Complete thesis - Murdoch University

necessary for the enhancement of creative potential. These components had a critical focusin the learning environment we developed.Investigating alignmentIt became apparent that the issues highlighted as either practitioner or domain needs offormal education could be best addressed through approaches to learning, which focus onadvanced knowledge acquisition (Spiro et al, 1991). A framework for RE education shouldexploit the learning models that provide an appropriate environment for RE practice. Toachieve this, it should be based on constructivist theory with a focus on strategic knowledge;be placed within a situated experiential environment where authentic context is exploited;provide the student with exposure to creative enhancing activities.As noted previously, authentic or situated learning attempts to place the learner within aframework that models the physical and social context of the domain. According to Brownet al (1989), conceptual knowledge can be considered a set of tools: fully understood onlythrough use as practitioners use them. Learning is seen as participating in communitiesof practice (Sfard, 1998), with authentic learning not offered as an aid to content learning,but as a superior substitute for it. Stepien et al (1993) states that authentic learning isproblem-based learning which turns instruction topsy-turvy.Focussing on the solution of authentic problems as a context for learning also accords wellwith theories of expertise – learning beyond the initial stages may best be achieved throughsituational case studies with rich contextual information (Dreyfus and Dreyfus, 1986).Its supporters claim PBL results in increased motivation for learning, better integrationof knowledge across disciplines and greater commitment to continued professional learning(Boud, 1985). As well as offering the flexibility to cater for a variety of learning styles, thefocus moves from dealing with content and information in abstract ways to using informationin ways that reflect how learners might use it in real life (Oliver and McLoughlin, 1999).As noted in Chapter 5, these characteristics strongly suggest that PBL has application inthe solving of wicked problems in wicked domains:• learning based around constructivist principles is likely to be more suitable in domainsinvolving ill-structured problems (Spiro et al, 1991). These principles are encapsulatedalmost ideally in problem-based learning (Savery and Duffy, 1995)• appropriate learning in ill-structured domains and/or dealing with ill-structured problemsshould itself be problem-based286