney, 2009). This may be especially true for constructivism, where there may be a common misunderstanding of what constructivism actually is and how to apply it to learning. Before examining this article why I lean towards a constructivist theory, it is important to understand what constructivism is. There are many divergent views on what the precise definition of constructivism is, however, it is generally accepted that constructivism is a theory that clarifies human learning as a dynamic attempt to create meaning in the world around us (Fritscher, 2008). That is, students construct meaning/knowledge as part of a process of making sense of their own experience and the experiences of others (Rollocf, 2010). For students to be able to do this, we as educators must follow the four core criteria of constructivist teaching established by Baviskar, Hartle, and Whitney (2009). These criteria are: elicit prior knowledge, create cognitive dissonance, apply knowledge with feedback, and reflect on learning. The goals of constructivist learning using the four criteria are to develop critical thinking in their students. This does not mean that I do not use other teaching and learning theories/strategies, but that the most commonly used theory is the constructivist one. Works Cited Baviskar, S. N., Hartle, R., & Whitney, T. (2009). Essential criteria for characterizing constructivist teaching: derived from a literature review and applied to five articles on the constructivist teaching method. International Journal of Science Education, 31(4), 541-550. doi:10.1080/09500690701731121Fritscher, L. (2008) Constructivism: Defined retrieved 01/20/2012 from http://phobias.about.com/od/glossary/g/constructivdef.htmLever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J (2011) Teaching and Learning with Technology 4th ed. Pearson Education, Boston, MA.ROLLOFF, M. (2010). A CONSTRUCTIVIST MODEL for teaching evidence-based practice. Perspectives on nursing education, 31(5), 290-293.