In her review of situated learning, McLellan (1994) explained that Seely and his colleagues believed that "many teaching practices implicitly assume that conceptual knowledge can be abstracted from the situations in which it is learned and used." Situated learning proponents, however, argue that "knowledge is situated and is partly a product of the activity, context, and culture in which it is used." thus, it cannot be taught in the abstract. It must be taught in context. Brown, Collins, and Duguid (1989) suggested one form of situated learning, cognitive apprenticeship. The goal of cognitive apprenticeship is to help students construct their own understanding of the topic. Activities to support that include coaching and mentoring, providing a cognitive "scaffolding" that helps the learner make sense of a topic, serving as a mentor and coach, and helping the student relate the topic to both personal experiences and the context in which that knowledge will be applied. Situated learning proponents also support both collaborative problem solving and anchored instruction as instructional strategies. For the teacher considering adopting this approach to the classroom:
The challenge of situated learning theory becomes one of developing methodologies and course content that support cooperative activity and reflect the complex interaction between what individuals already know and what they area expected to learn, recognizing that ultimately meaning can only be established by and not for the learner. (Harvey, 1993)
Seen from this perspective, the design and delivery of instruction is not the creation and use of detailed lesson plans that specify exactly what the teacher and student should be doing at various points in the lesson. As Harley (1993) puts it, "Perspecified, step by step instruction can no longer be developed on the assumption that the process can control the specifics of meaning constructed by the learner" (p. 49). Instead, it is the creation of an environment where groups of students can, and do, explore and analyze, think and reflect, propose and act. There are many ways in which technology cna support such environments -- from supplying sources of information such as CD-ROM database to providing tools of expression that student scan use. Another way is the creation of interesting environment in which to study a topic.
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