THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
3.4. The evolution of educational and learning Theories
3.4.2. Context and Problem-based Learning
59 | P a g e generate unique conditions of greater significance. Liu and Mathews (2005) present Vygotsky’s view differently by referring to text, wherein they posit that understanding cannot be reduced to sequence of individual words without distortion of meaning. Words have their own objective individual meaning, while simultaneously deriving meaning through their relationships to other words in the context, thereby establishing significance and meaning. This interpretation of Vygotsky, with reference to language structure, tends towards Derrida’s poststructuralist philosophy of language construction while the emphasis on society, culture and history leans toward Foucault’s postmodernist philosophy. According to Blake and Pope (2008), Vygotsky’s work was significantly influenced by Marxist theory as well as reference to poststructuralist and postmodernist theories, which suggests that his philosophies may be interpreted within the framework of critical theory.
This thesis argues that the individual and the social approaches in constructivist pedagogies are not dialectically polarized, parallel systems but are rather complementary. Piaget’s cognitive equilibrium focusing on stages of development can be related to the concept of Jungian Epistemological Balance, which will be discussed later in the chapter, while Vygotsky’s ‘Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) can be reinterpreted within the broader concept of
‘interdisciplinarity’. Muthivhi and Broom (2009) support this argument that Piaget’s individual self-regulatory processes and Vygotsky’s socio-culturally mediated processes can simultaneously affect learning and knowledge construction. In considering both, the dialectic between the approaches of Piaget and Vygotsky may then develop a dialogical relationship, complementing and enhancing learning; in which the processes of concept learning could be derived from both the individual’s cognitive activity as well that of his/her collective society and culture in context (Muthivhi & Broom 2009).
60 | P a g e Saidi (2005:23) refers to Progressivism as a philosophy that promulgates the importance of how to think, over what to think; wherein truths are relative and methods of understanding are more important than absolute truths. John Dewey, as a pioneer of the progressivists, defines contextually situated problems as stimuli for learning, which he refers to as “the problematic”
which leads to, and becomes the organiser of learning. Piaget, on the other hand, refers to
“puzzlement” - the need for accommodation when current experience cannot be assimilated within existing cognitive schema (Savery & Duffy 1995). Social collaboration serves as a source of “puzzlement”, as alternate views challenge individual cognitive schema which according to Von Glaserfeld (in Savery & Duffy 1995) stimulates new learning. Facts, therefore, are derived from some general agreement and social negotiation of meaning and understanding based on viability rather than absolute truth (Savery & Duffy 1995). Here again it is evident that the conceptual frameworks of Piaget and Vygotsky converge into complex active and interactive learning, integrating individual cognitive schema with the broader social and environmental collective understanding. Saidi (2005) refers to Loggerenberg (2000 in Saidi 2005), who affirmed the value of the humanist curriculum, which evolved from the progressivist curriculum, in considering the personal and social constituents of pedagogy. The humanist approach promulgates the idea that knowledge is a construct of context, which draws upon real life experiences, subjectivities and collaborative learning.
The concept of subjective learning, defined by a learner’s own goals, which arise from
“puzzlement” through social/environmental interaction, is generally known as Problem Based Learning (PBL). PBL was developed in medical education in the early 1970s (Savery & Duffy 1995) and has since become an intrinsic part of architectural education. The teacher critiques and challenges the learners’ thinking rather than being the holder of the “correct” information or the “right” answer, as per the Socratic Method (Savery & Duffy 1995). Vygotsky’s concepts of the learning ‘scaffold’ and the Zone of Proximal Development is a more accurate representation of this teacher/student interaction based on negotiation and viability of meaning (Savery & Duffy 1995). Teachers serve to stimulate reflective thinking throughout the learning process in which learners reflect on strategies of learning in addition to learning content (Schon et al. in Savery & Duffy 1995). As such the responsibility for learning is that of the student who researches and gathers information in order to define appropriate theoretical and conceptual processes (frameworks) for the resolution of the problem. Life experiences and culture within the broader social/environmental context become intrinsic in establishing understanding and creating meaning within a PBL paradigm.
61 | P a g e The inclusion of life experiences in learning, naturally evoke a multitude of cultural interpretations, nuances and attitudes. Vygotsky (in Blake & Pope 2008) uses the concept of culture to explain life experiences in which human inquiry is embedded, while John Dewey (in Glassman 2001) focuses on human enquiry as a precursor to the creation of experience/culture and eventually of social systems. Dewey’s philosophy of experiential learning is a critical reaction to the dichotomous education model in which learning focused on subject content that is completely divorced from reality and context (Glassman 2001). Dewey refers to primary experience and secondary experience. The former, based on gross daily experiences, correlates with secondary experience, which clarifies the meaning of primary experience through the process of reflection. It is the reflective nature of secondary experience that affords establishing relationships between actions and consequences and to the development of hypotheses and theories (Glassman 2001).
