Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives)

Situated Learning http://www.citeulike.org/user/dperkel/article/197260

Reflections I don't have much background in theories of learning, so it's hard for me to think about how Lave and Wenger's model of learning compares, or can be seen in relation to, other models and theories. However, I can foresee it being incredibly useful in helping me consider what I may see down the road in an online community or in a classroom (like at BAYCAT).

I like the discussion of the the difficulty in "decomposing" the term "legitimate peripheral participation" into separate terms (35-37), especially the point that there is not necessarily a "center" to a community of practice that stands in contrast to the "periphery.

The discussion of theory as not necessarily "abstraction" that follows is also a crucial part of the reading and one that I find quite difficult. I follow their challenge to the notion that "theory is assumed to be general and abstract, the world, concrete and particular" (38), but what do they mean when they say "Our theorizing about legitimate peripheral participation thus is not intended as an abstraction, but as an attempt to explore its concrete relations" (39)?

Another part of the article that I struggle with is this split between "learning as internalization" and "learning as increasing participation" (49). I mean, I understand why learning is not necessarily just the "absorption" of "culture given" (47), but couldn't an active participation lead to some type of "internalization"? The notion of "internalizing" something is so intuitive, which sets off alarm bells but also makes me question what it means to actually "learn" if it doesn't mean to "internalize" to some extent.

I'd like to better understand the discussion of stories and narrative and its relationship to the communities of practice (108).

I am also interested in the relationship between learning and identity. Much of the discussion reminds me of Gee's discussion of different types of identity formation during the playing of video games and how taking on various identities helps learning (2003). It also reminds me of some of the things he talked to my research group about when he mentioned his thoughts on learning various vernacular languages.

One last big question I have here is that given everything that the authors have argued, how does one assess whether learning has occurred or is occurring? Is there a way to measure learning?

Formal notes here: http://sindikk.aeshin.org/2005/07/14/lave-wenger-situated-learning/

"shifting the analytic focus from the individual as learner to learning as participation in the social world" (43)

THE PROBLEM OF ACCESS: TRANSPARENCY AND SEQUESTRATION

"learning occurs through centripetal participation in the learning curriculum of the ambient community" (100)

"[development cycles as] a diagnostic tool for distinguishing among communities of practice" (100)

"the artifacts used within a cultural practice carry a substantial portion of that practice's heritage" (101)

"understanding the technology of practice is more than learning to use tools; it is a way to connect with the history of the practice and to participate more directly in its cultural life" (101)

"transparency in its simplest form may just imply that the inner workings of an artifact are available for the learner's inspection" (102)

"knowledge within a community of practice and ways of perceiving and manipulating objects characteristic of community practices are encoded in artifacts in ways that can be more or less revealing. moreover, the activity system and the social world of which an artifact is part are reflected in multiple ways in its design and use and can become further 'fields of transparency'" (102)

"invisibility of mediating technologies is necessary for allowing focus on, and thus supporting visibility of, the subject matter. conversely, visibility of the significance of the technology is necessary for allowing its unproblematic--invisible--use." (103)

"abstraction... stems from the disconnectedness of a particular cultural practice." (104)

DISCOURSE AND PRACTICE

"learning to become a legitimate participant in a community involves learning how to talk (and be silent) in the manner of full participants." (105)

"stories play a major role in decision making" (108)

"distinction between talking about and talking within a practice" (109)

"for newcomers then the purpose is not to learn from talk as a substitute for legitimate peripheral participation; it is to learn to talk as a key to legitimate peripheral participation." (109)

MOTIVATION AND IDENTITY: EFFECTS OF PARTICIPATION

"a newcomer's tasks tend to be positioned at the ends of branches of work processes, rather than in the middle of linked work segments." (110)

"where there is no cultural identity encompassing the activity in which newcomers participate and no field of mature practice for what is being learned, exchange value replaces the use value of increasing participation." (112)

"test taking then becomes a new parasitic practice, the goal of which is to increase the exchange value of learning independently of its use value." (112)