Learning in the school workplace: knowledge acquisition and modelling in preparatory vocational secondary education

Abstract

This paper addresses the composite question of whether it is better in vocational education to allow students to design their own models and guide them while doing so, or to provide them with ready-made models. To answer this question we set up a design experiment in which students were asked to work on real-life assignments, guided by teachers in the process of designing their products while learning the necessary concepts and skills as they went along. The use of models was required during the design stage. The students were asked to design and build a tandem tricycle during a 10-week period. The experimental sample comprised two schools and 65 students, aged 15 years. A pre-test-post-test control group design was used to determine the results. The two conditions differed in the way models were taught: in the experimental condition the models were co-operatively designed by the students under teacher guidance; in the control condition, readymade models were provided. It was hypothesised that the students in the experimental condition would outperform their counterparts in the control condition on knowledge and modelling. However, it was found that both groups scored equally well on the post-knowledge test in science and mathematics, while the experimental group gained more on modelling. Implications for teacher guidance and school climate are discussed.

Students’ Learning Processes during School-Based Learning and Workplace Learning in Vocational Education: A Review

“…Consequently, different types of knowledge (e.g., theoretical models, concepts, methods, procedures), skills (e.g., social, cognitive, reflective and self-regulative) and attitudes (e.g., being costumer friendly, keeping up with recent developments or taking safety not for granted) are dominant in the two environments (cf., Guile and Young 2003). Van Schaik et al (2010) postulate that different types of knowledge need to be embedded in learning environments, both in-and outside vocational schools, to enhance students' internalization of knowledge. There is also a lack of consistent guidance that explicitly accounts for students' integration processes in both learning environments (De Bruijn and Leeman 2011;Nelen et al 2010).…”

Representations in simulated workplaces

“…Analyses of quantitative data in a previous study (Van Schaik et al 2010b) showed that no significant difference could found between the two initial conditions on post-test scores and no school from either one of the conditions differed significantly from the others. The main focus of the present analysis was finding out how the educational designs were actually implemented at every school.…”

An Activity Theory View on the Development of Playing

“…There is no inherent reason whatsoever (except cultural and ideological limitations) that prohibits learning activity to be playful. In our own research (see van Schaik et al 2010 ), we could demonstrate that allowing pupils some freedom in the construction of solutions to mathematical problems does not impair the learning outcomes and even may strengthen the transfer value of the learning outcomes (Terwel et al 2009 ). Realistic mathematics education is based on the idea that mathematics learning should be based on problem-solving activities that encourage pupils to build their own mathematical conceptions and test them rigorously against solutions of others (peers, teacher).…”