This paper explores how public administration pre-service and in-service students solve problems using a park planning exercise. With Mark Moore’s framework from Creating Public Value, we used the interpretive approach and analyzed respondents’ solutions through the operational, substantive, and political contexts. We find that in-service students approach the problem differently than pre-service students by drawing upon known protocols and providing richer and more flexible approaches. These findings support the special treatment of in-service students allowed under the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration’s 2009 Standards suggesting this special treatment is appropriate for in-service experiencebased experts. Furthermore, we recommend that instructors emphasize the “publicness” of work in the public sector through increased use of case studies and experiential learning techniques for pre-service students.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AckermanP. L. (2003). Aptitude complexes and trait complexes. Educational Psychologist, 38, 85–93.
2.
AlexanderP. A. (2003). The development of expertise: The journey from acclimation to proficiency. Educational Researcher, 32, 10–14.
3.
AlexanderP. A.KulikowichJ. M.JettonT. L. (1995). Interrelationship of knowledge, interest and recall: Assessing a model of domain learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 87(2), 559–575.
4.
AlexanderP. A.MurphyP. K.KulikowichJ. M. (2009). Expertise and the adult learner. In SmithM. C. & Defrates-DenschN. (Assistant Ed.), Handbook of research on adult learning and development (pp. 484–523). New York: Routledge.
5.
AlisonG. (1980). Public and private management: Are they fundamentally alike in all unimportant respects?Proceedings of the Public Management Research Conference, November 19–20 , 1979 (pp. 27–38). Washington, DC: Office of Personnel Management, OPM Document 127-53-1.
6.
BransfordJ. D.. (1999). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
7.
ChaseW. G.SimonH. A. (1973). Perception in chess. Cognitive Psychology, 4, 55–81.
8.
ChiM. T. H.FeltovichP. J.GlaserR. (1981). Categorization and representation of physics problems by experts and novices. Cognitive Science, 5, 121–152.
9.
CollinsH. M.EvansR. (2006). The third wave of science studies: Studies of expertise and experience. In SelingerE.CreaseR. P., The philosophy of expertise. New York: Columbia University Press.
10.
CoxR.GabrisG. T.LevinM. M. (2010). Educating local government managers for the twentyfirst century: A preface to the symposium. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 16(3), 325–336.
11.
CreswellJ. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
12.
CreswellJ. W.ClarkV. L. P.GutmannM. L.HansonW. E. (2003). Advanced mixed methods research designs. In TashakkoriA.TeddlieC., Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
13.
de GrootA. D. (1978). Thought and choice in chess. The Hague: Mouton.
14.
EganD. E.SchwartzB. J. (1979). Chunking in recall of symbolic drawings. Memory and Cognition, 7(2), 149–158.
15.
EhrlichK.SolowayE. (1984). Empirical studies of programming knowledge. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 10(5), 595–609.
16.
EisnerE. (1991). The enlightened eye: Qualitative inquiry and the enhancement of educational practice. New York: Macmillan.
17.
EricksonF. (1986). Qualitative methods in research on teaching. In WittrockM. C., Handbook of research on teaching (3rd ed., pp. 119–161). New York: Macmillan.
18.
EricssonK. A. (2009). Enhancing the development of professional performance: Implications from the study of deliberate practice. In EricssonE. A., Development of professional expertise: Toward measurement of expert performance and design of optimal learning environments (pp. 405–431). New York: Cambridge University Press.
19.
GickM. L. (1986). Problem-solving strategies. Educational Psychologist, 21, 99–120.
20.
GladwellM. (2008). Outliers: The story of success. New York: Little, Brown and Company.
21.
Glesne, (1999). Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction (2nd ed.). New York: Longman.
22.
GoodmanD. (2008). Problem-based learning in the MPA curriculum. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 14 (2), 253–270.
23.
GubaE. G.LincolnY. S. (1981). Effective evaluation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
24.
KilgoreD.AtmanC. J.YasuharaK.BarkerT. J.MorozovA. (2007). Considering context: A study of first-year engineering students. Journal of Engineering Education, 96 (4), 321–334.
25.
KnowlesM. (1980). The modern practice of adult education. New York: Cambridge Books.
26.
LajoieS. P. (2003). Transitions and trajectories for studies of expertise. Educational Researcher, 32(8), 21–25.
27.
MaycutP.MorehouseR. (1994). Beginning qualitative research: A philosophic and practical guide. Washington, DC: Falmer Press.
28.
McMillanJ. H.SchumacherS. (1997). Research in education: A conceptual introduction. New York: Longman.
29.
MilesM. B.HubermanA. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
30.
MooreM. H. (1995). Creating public value: Strategic management in government. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
31.
National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). (2006). Sector survey of executive education programs.
32.
National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). (2009). Accreditation standards for master’s degree programs.
33.
RaineyH. G. (1991). Understanding and managing public organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
34.
SchonD. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
35.
SparrowM. K. (2008). The character of harms: Operational challenges in control. New York: Cambridge University.
36.
StakeR. (1978). The case study method in social inquiry. Educational Researcher, 7(2), 5–9.
37.
StraussA.CorbinJ. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
38.
TurnerS. (2001). What is the problem with experts?Social Studies of Science, 31(1), 123–149.
39.
WechslerB.BakerD. L. (2004). Going camping: A new strategy for preparing academically diverse students. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 10(1), 19–30.
40.
WhiteR. D. (2000). On pedagogy and andragogy: Balancing the learning needs of pre-service and inservice MPA students. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 6(2), 69–78.
