D-+Cognitive+Apprenticeship

__**OVERVIEW**__ Cognitive Apprenticeship Theory is a key feature in the Situated Cognition Theory. “The theory of situated cognition… claims that every human thought is adapted to the environment, that is, situated, because what people perceive, how they conceive of their activity, and what they physically do develop together” (Clancey, 1997, pp. 1-2; italics in original).

Click on the pdf. below for an outline of the features of Situated Cognition Theory, and you will see where cognitive apprenticeships fall within the overall umbrella of Situated Cognition Theory (Driscoll, p.152)



__**DEFINITION**__ Cognitive Apprenticeship Theory is when a master of a certain practice or skill teaches those skills to a novice or apprentice.

__**EXAMPLE**__ An example of a cognitive apprenticeship can be seen in the nurturing, coaching, and mentoring of a rookie into an NFL Team. Now a football team has one Head Coach, but for every position there are separate coaches, such as: A wide-receivers coach or a quarterback coach. When a rookie comes into the NFL they almost always follow a cognitive apprenticeship. The entire team acts as a community of practice where the coaches are full participants, veteran players are mentors, and rookies are the novices/apprentices. Usually a rookie is immediately paired up with a veteran in their particular position, and the veteran then acts as a mentor to the rookie teaching them not only football skills but life skills, such as: being a positive role-model, not getting involved with the wrong crowd, good work ethic, etc. A NFL position coach has to teach a group of up 10 different football players at one time, this is what makes the cognitive apprenticeship so great because a rookie can then receive one-on-one training from a veteran and constantly pick the brain of that person, gaining detailed knowledge.

Cognitive apprenticeship is a great tool in instruction when trying to get someone who is interested in a certain subject - in depth, hands-on mentorship so they can learn a specialized skill. How great would it be to have access to a guru in whatever skill you are trying to learn? It would be fabulous.
 * __ANALYSIS__**

Learning, in general, can be difficult and almost impossible when a person feels alone or feels that there is no support for what they are trying to learn. Cognitive apprenticeship promotes not only learning but social skills. To be apart of a cognitive apprenticeship one must first be apart of a larger group who share in whatever skill they want to learn. This group is called, as mentioned before, a community of practice. Now by taking the first step and thrusting a novice into a community of other novices who are interested in learning the same thing, that eliminates any feeling of loneliness because the everyone in the group is on the same page. Once in the group the novice/learner can then begin to network and talk about various interests within the COP, and even before learning anything about the skills they want to learn, they have developed friendships with others – which is an important skill to learn and have in one’s repertoire.

The disadvantage I can see with cognitive apprenticeship could be how perhaps in the average school setting, this could be tough. One teacher cannot possibly become a mentor to 35 students individually, or should I say that it would just be really tough and time consuming for the teacher to handle that type of workload. There simply would have to be some drastic changes in the way our classes are setup today to accommodate this form of learning.

__**PERSONAL UNDERSTANDING**__ I chose to analyze the Cognitive Apprentice Theory because I’m a firm believer that it works. The main reason why I say it works is because the learner has a lot, if not all, of the control in what they want to learn. If we want to stay on track with the football analogy, imagine a high school freshman who wants to become an NFL running-back. Now the learner’s mind is made up and their objectives are clear of what they want to learn. Imagine how great that person would feel if Ladanian Tomilnson from the San Diego Chargers offered to take them under their wing and mentor them on becoming a great running-back. You wouldn’t have to force that high school athlete to go to practice, or study playbooks, etc. because they are already motivated to do so.

We have also read in the text (p.166) how internships go hand-in-hand with cognitive apprenticeships. With internships the learner gets to now apply what they have been learning in the classroom to real-life experiences. A good internship gives the learner hands-on experience – and in my opinion that is one of the best ways to learn. So this is why I love cognitive apprenticeship so much, because it provides the learner with a self-regulated form of learning, which enhances the joy, and fun that should encompass all learning, thus creating an excellent learning environment – where constant one-to-one mentorship is exhibited.

__**FINAL THOUGHT**__ On one last note, while looking through the ILearn Forum on COP’s it was brought to my attention and stated very clearly that cognitive apprenticeship does not have to be restricted to just direct instruction. Here goes the words of another ITEC800 student, **David Cook,** on cognitive apprenticeships.


 * David Cook** wrote: //“There are three kinds of apprenticeships that are likely to be noticed. The first may be direct instruction… The second could be through the simple observation of others, this would be learning by observation. The third type would be the learning that occurs as novices of equal coordination help each other with suggestions and hints that they are currently learning. This third type may not appear to be an apprenticeship in the normal sense because there is no "master" but this is not true. The position of master shifts as novices help each conquer difficulties together. This third apprenticeship is the closest to cognitive apprenticeship because it is the closest to a real-world experience where the novices are learning through authentic activities.”//