Case-Based Reasoning and Instructional Design: Using Stories to Support Problem Solving David H. Jonassen Julian Hernandez-Serrano With an increased emphasis on problem solving and problem-based learning in the instructional design field, new methods for task analysis and models for designing instruction are needed. An important methodology for both entails the elicitation, analysis, and inclusion of stories as a primary form of instructional support while learning to solve problems. Stories are the most natural and powerful formalism for storing and describing experiential knowledge that is essential to problem solving. The rationale and means for analyzing, organizing, and presenting stories to support problem solving are defined by case-based reasoning. Problems are solved by retrieving similar past experiences in the form of stories and applying the lessons learned from those stories to the new problems. In this paper, after justifying the use of stories as instructional supports, we describe methods for eliciting, indexing, and making stories available as instructional support for learning to solve problems. Most contemporary models of instruction, in- cluding anchored instruction (Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt, 1994), prob- lem-based learning (Savery & Duffy, 1995), open-ended learning environments (Land & Hannafin, 1996), constructivist learning en- vironments (Jonassen, 1998), goal-based scenarios (Schank, Fano, Bell, & Jona, 1993), and others share an essential characteristic. The learning outcome for each is problem solving. That is, each of these models supports learning how to solve some kind of a problem. The em- phasis on problem solving in the field of instruc- tional design has increased. For example, the first principle of Merrill���s (2000) first principles is that instruction should occur in the context of solving a problem. Problem solving is a complex, multifaceted, and poorly understood kind of learning. Jonas- sen (1997, 2000) has attempted to articulate dif- ferent kinds of problem solving and different learning and instructional requirements for each. However, insufficient advice is available to instructional designers to help them to design and develop learning and instructional supports for every kind of problem solving. In this paper, we describe perhaps the most generic and ap- plicable form of learning support for problem solving, stories. We believe that stories elicited from skilled problem solvers, indexed for the lessons they have to teach, and made available to learners in the form of case libraries can sup- port a broader range of problem solving than any other strategy or tactic. After describing the role of stories in individual, social and cultural meaning making, we describe methods for elicit- ETR&D, Vol. 50, No. 2, 2002, pp. 65���77 ISSN 1042���1629 65 AAH GRAPHICS, INC. / (540) 933-6210 / FAX 933-6523 / 05-30-2002 / 12:29

ing, indexing, and making stories available as instructional support for learning to solve problems STORIES, NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION AND LOGICAL EXPLICATION Stories are the oldest and most natural form of sense making. Stories are the ���means [by] which human beings give meaning to their experience of temporality and personal actions��� (Polkin- ghorne, 1988, p. 11). Cultures have maintained their existence through different types of stories, including myths, fairy tales, and histories. Humans appear to have an innate ability and predisposition to organize and represent their experiences in the form of stories. One reason for that proclivity is that stories require less cogni- tive effort than exposition because of the narra- tive form of framing experience (Bruner, 1990). To be part of a culture, it is necessary to be con- nected to the stories that abound in that culture (Bruner, 1990). We are surrounded by stories in our everyday and professional lives. Telling stories has many functions. It: ��� Is a method of negotiating and renegotiating meanings (Bruner, 1990 Lodge, 1990 Witherell, 1995) that allows us to enter into others��� realms of meaning through the mes- sages they utter in their stories (Polkin- ghorne, 1988) ��� Helps us find our place in a culture (Bruner, 1990 White, 1981) ��� Assists us in the sharing of our human diver- sity (Bruner, 1990) ��� Helps us to learn, to conserve memory, or to alter the past (Bruner, 1990) ��� Allows us to explicate (Bruner, 1990) and to interpret (Gudmundsdottir, 1995) ��� Assists us in understanding human action, intentionality and temporality (Bruner, 1990 Huberman, 1995) by facilitating the under- standing of the past events of one���s life and the planning of future actions (Polkinghorne, 1988) ��� Permits us to remember the unusual (as when we recount a traumatic incident) (Bruner, 1990 Schank, 1999) ��� Aids us in the building of persuasive argu- ments (Bruner, 1990) ��� Facilitates the attainment of vicarious ex- perience (Bruner, 1990 Sutton-Smith, 1995) by helping us to distinguish the positive models to emulate from the negative models to avoid (Polkinghorne, 1988) ��� Mediates in the process of articulating our identity so that we can explain to others who we are with a series of interconnected stories (Polkinghorne, 1988 Schafer, 1981) and ��� Allows us to embark on the authentic ex- ploration of experience from a particular perspective (McEwan & Egan, 1995). Historical Perspective Given that stories are so ubiquitous, why are stories not a commonly accepted form of teach- ing and learning along with logical exposition? Despite their centrality for recounting human af- fairs, narrative has only recently been examined in cognitive science (Polkinghome, 1988). Stories traditionally represented a scientifically unac- ceptable form of logic. Logical exposition, the preferred medium for scientific discourse, ap- plies formal and empirical proofs, while narra- tive convinces through verisimilitude (Bruner, 1986). Logical exposition has traditionally been used to teach problem solving, because educa- tion was impelled to appear scientific in its dis- course. Despite the dominance of logical forms of exposition in academic disciplines, it is the narrative form of explanation that ���just plain folks��� (Lave, 1988) use in their everyday negotiations of meaning and problem solving. Narrative seems to convey its message in an in- herently human dimension, a dimension that is inexorably lost in a logical exposition (Coles, 1989 McEwan & Egan, 1995 Polkinghorne, 1988). Narrative has been ascribed the quality of ���entertainment value��� (McEwan & Egan, 1995, p. xii) and was thus not seriously considered as an alternative���certainly not an equal���form of explanation in most scientific disciplines. The exceptions to the dominance of logical exposi- tion in scientific discourse are history, anthropology, and qualitative sociology ex- AAH GRAPHICS, INC. / (540) 933-6210 / FAX 933-6523 / 05-30-2002 / 12:29 66 ETR&D, Vol. 50, No. 2