Constructivism is a theory of how learners come to know. Over the past decade science educators have increasingly adopted a constructivist approach to teaching and this approach could be equally valid to the teaching of computing. This paper describes results of a survey of 45 students studying a project management course for a Graduate Diploma of Business Computing. A simple computer based (Excel) tool has been created that allows students to undertake resource planning in a project situation, and gain planning experience from seeing immediately the results of their decision making. Although computer based, this project management tool has eliminated the complexity of fully featured computer project planning software. Its approach is to concentrate on the resources management aspect of project planning, and through its operations ensure students experience the dynamic nature of resource planning. The tool was used with constructivism as a referent. The results of the 70 are designed to address these issues and evaluates the design and use by tertiary students, of a computer tool within a constructivist framework 2. CONSTRUCTIVISM Constructivism is a theory of knowledge and learning; a theory of how learners come to know. Jean Piaget was a leading theorist of constructivism with the view that children construct knowledge of the world through assimilation and accommodation, emphasising biological maturity as a necessary condition (Piaget, 1954). Whilst there are many varieties of constructivism, all have as their basis the tenet that knowledge is individually constructed; it is not acquired through accumulation but is an active process which draws on the existing beliefs and experiences of the knower (von Glasersfeld, 1993). Vygotsky (1986), stressed the importance of...

ment is not simple. How, then, do we get managers in training to be excited about the subject matter they learn, internalize the knowledge, and be more likely to put such knowledge to use in real life situations? Online, computerized and network-mediated simulations amplify many of the traditional advantages of games in learning. Adrenalin rush, attention, and motivation are at their peak in simulations (Harper, Squiers, & McDougall, 2000; Rieber, 1996). Consequently, learning stands a betterthan average chance. Our argument and expectation, now supported by several years of experience, is that simulations, especially of the computerized and online variety, are likely to be part of the answer to the difficulties of conveying complex and abstract ideas to managers and managers in training. Discussions and debriefing that follow the experience of a competitive or dynamic simulation tend to be the best and most internalized learning experiences (Parker & Swatman, 1999; Rafaeli et al., 20

The operational benefits of having a learning organization include at the very minimum increased organizational competitiveness and responsiveness in a given realm of competition. Military simulation worlds have served and continue to serve as practice fields for organizational learning. Organizational learning mechanisms like the simulation debriefing session have been linked to organizational learning through a taxonomy for rare events. This research provides both descriptive and prescriptive findings for military interactive simulation and debriefing systems. Some suggestions for simulation system design are made based on the research.