Collins, A. & Kapur, M. (2014). Cognitive Apprenticeship, Chap 6. In Sawyer, R. K. (Ed.).The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences. Cambridge University Press. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Midwives, Quartermasters, Tailors, Butchers, and Non-drinking Alcoholics. Chap. 3 in Situated Learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press. Reading Prompts
Please focus your reflection on the first reading by Collins on Cognitive Apprenticeship. We are going to use the principles outlined in Table 6, in our next assignment as a set of design heuristics. The chapter in second reading from Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation is a seminal paper which describes apprenticeship as a form of social learning the develops by participating in a community of practice. Please scan this as background. REFLECTION DUE: Thursday 31 March
Anne Kim
3/30/2016 14:00:30
When people think of the term “apprenticeship” they often think of traditional trades like metalworking or farming; the article focuses more on an updated concept the authors call “cognitive apprenticeship,” which aims “to teach processes that experts use to complete complex tasks” and “focus on cognitive skills rather than physical ones” (110). This is important because in a the current (traditional) classroom setting, one instructor is given the task of teaching many students, it’s impossible for the instructor to make fine adjustments to lessons because they cannot see each individual student’s cognitive processes.
Jinny Kim
3/30/2016 20:33:48
Key Ideas / Arguments
Madeline Duque
3/31/2016 01:21:47
The basic idea of an apprenticeship is that a child is given personal coaching from one or more experienced members of their community. Although the idea of an apprenticeship usually brings to mind something old and traditional like forging or herding. But really apprenticeship applies to a lot of things that children learn, like language. In modern society, people like a tutor someone act like a master figure in a master apprentice relationship. The idea of “Cognitive Apprenticeship” involves taking the apprenticeship method and applying it to cognitive tasks instead of one particular skill or craft. In this way, the authors hope to tap into a learning power of apprenticeship without upping the cost that having a higher teacher to student ratio would otherwise bring.
Amy Lin
3/31/2016 01:33:34
Collins and Kapur introduced the idea of cognitive apprenticeship. In the paper, it is framed as the act of teaching expert skills and handling complex tasks through a focus on cognitive skills. They’ve also broken the concept into four dimensions: content, method, sequence, and sociology. The dimension of content is one that views an expertise by the types of knowledge needed. The four types described are domain knowledge, heuristic strategies, control strategies or metacognitive strategies, and learning strategies. These four types are also grouped into two categories: domain knowledge and strategic knowledge. The dimension of method is the aspect of teaching an expertise and determining how students should observe, engage, and discover knowledge in context. The paper mentions 6 methods that are associated with cognitive apprenticeship: modeling, coaching, scaffolding, articulation, reflection, exploration. The first three methods, modeling, coaching, and scaffolding, form a group that is described as the core of traditional apprenticeship. The methods in the group are identified as methods that utilize the process of observing and guided practice to teach a new set of skills. The next two methods, articulation and reflection, form another group. These methods are “designed to help students focus their observations and gain conscious access and control of their own problem-solving strategies” (113). The last method, exploration, is in its own category. This method is designed for autonomous learning and problem-solving. The dimension of method differs from the dimension of content in that method looks more at the way one acquires skills through cognitive apprenticeship rather than the skills that are being gained. The dimension of sequencing is similar to the dimension of method in that it is an examination of the process of gaining the new skills. Three types of sequencing is increasing complexity, increasing diversity, and global before local skills. The dimension of sociology is what I think is the most interesting dimension. This aspect of cognitive apprenticeship looks at the setting in which the learning takes place. The four types related to this topic are situated learning, community of practice, intrinsic motivation, and exploiting cooperation. These four types of sociology differ in how the student’s environment is set up and which parts of their surroundings are being used to foster learning.
Cory Bird
3/31/2016 02:13:20
As civilization approached the modern era, apprenticeships faded away as the more formal educational style replaced it. Apprenticeships allow a student to learn the trade from an experienced individual in hopes of replacing the master one day. The authors seem to focus on the positive aspects of apprenticeships and apply them to their new idea of “cognitive apprenticeships.” These new, adapted forms of apprenticeships aim to focus on four dimensions or pillars: content, method, sequence, and sociology. “Cognitive apprenticeship differs from traditional apprenticeship in that tasks problems are chosen to illustrate the power of certain techniques, to give students practice in applying these methods in diverse settings, and to increase the complexity of tasks slowly, so that component skills can be integrated” (111). While this is the first (and I would argue main) difference between cognitive and traditional apprenticeships, the article goes on to state, “Second, whereas traditional apprenticeship emphasizes teaching skills in the context of their use, cognitive apprenticeship emphasizes generalizing knowledge so that it can be used in many different settings.”
