The Design of Powerful Learning Environments: Ton de Jong, Jules Pieters

First, knowledge is no longer seen as something that is solely assessed in relation to an external objectivistic "tmth;' but also as possibly indiVidually flavored and thus potentially different between people. Second, these individual understandings are exchanged between professionals who seek for mutual comprehension and agreement. In this respect knowledge has a strong social character. Third, we have started to value knowledge that is applicable in realistic situations, and thus is not restricted to abstract knowledge. These developments are most strongly emphasized in the social constmctivist view that integrates the social and contextualized approaches on learning, and emphasizes the socially and culturally situated context of cognition (see Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Lave & Wenger, 1991).