This study contributes to a deeper understanding of using problems with wicked tendencies as vehicles for learning in higher professional education (HPE). It was guided by this question: How can the features of problems, problem-solving approaches and outcomes be aligned in HPE courses aiming to prepare students for addressing problems with wicked tendencies? A multiple case study design was used to investigate six courses in HPE. Data came from semi-structured interviews with teachers, students and external stakeholders, observations and document study. Wickedness was defined in terms of complexity, uncertainty and value divergence. Findings showed nine characteristic manifestations of wickedness that students encounter and should learn to deal with. These manifestations pertain to the system-like character, the changing patterns and the fragmented character of problems; the transdisciplinary, adaptive and participatory character of the problem- solving process; and the integral, provisional and mutually shared character of outcomes.The study led to the generation of curriculum design principles for the design and implementation of courses that foster students’ skills for addressing problems with wicked tendencies. The conjecture is that students’ experiences of wickedness can create destructive tension leading to efforts to reduce this tension by reducing wickedness. Teachers should balance this tension, provide alignment of the dimensions of wickedness in problem, process and outcome and ensure the integration of these dimensions as such in a coherent curriculum design.@en

Philip Kohnstamm hechtte belang aan zelf- standig leren denken van alle leerlingen, deed daar onderzoek naar en formuleerde didac- tische aanwijzingen voor het onderwijzen van zelfstandig leren denken. Volgens Kohn- stamm is denken een dynamisch proces dat richting krijgt door een taak, die een individu zichzelf stelt. De taak betreft het zoeken naar de oplossing van een probleem. Zijn ideeën over zelfstandig leren denken en hoe dat kan worden ontwikkeld zijn interessant als het gaat over kritisch denken, als belangrijke 21ste-eeuwse vaardigheid. In deze bijdrage staat de vraag centraal wat kritisch denken is en hoe kritisch denken vorm kan krijgen in hedendaags onderwijs. Op basis van de ideeën van Kohnstamm en recente literatuur zijn kenmerken van effectieve instructie ge- identificeerd die kritisch denken bevorderen. Aan de hand van specifieke benaderingen van aspecten van kritisch denken in diverse onderwijssectoren illustreren we hoe deze instructiekenmerken vorm kunnen krijgen in de onderwijspraktijk. Tot slot gaan we na hoe deze aanpakken kunnen worden geïmplemen- teerd in het reguliere onderwijs.@en

To an increasing extent, society requires professionals to cross boundaries
in order to deal with wicked problems. However, little is known about how �interventions in higher professional education (HPE) foster learning through boundary crossing in the context of addressing wicked�problems. Drawing upon the three-dimension model of wickedness by Head and Akkerman and Bakker’�s model of the dialogical learning mechanisms of boundary crossing, this study aims to generate conjectures for design principles for the design of educational practices that will foster students’ skills for addressing wicked problems through boundary crossing. This study applied a multiple case study design addressing six existing prac- tices in HPE. The research questions were: (1) What characteristics of wicked problems are present in the selected educational practices? (2) How does the boundary crossing take place in the selected educational practices? (3) How is student learning during boundary crossing fostered in the context of dealing with the characteristics of wicked problems? Data were derived from document study, semi-structured interviews, and obser- vations. The study conjectures that learning experiences at boundaries in the open-ended, joint effort of addressing wicked problems should be fostered and elicited by balancing and leveraging constructive tension and
by making use of boundary objects and brokers.@en