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A common complaint of students is that they experience the curriculum as a disconnected set of topics and courses, with implicit relationships between them and unclear relevance to their future profession. This complaint prompted the initial interest in complex learning. The term was introduced in the 1990s to refer to forms of learning aimed at integrative goals (Gagné and Merrill 1990). Learning goals that require the integration of multiple objectives are frequently encountered when instruction must reach beyond a single lesson or course, for example, when professional competencies or complex skills are taught. Complex learning takes a holistic rather than atomistic perspective on learning and teaching processes (van Merriënboer 2007). First, complex contents and tasks are not reduced into simpler elements up to a level where the single elements can be transferred to learners through presentation and/or practice, but they are taught from...
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References
Gagné, R. M., & Merrill, M. D. (1990). Integrative goals for instructional design. Educational Technology Research and Development, 38(1), 23–30.
Reiser, B. J. (2004). Scaffolding complex learning: The mechanisms of structuring and problematizing student work. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(3), 273–304.
Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (2007). Alternate models of instructional design: Holistic design approaches and complex learning. In R. A. Reiser & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (pp. 72–81). Upper Saddle River: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.
Van Merriënboer, J. J. G., & Kirschner, P. A. (2007). Ten steps to complex learning. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum/Taylor & Francis.
Van Merriënboer, J. J. G., & Sweller, J. (2005). Cognitive load theory and complex learning: recent developments and future directions. Educational Psychology Review, 17, 147–177.
Van Merriënboer, J. J. G., Kirschner, P. A., & Kester, L. (2003). Taking the load of a learners’ mind: instructional design for complex learning. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 5–13.
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van Merriënboer, J.J.G. (2012). Complex Learning. In: Seel, N.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_413
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