Situated Learning where you are is part of what you know and how you learn

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Theories of learning 1.behavioural – tutor controls presentation of new knowledge and tests frequently with lots of feedback 2.cognitive – learner builds up active experience and creates models of knowledge 3.situated – knowledge is acquired in context where it is meaningful

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Situated knowledge  context is part of meaning and knowledge language and vocabulary – jargon, slang supported knowledge – recognizing faces in unfamiliar settings  implication transfer between school and real world is a factor in effectiveness of formal learning

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Jean Lave – supermarket math   Can ‘decontextualized’ school learning of math transfer to other situations? Not very well  Does ‘on the job’ learning transfer better? Not much better  BUT in context, people solve problems quite well.

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Jean Lave – supermarket math  math problems in context: examples coconut seller: 1 coconut 35: 10 as for 350 revising a recipe: ¾ of 2/3 by measuring 2/3 and dividing it in four supermarket:  16% of purchases involved a calculation  unit pricing is generally ignored  BUT people compare ratios or price/quantity differentials

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Jean Lave – supermarket math  the stats: 98% correct calculations in supermarket 59% correct on ‘test’ of math skills  correlated to formal ed and time since grad 93% correct on simulation of supermarket  not correlated

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Jean Lave – supermarket math  implications: knowledge is contextual learning should be ‘in context’  real problems  simulations (how close is good enough?)  games?

COSC 4126 Situated Learning A small digression… ’situated computing’  intelligent agent theory: from single program to multiple communicating programs to many simple entities: ‘emergence’  from absolute to relative representation – note how sprites are represented  from planning to reaction; batch to event- driven programming; agents in environment

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Situated Action  introduced to HCI by Lucy Suchman (1987) inspired by ethnomethodology.1987ethnomethodology  Purposeful actions are considered as situated, i.e., "taken in the context of particular, concrete circumstances" (Suchman, 1987, viii). Action is regarded as emergent, contingent, improvisatory.Suchman, 1987  "Every course of action depends in essential ways upon its material and social circumstances." (Suchman, 1987, 50) "The organisation of situated action is an emergent property of moment-by- moment interactions between actors and between actors and the environments of their action." (Suchman, 1987, 178)Suchman, 1987

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Situated action vs cognitive action  Plans are mere representations of actions, either imagined projections or retrospective reconstructions (accounts). Plans are like maps: abstractions of potential actions and routes vs.  Actions are driven by plans.

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Suchman at PARC  Studied users working with a new complex but intelligent copy machine with an expert system.  Showed the system could not work communication between user and machine too constrained leads to misinterpretaion of actions, unmatched understandings, impasse (see handout from Suchman)

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Suchman’s analysis THE USERSTHE MACHINE not available to the machine available to the machine available to the user design rationale goals plans hypotheses reactions interpretatio ns inputs to machine displays actions algorithm for goal task

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Analysis of HCI based on Suchman’s model  Interpret an interaction as a four- stage control cycle: 1.determine current state 2.set next goal 3.decide action to implement goal - - ACTION interpret results of action  For each stage, locate the decision on Suchman’s analysis chart

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Interaction analysis – example: command line interpreter THE USERSTHE MACHINE not available to the machine available to the machine available to the user design rationale 1. determine current state 2. set next goal 3. decide action to implement goal (enter command) A C T I O N – execute command 4. interpret results of action (effect of command execution)

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Interaction analysis – example: behaviourist tutor THE USERSTHE MACHINE not available to the machine available to the machine available to the user design rationale 1. determine current state (student’s current knowledge) 2. set next goal (new knowledge) 3. decide action to implement goal (ask question) A C T I O N – pose question, user enters response 4. interpret results of action (right or wrong)

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Implications of situated learning theory - constructivism  legitimate peripheral participation apprenticeship – trades, grad school, samba schools department jobs cooperative education collaborative learning anchored instruction (simulated environments as real as possible)  case studies, simulations, games legitimate expertise (e.g. computer geeks, jeep mechanics)

COSC 4126 Situated Learning Papert – a synthesis?  Cognitivist – worked with Piaget mental models metacognition but  constructivist stages, potential could be influenced by experience - gears