analysis of the apprenticeship curriculum: from chaotic to constructivist learning environments

one of the main functions of academic systems is supplying manpower of various sectors of society which has become a great challenge for such systems. however in the curriculum of various academic subjects, during the final semesters, practical courses for students have been considered, which are intended to make them ready for corporate environments. this article tries to find factors which have part in this situation and believes this is due to the design of such environments. in fact students are somehow wandering through the organizations to pass these courses; and academic system does not play an active role in shaping the learning environment. this leads to unhappiness and lack of employers' interest to accept the students. therefore students are not successful in the enterprise environment. perhaps the main concern of students is receiving institutional approval for apprenticeship courses and lack of practicality results in that these courses not be taken seriously. we can help to form a win-win approach providing that real issues and work-base projects are manipulated for training based on constructivist and holistic approach. based on the basic principles of education this paper tries to review apprenticeship environments and then by using constructivism theory, considers constructivism approach as an ideal method to design such environments and then describes the process of designing learning environments for apprenticeship courses.