LeRoy Gary
3/31/2016 02:22:37
The idea of the Collins et al. text was about using techniques seen often in apprenticeships to benefit other, more cognitive tasks. In a normal apprenticeship setting, there is one teacher or expert at a particular task and a student or apprentice who sought out the apprenticeship. It involves a high student-to-teacher ratio and is centered around having the student perform tasks in the setting where they would be done, at a pace that would be expected. The teacher either corrects mistakes as they happen, provide examples, assist the student, or otherwise give some very close support at succeeding in the task. The issue is that apprenticeships are most common with some kind of vocational skill like smithing or tailoring, and that the cost of an apprenticeship is usually high - you need an expert at actually performing the task in a situation that would make sense and an attention to detail that prevents large ‘classrooms’. The text spends some time breaking down different aspects about an apprenticeship: the four main principles entitled Content, Methods, Sequencing, and Sociology. Content is about the individual skills and information being passed - the lessons. Methods include ways to convey expertise - learning methods. Sequencing has to do with the path from ignorance to expertise - how to arrange the lessons, what should be learned first, something like a unit plan. Sociology looks into the importance of the setting, the community, the context, etc. which benefit the transmission of skill to other domains.
Edward Bai
3/31/2016 03:08:27
The reading by Collins and Kapur goes into the various types of ways learning can take place. Specifically, they explore the use of a mentor like figure, or figures, and their role and importance to the learning process. This mentorship, or in this case apprenticeship, generally has a physical connotation to it, such as the learning of some particular trade skill. However the authors argue of a new kind of meaning that should be applied in their definition of apprenticeship, and that is coined as cognitive apprenticeship. The most general way to describe this cognitive apprenticeship is through our use of tutors and teachers. It is important to note that learning cannot simply be shown, as the thought processes of a person cannot so easily be visible. Thus, the way that tutors, mentors, and teachers can go about this is very important. There are a couple ways to do outlined in the paper such as heuristic, control, and learning strategies. Within these, there are some techniques, many that are used in the school today such as modeling and scaffolding. However, the process is much more complex than simply using these methods. There must be progression and a semblance of a curriculum. The paper describes some ways to address this, primarily through increasing complexity of problems, increasing the different types of problems faced, and letting the bigger picture be known before solving the finer details of a certain type of problem. Further on the concept of apprenticeship and situated learning is the paper by Lave and Wenger. They however decided to focus on the effects of the old ways and meaning of apprenticeship. One important thing that they have discovered off of this was that although the tasks or concept being learned is often different across all types of subjects, the way that these tasks are learned are fairly similar in style. Using a variety of case studies of tasks from all around the world, such as Vai and Gola tailors and Yucatec midwives, one can see that in all cases, the methods used are ultimately effective and similar.
Aliya Blackwood
3/31/2016 04:28:43
Aliya Blackwood
Yvonne Chen
3/31/2016 09:06:35
In Collins and Kapur's paper, they discuss the idea of apprenticeships, which were extremely popular in the past in fields where workers had to know specialized fields. As education became more available to the public though, apprenticeships became less popular since students could now go to school to learn these skills.
Christine Kwon
3/31/2016 09:24:38
This article is on the term “apprenticeship”, which is more than just a modern person job shadowing a professional, but is described as a cognitive method that will teach the PROCESSES and cognitive skills. The stress on the cognitive aspect is important because it is often forgotten in today’s classroom setting in which more physical skills are emphasized.
Samiha Dawalbhakta
4/17/2016 21:40:56
Once a widely used method of education, apprenticeships fell out of practice when maintaining a low student to ratio became almost impossible. In Collins and Kapur’s paper “Cognitive Apprenticeships,” the importance of bringing back the concept of apprenticeships is highly stressed. Collins and Kapur stress that the apprenticeships they want to make more usable in the field of current education is not the traditional type, where “apprentices” learn a craft or skill. Rather, the apprenticeships they are talking about are “cognitive” which means they are “aimed primarily at teaching the processes that experts use to handle complex tasks” that focus on “cognitive skills, rather than physical ones” (Collins and Kapur, 110). Cognitive apprenticeships concentrate of the four dimensions that make up all learning environments: content, method, sequence, and sociology. Comments are closed.
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