Goal Based Scenario - By Sidney Elorde

Overview of goal based scenarios

Almost every aspect of life deals with the pursuit of some kind of goal. Some goals may be very simple such as getting to work on time to demonstrate promptness and reliability, while other goals may be a bit more challenging, such as saving up for a down payment on a home. With simple goals, you may not have to think too much, or even at all on how to obtain them. More difficult goals might prompt more complex responses and thinking, to a point where some may shy away from them in favor of the simpler goals.

Goal based scenarios are a model of constructivist learning that combines case based learning with learning by doing. Constructivist learning posits that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experiencing the world, and reflecting on those experiences (Harasim, 2012), while case-based learning introduces learners who typically work in groups to a hypothetical situation they are likely to face in real life. The main intention of goal based scenarios are to provide motivation, a sense of accomplishment, a support system, and a focus on skills rather than facts (Schank, 1992).

Basic Principles

§  Learning goals - target skills that students should learn. They can refer to procedural or declarative knowledge.

§  Mission - motivational and realistic objective students will pursue.

§  Cover story - a motivating story that will create and explain the need for the mission.

§  Role - the character a student will play. It has to require target skills.

§  Scenario operations - all activities students will perform in order to fulfill the mission.

§  Resources - well organized and accessible information sources students will need to acquire target skills.

§  Feedback - must be provided just in time by and expert in form of coaching, consequence of actions or stories about similar experiences.

Components of a goal based scenario

Example: mission goal based scenario

The topic in this example is the Civil War. The Civil War goal based scenario might have a variety of missions. Suppose we specify a generic mission of having the student bring about a particular state of affairs in the United States at a particular point in time, January 1, 1865. We might then offer a range of specific missions to draw in different students. Here are four examples:

• Establish Peace at all Costs (requiring the student to determine the demands of the South and powerful elements of the North);

• Devastate the South (the student must concentrate on the battlefield success, and find ways to increase the size and effectiveness of the armed forces);

• Enable the South to win; or

• Get re-elected (the student then concentrates on weighing public opinion and finding out what favors to grant to allies).

Resources and links

Harasim, L. (2012). Learning Theories and Online Technologies. New York: Taylor & Francis Group.

Schank, R. (1992). Goal Based Scenarios. The Institute for the Learning Sciences.

http://www.engines4ed.org/hyperbook/nodes/NODE-233-pg.html

http://www.learning-theories.com