COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP
OVERVIEW
Cognitive apprenticeship is a theory that emphasizes the importance of the process in which a master of a skill teaches that skill to an apprentice.
An apprentice: An apprentice is someone who is in training for a trade
An apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulated profession
Traditional Apprenticeship
based on 3 methods (by Lave)
coaching
practice
(or fading)
observation
(or modeling)
the key aspect of coaching is scaffolding
apprentice observes the master --> modeling the process
providing limited hints,feedback
Cognitive Apprenticeship
6 methods (by Collin, Brown and Newman)
Scaffolding and fading
Articulation
Coaching
Reflection
modeling
Articulation
What are important ideas?
Based on findings such as these, Collins, Duguid, and Brown (1989) argue that cognitive apprenticeships are less effective when skills and concepts are taught independently of their real-world context and situation
As they (Collins, Duguid, and Brown) state, "Situations might be said to co-produce knowledge through activity. Learning and cognition, it is now possible to argue, are fundamentally situated"
Cognitive scientists maintain that the context in which learning takes place is critical (e.g., Godden & Baddeley, 1975)
In cognitive apprenticeships, teachers model their skills in real-world situations.
By modeling and coaching, masters in cognitive apprenticeships also support the three stages of skill acquisition described in the expertise literature: the cognitive stage, the associative stage, and the autonomous stage
In the associative stage, mistakes and misinterpretations learned in the cognitive stage are detected and eliminated, while associations between the critical elements involved in the skill are strengthened
in the autonomous stage, the learner's skill becomes honed and perfected until it is executed at an expert level
In the cognitive stage, learners develop a declarative understanding of the skill
referred to this as the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)