This paper is summarised well in the abstract:
“Drawing on recent research into cognition as it is manifest in everyday activity, the authors argue that knowledge is situated, being in part a product of the activity, context, and culture in which it is developed and used…The activity in which knowledge is developed and deployed, it is now argued, is not separable from or ancillary to learning and cognition. Nor is it neutral. Rather, it is an integral part of what is learned.”
Within the paper the authors used different terms to enable the reader to understand. Firstly we are told that all knowledge is like a language…. “Its constituent parts index the world and so are inextricably a product of the activity and situations in which they are produced.” We are then told that knowledge can be likened to a set of tools…. “They can only be fully understood through use, and using them entails both changing the user's view of the world and adopting the belief system of the culture in which they are used.”
It is interesting in this paper to compare the approach taken from both a work and an educational setting. It’s writers bring an interesting mix of background: Collins is a cognitive scientist, Duguid it seems is a adjunct professor researcher and we already know that Brown comes from an business innovation background. The idea of ‘cognitive apprenticeship’ is one that can readily be witnessed in the business world, whether through internship, juniors or general on the job progression, where one may learn from one more experienced. It is then interesting to see how this could be transposed in an educational context, and what that really means. We have already heard the arguments from Brown that education is too focused on acquisition. And the article makes a good point about the social context of education mostly being about the institute of education. But this argument then has to go back and ask what our definition of learning is and what we want education to do. Do we want education to prepare our young people for employment? I certainly know there are lots of theories out there and also lots different types of institution – not all tied in to a national curriculum.
Anyway….
The idea of an ‘authentic activity’ is presented as one in which they can act meaningfully and purposefully to hone their ‘tools’, and where activity and social interaction play vital roles. Cognitive apprenticeship therefore allows for the student to learn through modelling, support and empowerment (Collins, Brown, Newman 1987) from an expert.
Brown, J.S., Collins, A. and Duguid, P. (1989) ‘Situated cognition and the culture of learning’, Educational Researcher, vol.18, no.1, pp.32–42; also available online at http://www.jstor.org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/ stable/ 1176008 (last accessed 29th February 2012).
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