Towards an epistemology for guided discovery tutoring: The Popperian connection

Abstract

The GDT approach proposed by Elsom-Cook for merging the Learning Environments (LE) and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) approaches is set against the background of Karl Popper's epistemology. Popper’s distinction between World 1 (the world of physical objects), World 2 (the world of psychological “production”), and World 3 (the world of the “products” of thought, or “objective knowledge”) is used to contrast the trends involved. The resulting picture is one which suggests that merging LE and ITS might be far more difficult to achieve than expected, and that GDT's tutor/student/environment “trinity” might benefit from being reformulated in the light of the Popperian Worldl/World2/World3 “trinity”.