In 1991’s Situated Learning, Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger reject the traditional understanding of learning, or cognition, as something that happens inside an individual brain. They argue that learning is “situated,” because it largely results from the situation in which it occurs. Learning takes place most effectively through participation with experts and peers in a “community of practice,” a term the pair coined. The authors developed a theoretical basis for the concept of apprenticeship, and provided examples based on the study of five very different communities of practice.
Lave and Wenger were not the first scholars to challenge cognitive learning theory, but their alternate model of learning through social practice has been broadly influential, both in academia and in business organizations. Despite some criticism of its methodology, Situated Learning will remain a landmark work in our understanding of how people learn.
Lave and Wenger were not the first scholars to challenge cognitive learning theory, but their alternate model of learning through social practice has been broadly influential, both in academia and in business organizations. Despite some criticism of its methodology, Situated Learning will remain a landmark work in our understanding of how people learn.
