Collins, A., Brown, J.S., and Newman, S. (1989). The new apprenticeship: Teaching students the craft of reading, writing, and mathematics.

Summary by Noel Rappin

For Educational Technology, Winter 1994

"Apprenticeship embeds the learning of skills and knowledge into the
social and functional context of their use"

 
1. Schooling and Apprenticeship
 
    Acquisition of Expert Practice -- Too little attention is paid to
the processes that experts use to do realistic tasks.
 
    Traditional Apprenticeship -- Uses observation (modeling),
coaching, and practice (fading), and is embedded in a social context.
 
    Cognitive Apprenticeship -- Teaching the process that experts use
in complex tasks.  Focus on cognitive and metacognitve skills
 
    Differences -- Problems come from pedigogical demands, not
economic ones.  Emphasis on decontextualizing knowledge so it can be
applied to different domains.
 
    Cognitive Apprenticeship is designed to supplement, not completely
replace other forms of learning.


2. Models
 
    Reciprocal Teaching of Reading --
 
        Teacher and student take turns playing role of teacher,
formulating questions and making predictions about texts.

 
    Procedural Faciltation of Writing --
 
        Uses "cue cards", prompts designed to get the student to think
about the organization of their writing by suggesting specific things
for the student to do..

 
    Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving --
 
        Explicitly teaches heuristic methods used by experts in
solving problems.  Problems chosen carefully, also solves difficult
problems, explaining process along the way.

 
    Common Ground
 
        Teacher and student switch roles.  Process taught to student.
Teacher provides scaffolding, gradually removed as student improves...

 
3.  A Framework for Designing Learning Environments.
 
    Content
        Domain Knowledge -- Factual knowledge explicitly identified
                with a subject matter.
        Heuristic Strategies -- Rules of thumb usd by experts to solve
                problems
        Control Strategies -- Managing Huristics
        Learining Strategies -- Strategies for learing any of the above.
 

    Methods
        Modelling -- Building a conceptual model from observation
        Coaching -- Observing students, and giving advice on their progress
        Scaffolding and Fading -- Support enabling students to do
                things they would be unable to do otherwise
        Articulation -- Getting students to talk about what they know.
        Reflection -- Creating an internal model of expertise
        Exploration -- Ability to fruitfully search for new problems

 
    Sequence
        Increasing Complexity
        Increasing Diversity
        Global Before Local Skills

 
    Sociology
        Situated Learning -- Solving problems in an environment that
                reflects future use.
        Culture of Expert Practice -- Communication about skills
                involved in being an expert
        Intrinsic Motivation
        Exploiting Cooperation
        Exploiting Competition