CONSTRUCTING MEANING IN THE LEARNING-EXPERIENCE - THE ROLE OF ALTERNATIVE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS

Student nurses actively interact with their experiences and construct theories about nursing in an attempt to make sense of their experience s. These alternative theoretical frameworks (ATFs), it will be suggest ed, do not conform to the types of structures that are thought to be t he hallmark of formal theories but instead the knowledge of students c an be understood as a series of narratives. The relationship between A TFs and the formal theories presented by educators may create difficul ties for both students and teachers.