Toward Even More Authentic Case-Based Learning

Contemporary views of learning construe it to be a process of enculturation, constituted by the appropriation of the artifacts and practices of a community (Dewey, 1916; Resnick, 1987; Vygotsky, 1978). Learning involves collaboration, social norms, tool manipulation, domain-specific goals and heuristics, problem solving, and reflection-inaction. It is common to refer to this as authentic learning, in part to distinguish it from the learning activities encouraged, developed, and valued in traditional classrooms, which often cannot be productively engaged outside of school (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989; Lave & Wenger, 1991).