Scaffolding of complexity awareness and its impact on actions and learning

Abstract

This paper reports results from action research on a deliberative process involving representatives of different organizations charged with the task of developing solutions to a complex issue. The first purpose was to explore how the representatives’ conceptions of the issue under consideration and of strategies to manage the issue changed through participation in a facilitated group process that scaffolded increased awareness of issue complexity. The second purpose was to examine if participation lead to generalized learning still present three years afterwards. The process resulted in a reformulation of the original problem description and novel action strategies. In the result section I outline how these new strategies were formulated at a higher level of task complexity awareness, by drawing on theories and frameworks developed on the basis of empirical research on adult development. Follow-up interviews three years after the project was over showed that learning about task complexity had remained.