Hi Ken,
Thank you for your reply.
I'd like to ask one quick question to understand your view better.
Where you say "reasonable reflection would place solving algebra problems in
high school outside design" as "The goal of that exercise is solving a
problem to learn algebra" that is certainly reasonable. But I could imagine
a situation where someone in say the navy used highschool quadratic
equations and basic high school physics to calculate the trajectory of a
ballistic missile fired from a ship (I pick this only as a ready example of
use of quadratic equations). This is goal oriented (they need to fire the
missile to land in the right place), it is a (hypothetical but realistic)
real world situation, and it amounts to applying high school physics and
algebra (solving a quadratic equation). It improves the situation, at least
as far as the navy is concerned.
The question is: would you now say this is a design problem or not? It is
still applying definite known tools to solve a clearly defined problem. The
difference is only that it is moved from a classroom education situation to
a real-world context. But it's still aplying simple qudratic equations and
additional straightforward Newtonian mechanics.
I wouldn't have called this design (as it does not involve any thinking
about or questioning the context of the problem - that can be taken as
given), I would have called this problem solving. But I am interested in how
you are defining boundaries.
Kind Regards,
Lauchlan Mackinnon
> While goal-oriented problem solving is a key to design practice is
> broad, however, I think that reasonable reflection would place
> solving algebra problems in high school outside design. The goal of
> that exercise is solving a problem to learn algebra. It is not "aimed
> at changing existing situations into preferred ones." The person who
> uses the algebra problem to change an existing situation into a
> preferred situation is the person who designs the curriculum that
> includes the problem-solving exercise. We do, indeed, speak of
> curriculum design, and our goal is helping students to learn.
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