Situated Learning

Abstract

The traditional view of schooling treats knowledge as an independent entity, consisting of abstract, decontextualized formal concepts, which should be transferred from an external source to the learner. A problem with teaching practices based on this view is that they often lead to isolated and inert knowledge. Knowledge domains acquired through traditional schooling are often learned and stored in memory isolated from each other and therefore difficult to access. Inertness of knowledge refers to the problem that students are not well capable of using the knowledge they have acquired to solve problems in practice. The key idea of situated learning is that knowledge and cognition cannot be separated from the situations in which they are learned and used. The notion of authentic activity plays a key role in this view of learning and cognition. The activities through which people develop knowledge are an integral part of the knowledge itself