LfU - Learning-for-Use

Traditional approaches to teaching often results in shallow understanding because the main tools of teaching are memorization and recitation of facts. When it comes to actual application of the knowledge in a real setting, the context is usually different than that which the learner first studied, and the learner finds it difficult to see the connection.

Learning-for-use (LfU) is a model which provides a framework for education lesson design. It is based on 4 principles:

1. Constructivism - understanding is incrementally constructed from experience and communication.
2. Knowledge construction is a goal-directed process - implication: learning must be (and can only be) initiated by the learner.
3. The context where learning takes place is directly connected to how or whether the knowledge is going to be used
4. Learner must know how to distinguish declarative and procedural knowledge, and know how to transform from the former to the latter.

To design a curriculum based on the LfU model, there are 3 steps:

• Motivation - addresses principle 2
• Knowledge construction - addresses principle 1
• Knowledge refinement - addresses principle 3 and 4

These 3 steps parallel the Learning Cycle (Abraham, 1998):

• exploration
• invention (or term introduction)
• discovery

Reference:

Edelson, D.C. (2001). Learning-for-use: A framework for the design of technology-supported inquiry activities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching,38(3), 355-385.

Abraham, M.R. (1998). The learning cycle approach as a strategy for instruction in science. In B.J. Fraser & K.G. Tobin (Eds). International handbook of science education (pp. 513-524). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.