Stephen’s Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~ Dr. Jonassen- Let Us Learn to Solve Problems
“Now let me be clear – all this is *not* to say that experimentation and empirical data play no role in science. Rather, it is to say that what counts as empirical evidence and experimental methodology is almost always determined from *within* a paradigm, and seldom ever adjudicates between them.
Stephen Downes writes about the nature of empirical evidence for effectiveness of learning in different situations as a result of discussion on ITFORUM about problem-solving (web archives of the list now require a login, so I won’t link to it).
My source of dissatisfaction with the discussion of problem-solving was not so much with the absence of empirical evidence for assertions made by various participants, but more with the notion that learning takes place in the context of problem solving rather than in the context of problem definition. I still think that Douglas Adams captured it best with Deep Thought: “The answer … is 42 … I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is. …”
In my experience, the thing that psych students found so disturbing and unsatisfying about psych lab classes we ran was the fact that we did not provide clear hypotheses for them – it was their job to identify the specific questions to be answered by the data, and then to analyse the data accordingly. Students were often outraged that there were no “correct” questions (although there were plenty of “incorrect” ones), and that the data analyses depended on the questions they had formulated. They were sure they would “learn better” if we told them the right answers rather than letting them wander confused through a problem-space.
This relates not only to the question of problem-solving and learning, but also to the question of student-centred learning in so far as students very often have very little insight into their own learning process until after they have “learnt”. My own empirical observation of Honours students, PhD students, and people preparing for Blackbelt Gradings in taekwon-do is that there is a (necessary?) period of disillusionment with (good) mentors / supervisors / teachers at some point prior to completion of the the major goal (thesis, grading, presentation) … which is part of a process of transcending being a “student” per se (ie needing to receive someone else’s wisdom) and having ownership of one’s own knowledge base. Only when one feels secure and comfortable with knowledge within can one then reflect on the process of reaching that comfortable state. This suggests to me that students are not in the best position to know what they need to learn in a particular discipline, and it is very difficult for students to set appropriate challenges for themselves and monitor their own progress without a mentor / teacher. Whether the mentoring / teaching is done in a formal learning institution or informally is a completely other question – I like the fact that formal courses set me some time constraints and specific objectives and hopefully link me with people who share my interest rather than the fact that the course defines what I need to know.