Situated learning and distributed cognitions

As outlined earlier the current organisation of education within the UK is founded upon reductionist views of learning as an unproblematic and linear process of skill acquisition. This assumes that knowledge, skills and understandings are general and independent of the context in which they were learnt, thus suggesting that any information gained in the classroom context is considered to be transferable and of use in everyday life beyond the realms of the classroom (Lave 1990; Brown, Collins and Duguid, 1989). The CoP framework recognises learning as a complex, multi-dimensional and socially situated process, which involves the whole person- body, senses, emotions and thoughts, not just a disembodied mind. It involves more than knowing about the world; it involves being in the world. Learning involves processes of embodiment and ways of understanding that are not always conscious and able to be articulated (Light, 2003).

The centrality of distributed cognitions (person, activity, context, community) is evident in many research studies. In her research, Pitri (2004) applied a situated learning approach to a children’s art class which enabled opportunities for learning through activities that were relevant to, or rooted within, the children’s social and physical context or school context. Pitri

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employed the method of emergent curriculum where curriculum development is based on the idea that children learn through engagement with the environment and should be given the opportunity to explain what they have experienced. Stemming from the Reggio Emilia approach (where expressive arts play a central role in learning and a reciprocal learning relationship exists between teacher and child. Focus is on the learning process rather than the final product) the process of emergent curriculum enabled Pitri to guide the children through the art project by reacting to their needs and interests. Consequently, she was able to support the children’s ideas and explorations which were relevant to the Olympic theme of the project. Rather than formulating specific goals for each activity in advance, Pitri’s respect for the children’s interests meant that she could consider their ideas and determine which ones to pursue and how they might be supported (Gandini and Goldhaber, 2001).

Pitri’s (2004) study exemplifies how the individual thoughts, ideas and views of each child in the class, combined with the classroom environment and the social, cultural and historical context of the Olympic Games in relation to the children’s community in Greece influenced the direction of the art project and determined the learning outcomes. Pitri’s research illustrates the interplay of distributed cognitions in learning. She states that ‘situated learning is not separated from the world of action but exists in robust, complex, social environments made up of actors, actions and situations. Contextualization makes knowledge meaningful to children and offers opportunity to negotiate meaning.’(p.12, 2004).

The importance of context in the pursuit of meaningful learning is also evident in Light (2006) who examined the learning that took place for young people in an Australian surf club. Utilising Lave and Wenger’s situated learning theory he found that learning was not only situated within social and cultural contexts but also within a particular physical environment. Light (2006) found that the natural environment of the beach and the ocean (where the surf club was located) gave meaning to the member’s learning. Skills such as swimming have no meaning out of the water. Light considers whether a child could be taught to perform the techniques of swimming without going in the water- could this be considered as swimming? Light argues it only becomes swimming when performed in the water. The physical environment within which the swimmer must engage gives the activity meaning. The performance of the swimming technique within the water (surf) also involves the development of understandings, of knowing the surf by being part of it to enable a comprehensive understanding. The learner, what is learnt and the physical environment are inseparable. Through years of being in the ‘surf’ the young people learnt by being engaged in their physical world, by participating in ‘activity with and in the world’ (Lave and Wenger, 1991 p.33). The learning and development that took place in the surf club is situated within a particular social

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context but also within a particular physical context that according to Light (2006) is vital in the production and reproduction of meaning.

The notion of situated learning and cognition is important in understanding a student’s learning performance and competency in SFC, particularly on first entry to SFC or at the start of a new academic year. As indicated by Tobbell (2006), failure to participate upon entry to a new community is not a problem but an inevitable by-product of the process of human learning. She states ‘when we enter new domains we need time to understand and negotiate the skills necessary to function within them. It is not possible to simply transfer behaviours from other domains because they may not be appropriate, instead we wait and see how our present knowledge and skills can be used and in so doing, this knowledge and these skills are developed by and in the new community and as a result the trajectory of participants is changed’ (pp.53-54).

According to Wenger (2000) notions of competency are socially and historically defined and knowing is a matter of displaying competences considered valuable within a particular community. Within the UK educational community, clear value is placed on obtaining desirable grades which indicate educational success and competency. Here knowledge is assessed and measured by performance in the fulfilment of educational objectives such as written assignments or completion of examinations under timed conditions.

According to Brown, Collins and Duguid (1989) many teaching practices have inevitably limited effectiveness because they implicitly assume that conceptual knowledge can be abstracted from the situations in which it is learnt. They argue that by ignoring the situated nature of cognition, education defeats its own goal of providing useable robust knowledge. The notion that knowledge is an abstract, internalised entity ready for use in applied settings has been challenged by De Abreu, Bishop and Pompeu’s (1997) research which investigated children’s mathematical activities outside school. They interviewed two children: Rita, who the teacher framed as having problems with maths at school and Ana, identified as a successful school mathematician. They found that the practices at home constructed their mathematical ability out of school. Rita was given money to buy bread and charged with returning with the correct change; she was expected to perform this calculation, which varied according to how many loaves her parents could afford in a given week and this she did successfully using mathematical skills of addition and subtraction. Ana knew the cost of three loaves of bread, because she always bought three loaves and was given the right money for this by her parents. When asked how much five loaves would be, she couldn’t answer as she

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never bought five loaves. In this example, Rita who was described as having difficulties with mathematics in the school context, was the competent solver in the mathematics embedded in outside-school practices. This research suggests that the ability to perform is not located in the individual but rather in the situation, being able to solve complex mathematical calculations when given a responsibility by your family to obtain food is not the same act as doing set mathematical problems and calculations in school.

The research (Pitri 2004, Light 2006, De Abreu, Bishop and Pompeu 1997) demonstrates that knowledge, skills, understanding and competence are context dependent. They are the product of distributed cognitions- the person, activity, context and culture in which they are developed and employed. As Lave and Wenger (1991) point out ‘…the organisation of schooling as an educational form is predicated on claims that knowledge can be decontextualised, and yet schools themselves as social institutions and as places of learning constitute very specific learning contexts’ (p. 40). In acknowledging the situated nature of learning, it follows that the mastery of knowledge and skill application does not reside in the individual but in the organisation of the community of practice in which they are a part. Thus, according to Lave (1993) educational success and failure are a product of specialised social and institutional arrangements rather than attributes of the individual child.