According to Hmelo-Silver (2004), by engaging students in the experience of problem solving, they can learn both content and thinking strategies. This relates well to the approach of critical theories, which emphasise the value of thinking and enquiry. Hmelo-Silver (2004) refers to PBL as an instructional method based on facilitated learning through complex problem solving in collaborative groups. Learning is therefore self-directed and reflective. PBL has a long history that situates learning within meaningful tasks through experience and reflection, such as in case-based instruction and problem-based learning. This implies a dual emphasis on developing strategies and constructing knowledge (Hmelo-Silver 2004). PBL is intrinsically self-directed as students are presented with a problem scenario in which they are required to analyse the problem and identify relevant facts (Hmelo-Silver 2004). As students engage with the problem they understand the problem better, while hypothesising about possible solutions.
A critical advantage of PBL is that students identify knowledge deficiencies relative to the problem, which then stimulates self-directed learning (SDL) (Hmelo-Silver 2004) in order to acquire the relevant information and understanding towards developing solutions. The identification of knowledge deficiencies is vital to establishing the relevance of learning as posited by Piaget’s notion of “puzzlement” and Dewey’s notion of “the problematic”; SDL then allows the knowledge gained to be applied to the problem. On completion of the problem students may then reflect on the abstract knowledge gained. This process is not linear, but rather reflective, iterative and cyclic in nature (Refer to Figure 3.3).
62 | P a g e Figure 3.3. The problem-based learning cycle (from Hmelo-Silver 2004)
For effective PBL, it is necessary that problems are ill-structured and open-ended resulting in a range of potential solutions, which would require social negotiation in order to select the appropriate answer to the problem. PBL is therefore based on learners actively constructing knowledge, while the role of the teacher is transformed to that of a facilitator and the solutions are tested in context. The teacher is no longer considered a repository of knowledge; knowledge is constructed through collaboration between facilitator (teacher) and peer learners and always tested against contextual relevance as outlined by the problem. This approach contrasts, to a degree, with the general interpretation of Vygotsky’s ZPD. In the PBL method the facilitator (teacher) does some direct instruction pertaining to the definition and contextualisation of the problem; even this is largely based on questions that students may raise (Hmelo-Silver 2004).
The teacher, as facilitator, guides learning through critical open-ended questioning, which gets students to express and articulate their thinking through group collaboration and negotiation.
This process is vital to SDL which is developed through critical and reflective thinking.
Expression of thinking and ideas through collaboration exposes learning to multiple domains, as information is sourced from different subject domains, intelligences, skills and experiences.
According to Hmelo-Silver (2004), problems ought to be complex enough so as to integrate
63 | P a g e and inter-relate many pieces to stimulate the need to know, or the relevance of learning.
Through the process of self-directed and collaborative knowledge construction, students become intrinsically motivated, and more so when they value what they are learning and where the learning is situated in meaningful tasks. Furthermore, according to Bandura (1997 in Hmelo-Silver 2004) and Dweck (1991 in Hmelo-Silver 2004) students are more motivated when they believe that the outcome of learning is in their control. Goals become proximally tangible when related to the application of knowledge to solve concrete problems, which is more motivating than distant goals which may seem insurmountable (Bandura 1997 in Hmelo- Silver 2004). The intrinsic motivation of learners is critical to a learner-centred, self-directed, constructivist approach to learning.
Albert Bandura postulated Self-Efficacy Theory as a framework to analyse the value of intrinsic (self) motivation as a stimulus for learning. According to Bandura (1993), perceived self-efficacy is achieved and established through four processes, namely cognitive, motivational, affective and selective processes. Students’ self-efficacy beliefs gear their learning activities towards accomplishment while teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs affect the types of learning environments they create. This in turn influences students’ academic progress (Bandura 1993). According to Bandura (1993) the discipline of educational psychology focuses largely on the way the mind retrieves, processes and organises information, hence the mind as a computational programme becomes the conceptual model to understand learning. Effective intellectual (cognitive) functioning, however, requires much more than understanding factual knowledge and reasoning in order to accomplish tasks (Bandura 1993). Bandura argues that self-regulatory, social, as well as environmental factors, in turn affect the selection and construction of environments through the mechanism of human agency. Self-efficacy is most central and persuasive in the capability of people to exercise control over events that affect their lives and their environments (Bandura 1993). In so doing, they become motivated to resolve problems rather than shy away from them. According to Bandura (1993) there is a marked difference between possessing knowledge and skills and being able to apply them under challenging situations. Learners with high self-efficacy further seek to expand their knowledge and competencies whereby they consider errors as part of the knowledge acquisition process (Bandura 1993). Learners with high self-efficacy, therefore, are able to construct learning effectively through experiential learning mechanisms within a framework of problem-based learning.
64 | P a g e Developing problem-solving skills therefore requires confidence in one’s ability to apply appropriate metacognitive and reasoning strategies such as case-based reasoning in design disciplines such as architecture (Hmelo-Silver 2004). However, case-based reasoning is not a purely technically rationalist, linear process either but rather an iterative process of action and reflection.