Case-Based Reasoning Meets Learning by Doing

Goal-Based Scenarios:
Trivia:
In 1841 the U.S. had three different Presidents.
We shall refer to these knowledge types as domain knowledge, decision-relevant knowledge, life
knowledge, and trivia. When attempting to impart knowledge to students, the rules of thumb for how to
best do this relate to the knowledge type we are hoping to impart. As with learning by doing and for the
same reasons, learning by cognizing is best done within the context of a goal-based scenario. Let's
consider these types one at a time.
Domain Knowledge
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A person wanting to participate in a domain of expertise, city government, for instance, must know
something about the subject at hand. This much seems obvious. But when it comes to translating this rule
of thumb into an understanding of what should go on in a classroom, it is easy to get confused. Why not
simply teach people about the domains they need to be conversant with? Why not simply tell them what
we want them to know about city government? The answer is: Because they will learn the information
better if they can actually use it. This means we must ask ourselves what uses we anticipate for any
domain knowledge we believe students should know.
This question is not always so easy to answer. In our example, a citizen would need to know how to deal
with the government on various occasions. To do this he might want to know who his representatives are
in government and how he can petition them. Of course, he could always find this out when the occasion
arose, again learning by doing. What exactly would be the difference between learning about
governmental process in a GBS that allowed one to play roles in a scenario about government, and
learning by cognizing with respect to the same situations?
One answer is that the distinction between learning by doing and learning by cognizing is a rather fine
one and that they are really two sides of the same coin. One problem with this answer is that it is indeed
possible to be an expert on something without ever having actually done anything at all. For example, I
know a great deal about history, knowledge acquired entirely from reading and talking about it. I've never
studied history formally, have never written any papers, or done anything (not that I know what that
would mean for history) in history. But I do know a lot of stuff. Clearly, I have learned this stuff by
cognizing, but what exactly does that mean? How can we make that natural process take place in a more
formal educational setting?
The answer seems to be that reading and discussing can be all that is actually done and something good
can come out of it. I say this with some trepidation since it is this view that is behind all the problems in
today's educational system. We all know that reading and discussion works to some extent, and since it is
so easy to implement we settle for a school system based on that. So I hesitate to say that it has its place
after all. What is its place then?
One of the things that works in school, sometimes, is the attempt to get students to "do the reading" for
the next day. In the usual implementation of this idea, a reading is assigned and students know that the
class the following day will be based upon that reading. They know that they may be called upon to say
something about what they have read during that discussion. For some students this serves as sufficient
motivation for reading the material. They do not want to be embarrassed in front of the class. Many
students live in fear of being called upon by the teacher, having to answer a question about what they
should have read. For some this fear is sufficient cause to do the reading. For others, they devise ways to
deal with their fear and avoid the reading altogether.
http://cogprints.org/635/0/CBRMeetsLBD_for_Leake.html
1/22/2010