Situated+Learning

=Situated Learning/Cognition= //"A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way." - Mark Twain//

Process
As society and technology progress, there is increasingly less time for the learning curve. This idea is reflected in the elaborate [|websites] that accompany many programs to help users figure out how to start using it and producing ideas. As educators, it is our role to ensure that students are as ready as possible to enter a working world that is growing and changing faster than we can even imagine; situated learning is the way to achieve this.

According to Lave, learning cannot take place when it is abstract. Instead, it must be firmly rooted or "situated" in the cultural context in which it will be performed. Therefore, if a student wishes to learn a topic, he or she cannot just memorize facts or ideas, but instead, must take part in a society of learners, otherwise entitled "a community of practice" (Instructional Design, 2011). Using the act of learning German as an example, memorizing German words out of a German-English dictionary would accomplish little, however, if a learner immerses themselves in the language along with other German-language learners, he or she will fair much better.

In addition, this system is rejuvenated by recycling learners and turning them into teachers. As a learner is in the community for a longer period of time, he or she will be able to "assume the role of expert or old-timer" and thus teach others. This process works best when it is unintentional because the learner is fully in control of choosing to learn the topic, which gives them a great deal of motivation. Lave went on to call this process of newcomers becoming old-timers "legitimate peripheral participation" in that even if a person starts on the periphery of a community, they can still be an active member of the learning process.

Below is a video that goes into great deal describing the history and theory behind situated learning:

media type="youtube" key="ejQiJmA5dQQ" height="315" width="420" align="center"

=== History === The situated learning theory was developed by Jean Lave. Dr. Lave was a social anthropologist that studied tailors in Liberia and how they learned their craft. She then turned her ideas to the dilemmas facing house wives in America during her "Adult Math Project" (Digby, 2010).

Other researchers like Brown, Collins and Duguid advanced the idea of cognitive apprenticeship. They stated that "...cognitive apprenticeship supports learning in a domain by enabling students to acquire, develop and use cognitive tools in authentic domain activity. Learning, both outside and inside school, advances through collaborative social interaction and the social construction of knowledge" (1989).

Skills Required
In order to use situated learning most effectively in the class room, it is advisable for students and staff to work on the following skills:


 * Students || Teachers ||
 * * Like challenges
 * Good Social skills
 * Willing to mentor others || * Willing to let students take control of learning
 * Able to recreate a realistic environment
 * Facilitation
 * Motivation ||

Benefits
Many educators laud the approaches of situated learning for the following reasons:
 * Students great real experience in the work they will be doing
 * Promotes important group-interpersonal skills that are invaluable in life
 * Students become the teacher for themselves and others

Criticisms
Situated learning is not perfect, some of its problems are listed below:
 * Teacher's expertise and impact are diminished by student-led learning
 * Is it really possible to exactly recreate a work environment in the class room?
 * i.e. The pressures of open heart surgery can never be recreated unless doing the real thing
 * If situated learning works best when it is unintentional, how can a teacher create an "unintentional" environment?

Issues with Situated Learning in the 2025 Class Room
As virtual or augmented reality become more commonplace, the potential for situated learning will grow enormously. Right now, it is difficult for a student to visualize much of what they would do in the real job, but with a virtual simulator, this process can be made much more realistic. The US Army, for example, uses a [|video game simulation] to give prospective recruits an idea of what they might face in combat. Issues of bias arise from technology being used in this fashion because questions will naturally arise as to whether the simulation is a true and fair representation of what the experience will really be like.

Next: Common Formative Assessment, a method to ensure student retention of ideas