Free-choice learning as a cultural pathway framing everyday knowledge application¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 qualitative), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

The article frames learning through non-guided everyday problem-solving as free-choice learning, drawing on Falk, Storksdieck and Dierking. It states that "free-choice learning is best viewed as a cultural pathway in the domains that span all of life, be they sociocultural, historical, material, and affect laden practices." The framework is combined with Reif's account of unstructured problems, in which a heuristic delineates probable think-spaces such as describe, analyze, construct solution, assess and exploit, and with Ormrod's processes of vicarious learning, trial and error, metacognition and self-regulation.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Problem-solving situations in everyday life that tap prior knowledge and allow acquisition of new information through trial and error, vicarious means, and interaction with people and artifacts

Constraints¶

• The assess or revise phase is not a necessary stage for solving the problem, though it offers opportunities to learn new information

Target Learners¶

• high school youth

Target Learning Objectives¶

• applying prior knowledge to novel unstructured problems
• acquiring new knowledge through everyday problem-solving

Claims¶

• Youth Skip Assess Phase Free Choice Heuristics [+M]

Related Theories¶

Examples¶

• Informal Learning
• Free-Choice Learning Environment Design

Key Sources¶

• Gitari, W. (2016). The Application of School Science by Urban High School Youth through Problem-solving in Everyday Life. Science Education International, 27(3), 344-368. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1118432