Situated learning

Situated learning

Situated learning is a theory that explains an individual's acquisition of professional skills and includes research on <a href="/en/Apprenticeship" title="Apprenticeship" class="wl">apprenticeship</a> into how <a href="/en/Legitimate_peripheral_participation" title="Legitimate peripheral participation" class="wl">legitimate peripheral participation</a> leads to membership in a <a href="/en/Community_of_practice" title="Community of practice" class="wl">community of practice</a>.<a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;">[1]</a> Situated learning "takes as its focus the relationship between learning and the social situation in which it occurs".<a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;">[2]</a>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Theory of learning</div>
The theory is distinguished from alternative views of learning which define learning as the acquisition of <a href="/en/Descriptive_knowledge" title="Descriptive knowledge" class="wl">propositional knowledge</a>.<a href="#cite_note-:0-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;">[3]</a> <a href="/en/Jean_Lave" title="Jean Lave" class="wl">Lave</a> and <a href="/en/Etienne_Wenger" title="Etienne Wenger" class="mw-redirect wl">Wenger</a> situated learning in certain forms of social co-participation and instead of asking what kinds of cognitive processes and conceptual structures are involved, they focused on the kinds of social engagements that provide the proper context and facilitate learning.<a href="#cite_note-:0-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;">[3]</a>

Situated learning is a theory that explains an individual's acquisition of professional skills and includes research on apprenticeship into how legitimate peripheral participation leads to membership in a community of practice. The theory is distinguished from alternative views of learning which define learning as the acquisition of propositional knowledge. 