Our goal is to help people become reflective problem solvers, who make meaningful contributions to improving the given conditions of individuals, local communities, and larger societies.
We explore how people learn and solve uncertain problems in the real-world context. We focus on human cognition as an essential part of human performance. We believe that human cognition is always current — here, now, active — continuous — moving forward, intentional, directional –– and in-context. Thus, human cognition can be best understood within its socio-cultural and historical contexts (e.g., Lave, 1988). We advance and apply innovative methods to capture and analyze how people think and make decisions in naturalistic settings (e.g., Zsambok & Klein, 1997). The ad-hoc nature (the uniqueness of thinking for a particular situation) of human cognition provides not only a challenge in conducting research but also an opportunity for advancing the current ways to enhance human learning on/in problem solving.
Our scientific inquiry focuses on understanding the reciprocal relationships among human factors (e.g., personal epistemology, reflection, empathy, professionalism, etc.), learning environment factors (e.g., case realism, situation authenticity, cognitive apprenticeship, cognitive tools), and intended learning outcomes (problem solving abilities). As applied scientists, we develop feasible models that guide in the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of technology-enhanced, case-based learning environments. We value multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, and multi-national collaborations to increase the suitability, feasibility, sustainability, and impacts of our educational innovations.
Our research group cultivates a social and physical space where collaborative research is conducted and supportive peer mentoring and training are provided. We actively work to disseminate both our findings and innovations to the public.
If you are interested in collaborating with our team, please contact Professor Choi at his UGA email.