The Guided Exploration Model of Problem Solving Discovery Learning

This work is about problem-solving discovery learning in a general sense--how people approach and either succeed or fail in structured, rule-bound, problem-based learning activities. As Figure 1 illustrates, the “guided exploration” model of problem-solving discovery learning contains three principal activity domains. The inquiry and production domains (Anderson, 1983, 1990, 1993; Gagne, 1964, 1966, 1985) are "sub-systems" within the overall active learning system (Carroll, 1982; Carroll, et al., 1985; Carroll & Rosson, 1987; van der Meij & Carroll, 1998). The inquiry activity is where acquisition of critical declarative knowledge--facts, concepts, and rules--takes place. The production activity consists of the steps necessary to discover the procedural knowledge that enables successful enactment (Laurel, 1991) of a problem-solving goal. The production activity consists of hypothesis formation, acquisition of resources or tools needed for hypothesis testing, hypothesis testing, procedure discovery, and manifestation of results based on successful hypothesis formation. The learning that is required to accomplish these steps produces answers or solutions to questions or problems through direct action, trial and error, or experimentation. Such learning is also characterized as play (Birch, 1945; Fagen, 1976; Hutt, 1976; Petersen, 1988; Sylva, Bruner, and Genova, 1976).