John Seely Brown & Cognitive Apprenticeship

Brown's work on cognitive apprenticeship evolved from the  work of Lave on situated learning.

Learners enter a culture  of practice. Acquisition, development and application  of cognitive tools in a learning domain is based on  activity in learning and knowledge. Enculturation  (social interaction) and context (learning  environment) are powerful components of learning in  this model.

In traditional classroom approaches, the  teacher's thinking processes are usually invisible and  operate outside of conscious awareness, even for the  teacher. The goal of cognitive apprenticeship is to make  the thinking processes of a learning activity visible to  both the students and the teacher.

The legitimacy of prior learning and  knowledge of new students is respected, and is drawn upon  as scaffolding in tasks which initially seem unfamiliar or  difficult to learners.

Cognitive apprenticeship can be especially effective when  teaching complex, cognitive skills such as reading  comprehension, essay writing, and mathematical problem  solving.