Situated Cognition and Vygotsky

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Situated CognitionandVygotsky

• Dr. K. A. Korb
• University of Jos

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Outline
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Vygotskys Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive
  Development
• Situated Cognition

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Vygotsky
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Russian Renaissance man
• Began studying psychology at age 28 and died of
  tuberculosis at age 38
• Under pressure to create a theory of education in
  line with Marxism
• Russian government suppressed his ideas
• Not widely published until after the Cold War
  ended

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Assumptions
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Cognitive development cannot be separated from
  the culture
• Development is studied by examining the process
  of change
• Thinking is transformed through the use of tools

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Zone of Proximal Development
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• ZPD Range of tasks that an individual can not do
  alone but can accomplish when assisted by a more
  skilled partner

What the student can do with assistance
What the student can do by themselves
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Scaffolding
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Scaffolding Assistance allows students to
  complete tasks they cannot do independently
• Types of Scaffolding
• Modeling
• Think-aloud
• Questions
• Adapting instructional materials
• External Mediators An object (i.e. not a person)
  that helps a student to do a task within their ZPD

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Tools
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Tool Something that can be used in the service
  of something else
• Technical Tools Change and control objects
• Psychological Tools Change thought and
  controlling behavior
• Language system
• Number system
• Writing system
• According to Vygotsky, language is the most
  important tool

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Sociocultural Theory of Development
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos
Culture
Language
Social Interaction
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Sociocultural Theory of Development
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Culture Attitudes, values, customs, and
  behavioral patterns that characterize a social
  group
• Culture influences
• What is thought about
• Skills to be acquired
• How to acquire information
• The tools and symbols available to facilitate
  development and thinking
• When a person is allowed to participate in an
  activity
• Who is allowed to participate in an activity

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Sociocultural Theory of Development
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Language System of meaning from the culture that
  shapes a persons attempt to make sense of the
  world
• Vygotsky Language is necessary for abstract
  thinking
• Language symbols provide freedom from the
  immediate perceptual, concrete context
• Roles of Language
• Provide cognitive tool to think about problems
• Allow to regulate and reflect on thinking
• Enables social interaction

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Vygotsky in Education
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Teach within each students zone of proximal
  development
• Use scaffolding to facilitate learning
• Social interaction enhances the learning process

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Conclusion
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Vygotsky has influenced psychology by
• Originating the developmental method
• Pointing out that higher mental processes are
  based on social processes
• Highlighting that mental processes can only be
  understood by studying the tools and signs that
  mediate thought

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Situated Cognition
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Situated Cognition Cognition is adapted to the
  environment
• Learning develops in a social context
• Other theories of learning assume that learning
  occurs within the learner
• Learners internalize knowledge
• Individual person is on the learner
• Situated Cognition A culture is the learner
• Knowledge Effective living practices within the
  culture
• Learning Developing the ability to use the tools
  and skills valued by ones society

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Principles of Situated Cognition
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Cognition is social
• Other learning theories assume knowledge is out
  there so learning is the process of
  internalizing knowledge
• Situated Cognition Learning requires social
  participation.
• Cognition takes place in the social environment
• Minds are not separate from the culture
• Knowledge is distributed across the cultural
  environment
• Tools, books, and communities
• Knowledge is effective participation in socially
  valued endeavors
• Education should aim to help students to engage
  meaningfully with the environment

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Most Learning Theories
Situated Cognition
Culture
Knowledge
Determines
Knowledge
Internalize
Effectively engage in culture
Influences
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos
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Situated Cognition
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• What is a community that you participate in?
• What is your role in that community?
• What are the tools you use in that community?
• What is the language that you use in that
  community?

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Learning Trajectory in Situated Cognition
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Peripheral Never engage in full participation
• Choice, Implicit or Explicit Exclusion
• Inbound Headed toward full participation
• Insider Full participant in a continually
  evolving community
• Boundary Full participant integrating two
  related communities
• Outbound Process of leaving

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Context
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Context is a set of nested structures
  (Bronfenbrenner, 1989)
• Microsystem Immediate context that a student
  directly experiences
• Mesosystem Links between two or more
  microsystems
• System of microsystems
• Exosystem Links between two microsystems, one of
  which does not influence the student
• Macrosystem Overall pattern of micro, meso, and
  exosystems of a specific culture

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Situated Cognition in Education
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Knowledge does not transfer between tasks
• Teaching by abstracting concepts is not effective
  because learning only occurs in authentic
  situations
• Inert Knowledge Knowledge that a student has
  acquired but is not able to be applied to
  relevant situations
• Authentic Learning Students learn a subject in a
  manner similar to how an expert in that domain
  practices
• Create an environment that is as similar as
  possible to the context where knowledge and
  skills will be applied

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Situated Cognition in Education
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Learning in formal education should focus on
  acquiring knowledge and skills in contexts that
  reflect how the knowledge and skills will be
  useful in real life (Collins, 1988)
• Students learn subjects by becoming historians,
  mathematicians, scientists, etc. by cognitive
  apprenticeships

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Situated Cognition in Assessment
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Tests do not assess how well students have
  learned to participate in social practices of the
  community
• Assessment should demand performance in
  situations in which the students activity is
  meaningful to the community

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Benefits of Situated Cognition in Education
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Students are more likely to
• Learn about the conditions for applying knowledge
  
• Engage in creativity and problem solving
• Understand the implications of their knowledge
• Organize knowledge in ways that enable them to
  apply knowledge to later use

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Situated Cognition and Vygotsky Overview
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• Learning Outcomes Effective use of skills and
  tools within a community
• Improve new tools and practices that apply to a
  community
• Role of the Learner Increasing participation
  within the community
• Role of the Instructor Model appropriate
  community practices
• Inputs for Learning Tools and activities of a
  relevant community
• Process of Learning Social interaction and
  cognitive apprenticeships

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Revision
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

• According to Vygotsky, what are the three
  elements that influence development?
• What is the zone of proximal development? How can
  teachers support learning in the zone of proximal
  development?
• What is the major proposition of situated
  cognition?
• What implications does situated cognition have
  for education?