alterity

July 14, 2005

Lave and Wenger: "Situated Learning"

Lave, Jean and Etienne Wenger. 1991. Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Overview:

This manuscript introduces the concept of situated learning. It really is a book about a concept and a framework for analyzing learning with little analysis itself.

In Chapter 1, they traverse the history of their thinking while at IRL, discussing how they went from apprenticeship to situated learning by really thinking through what legitimate peripheral participation is about. The bulk of this chapter consists of word games, focusing on why certain words were chosen and how they cannot be decoupled from one another.

At the core, Lave & Wenger are interested in how newcomers become part of a community of practice through engagement with the practices themselves. Moving away from theories of "receiving" knowledge, they focus on how people's activities with the world allow them access to knowledge that is fundamentally different than observing or being spoon-fed. In other words, learning is a whole-body activity. They see their approach as Marxist in nature, where the goal is to "ascend (from both the particular and the abstract) to the concrete" (38).

In learning, one must be engaged in practice but also in the social world. Learning is very much about internalizing the surrounding culture and becoming an active participant in the practice of learning.

[There is reference to a Russian named Vygotsky and his work on "zone" which appears to be assumed knowledge that i don't have.]

Questions:

• What is the role of activity theory in situated learning?
• What is the significance of situated learning in the educational sphere?

Category: learning

Posted by zephoria at July 14, 2005 4:01 PM

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