Situated Learning: Conceptualization and Measurement

A focus on the interaction between cognitive schemas and context in situ has been suggested as fundamental in organizational decision making and information interpretation. Past research suggests that the situation and the social interaction that occur during learning at the cognitive level consist of factors that affect the process, but the research lacks a coherent explanation for how those factors affect it. We propose a conceptualization of learning, termed situated learning, which accounts for these factors. By drawing on situated cognition theory, social learning theory, and the theory of mental models, we identify and measure four components of situated learning, that is, thematic focus, cognitive absorption, social structure, and participation. Among the most important lessons for researchers and practitioners is the need to consider learning as a constellation of the four components instead of an indivisible phenomenon. This perspective can enhance our understanding of cognitive processes, such as information interpretation and decision making.     

The promise and reality of formative assessment practice in a continuous assessment scheme: the case of Trinidad and Tobago

Continuous Assessment (CA) systems are externally directed, curriculum-based assessment schemes used for both summative and formative purposes within classrooms. CA has been implemented as national policy in several postcolonial developing countries and is believed to hold great promise for improving education outcomes. This theory-driven evaluation (TDE) used a mixed methods research design to interrogate the nature of CA practice. The focus was on stakeholders’ understanding and practice of formative assessment in the CA Programme (CAP) of Trinidad and Tobago. The integrated findings suggest that the programme planners’ formative intent was often not fulfilled. Instead, teachers routinely recorded assessment marks without using the data. There is evidence that formative assessment practice was not congruent with teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and practices. Although the design of CA schemes suggests the possibility of synergy between formative and summative purposes, in reality this ideal is rarely achieved in these particular contexts.     

Situated Learning and Assessment

The theories of situated learning suggest two different interpretations of what ought to be understood by the concept of full participation: a traditional idea, emphasising the idea of a centre or core which is termed 'full participation', and a modern idea, that stresses the multiple and the weaving relations between different kinds of full participation. Both ideas of participation tend to result in a sociological reductionism, over-emphasising the concepts of power and negotiations. This paper has investigated the conditions for producing assessments. It has been found that it is possible to connect the traditional idea of full participation to an idea of a community of knowledge, which can be further described with the help of concepts like tradition, curriculum and virtue. It has also been found that it is possible to connect recent theories of judgement and relativism to the modern version of full participation.     

Catalytic antibodies: Concept and promise

While chemistry provides the framework for understanding the structure and function of biomolecules, the immune system provides a highly evolved natural process to generate one class of complex biomolecules-the antibodies. A combination of the two could be exploited to generate new classes of molecules with novel functions. Indeed, one example of this productive interplay is the generation of catalytic antibodies or abzymes. A catalytic antibody is a sort of natural artificial enzyme — it is a natural protein synthesized by the usual biological processes and is intended to catalyze a reaction for which no real enzyme is available. The essential idea is to raise antibodies to a molecule considered to mimic the transition state intermediate of a reaction that is to be catalyzed i.e., a molecule resembling a strained structure intermediate between the substrate and product, believed to occur in the reaction pathway. The hope is that some of the antibodies produced will happen to possess groups capable of promoting the reaction.     

中西方情境课程——案例与分析

情境理论是当代学习理论的新流派,该理论开发的情境课程在教育教学的过程中显示出了强大的生命力,其中李吉林的情境课程和美国CTGV小组开发的贾斯珀系列课程无疑是成功的典范,尽管他们的理论渊源有所不同,但他们在创设情境、整合学科、设计活动和凸显主体等方面的认识和做法上却有异曲同工之妙.     

Art and Artifact of Children's Designing: A Situated Cognition Perspective

The purpose of this study was to investigate knowing and learning in an engineering design environment within an elementary classroom. Based on extensive ethnographic observation, video recordings, interviews with participants and observers, and children's design artifacts and engineering logbooks, fourth- and fifth-grade students' designing activities were interpreted from the perspective of situated cognition. The results show that children's designing was related to the artifacts, tools, materials, teacher-set constraints, and current trends in the setting. However, these elements cannot be taken as having some absolute ontology but are interpretively flexible. In the course of the engineering unit, the fourth- and fifth-grade students learned to exploit this interpretive flexibility to frame and solve problems. The emerging artifacts had at least two important functions: They were resources that structured the design process by both opening up possibilities and providing constraints, and they served to coordinate discursive and practical actions. The findings have important implications for affordances and constraints of learning environments in which designing is both a goal and a vehicle of instruction and for the evaluation of students' activities in such settings.     

