Abstract

While one of the primary aims of the expert-novice comparison studies is to draw instructional implications for educating learners to acquire the expertise, it is argued that this process of applying the empirical findings to instructional practice is problematic. The issue can be traced back to the learning theories which are inextricably related to instructional design. Grounded upon behaviourism and cognitivism, the traditional instructional approaches are suspected of breeding inert knowledge. In their place, constructivism, which actually spans a continuum of theoretical positions, has instigated significant reconceptualizations of instructional design. Ist basic assumptions are that knowledge is actively constructed by knowers and learning is most effective when situated in context of some authentic tasks. Situated cognition theory, stemming from constructivist philosophy, asserts that apprenticeship, collaboration and self- regulation are essential for learning. Nonetheless, the immediate challenges presented to the constructivist instructional approaches are the problem of evaluation, boundary conditions, effects of media on learning, and teaching training. While the effectual applications of constructivist learning environments hinge crucially on our understanding about knowledge acquisition, it is believed that future research on expertise can furnish some veridical references for this particular aspect