The Research Of Experiential Learning On Case-Based Reasoning

Learning sciences is an interdisciplinary research field which was born in the 1990s. It has absorbed a variety of theoretical viewpoints and research paradigms to investigate "how people learn". Now many claims of this research are guiding and promoting the innovation and the sustainable development of education. Case-based reasoning (CBR) is a kind of credible cognitive model that is built upon the fields of cognitive science and artificial intelligence. It has been applied in the design of expert systems in the artificial intelligence field, so as to improve the intelligent level of intelligent machines to solve complex problems. Since the 1990s, educational reformers of the learning science field have begun to call on and try to apply this remarkable cognitive theory of CBR in the innovation of teaching methods, which can create an ideal learning environment for students’inquiry learning. With such background, the research in this dissertation comes into being.From the perspective of learning sciences, this research first focuses on the problem-solving process of CBR, explores the cognitive basis and the learning view of CBR, and then expounds some new suggestions about how to improve learning effectively. Meanwhile, intergrated with the basic education practice in our country, this research discusses the application of CBR in the design of inquiry-learning environment both from the theoretical level and the practical level, which aims to use the cognitive theory of CBR to reform the classroom teaching methods and promote students to acquire advanced knowledge in the inquiry-learning environment. Therefore, this dissertation is divided into six chapters.By the method of literature research, Chapter 1 reviews the origins of CBR and its historical development in the academic field, the commercial field and the educational field comprehensively. Besides, this chapter defines the concept of CBR from the cognitive science level, the artificial intelligence level and the learning level, and explains the basic connotation of CBR.Based on the literature research, Chapter 2 presents the cognitive basis of CBR from several aspects, including the concept formation, the knowledge representation and memory, the associative thinking and analogical reasoning, the complex problem solving and the cognitive process of CBR. According to the cognitive process of problem solving in CBR, Chapter 3 discusses the experience nature of case knowledge. Meanwhile, it discusses the experiential learning process when people make use of their own or others’case knowledge to solve problems, as well as the experiential learning view, the learning style and the learning characteristics that embodied in CBR.Based on the cognitive view and the experiential learning view of CBR, Chapter 4 firstly elaborates the supportive viewpoints of CBR for inquiry learning, problem solving and technical application, and the instructional principles of promoting effective learning from experience. Secondly, it analyzes the application of CBR in the teaching field from three aspects, including the management of case knowledge, the tool design of experiential learning and the design of learning environment. Finally, by the method of case study, it expounds the embodiment of the CBR teaching idea in the design of "learning by design" (LBD) environment, and presents the substantive teaching characteristics involved in LBD.Chapter 5 shifts to the instructional application of CBR. According to the learning view and the teaching view of CBR, this chapter discourses the construction of CBR inquiry-learning environment, creates the design model of CBR inquiry-learning environment, and also elaborates the design ideas, the components and the instructional support of CBR inquiry-learning environment.In Chapter 6, combined with the teaching demand of "Making Simple Robot" in high school’s general technology curriculum in our country, the author has designed and developed the "Inquiry-Learning Environment for Making Simple Robot" (ILEMSR) according to the design model of CBR inquiry-learning environment. And by the means of empirical research, the promoting effects of ILEMSR on students’ knowledge understanding, knowledge transfer, practical ability and creative ability have been tested in the teaching practice.The conclusion part of this dissertation gives a brief summary of the research results, and forecasts the future research topics.