Situated Support for Learning: Storm's Weekend With Rachael

Although much attention has been paid to the content of support for learning, less attention has been given to its context. This article introduces the notion of "situated support," and argues that the identity of the source of support and the connectedness of that support to other elements of the learning environment are of primary importance. MOOSE Crossing is a text-based virtual reality environment designed to be a constructionist learning environment for children 8 to 13 years of age. A microanalysis is presented of the situated nature of support for learning on MOOSE Crossing over the course of 1 weekend where a 12-year-old girl learned to write simple computer programs.     

情境学习:一种新的学习范式

情境学习作为一种新型的学习范式,是学习科学研究中的重要内容之一,其理论和实践研究的快速发展推动了现代学校教育和社会组织的变革。文章对情境学习研究的历史发展和主要流派进行了梳理,重点总结了情境学习研究范式的知识观和学习观,并对其理论的教育实践应用进行了探讨,最后文章提出了情境学习理论对学校教育的启示以及面临的挑战。     

聚焦于项目的情境学习机制研究

从聚焦于项目的情境学习的相关概念厘定入手,首先阐明引发学习的两大因素和两个条件,重点论述了学习发生的过程,在分析学习阶段的基础上,揭示了聚焦于项目的情境学习的本质——行动路径。最后,阐明聚焦于项目的情境学习最终结果是获得情境体验和问题解决路径。     

网络环境下的情境认知与学习

情境认知与学习理论是一种能够提供有意义学习并促进知识向真实生活情境转化的重要学习理论，网络环境为这种学习理论的实施提供了物质基础与便利条件本论述了情境认知与学习理论的基本内容与教学观，提出了情境认知与学习的情境创设策略并阐述了网络环境下情境认知与学习的锚定式教学和认知学徒制教学模式。     

Situated Self‐Esteem

Pervasive though it is in modern life, the concept of self‐esteem is often viewed with distrust. This paper departs from an idea that was recently aired by Richard Smith: that we might be better off without this concept. The meaning of self‐esteem is explored within four ‘homes’: the self‐help industry, social science, therapy and education. It is suggested that the first two use a ‘simple’ concept of self‐esteem that indeed we are better off without. This concept eliminates the distinction between truthfulness and delusion, and relies on a chimera of quantifiability. The much richer concept of situated self‐esteem is explored, and it is argued that low self‐esteem in children (often narcissistically disguised) should command the attention of educators. Teachers should address this through education and communication, and reject the idea (prevalent in the USA) of boosting self‐esteem through a content‐free curriculum.     

课堂观察:限度及其问题

课堂观察方法近年来在课堂研究中广为运用,并取得一些成效,但同时也显现出一些问题.本文从课堂观察方法的限度分析入手,对课堂观察方法在运用中出现浅层次问题、专业性不足问题等进行了反思,以求专门研究者和教师能够对其进行准确的理解和运用.     

生态心理学的情境观:学与教的新视角

生态心理学取向的情境观形成了不同于行为观和认知观的知识观、学习观和教学观.导致我们对人类学习的认识发生根本性变革的是这种基于情境的学习观,而不是建构观。虽然情境观有可能融合了行为观和认知观,但行为观和认知观同样有其实践的价值.     

Becoming Literate: Looking Across Curricular Structures at Situated Identities

The United States is becoming more multilingual with globalization. Public schools continue to enroll increasing numbers of students who speak a language other than English. This adds to the rich diversity of classrooms while at the same time offers challenges for educators. This collaborative-ethnographic style research study investigates the ways in which identities are constructed for and by an English language learner (ELL) as she uses language at school. The author explores classroom reading events and the ways one ELL negotiates these events with her peers in an English dominant classroom. Results reveal the fluidity of identities across classroom curricular structures at school.