Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0521423740 ISBN 13 : 9780521423748

Editeur : Cambridge University Press, 1991

In this important theoretical treatise, Jean Lave, anthropologist, and Etienne Wenger, computer scientist, push forward the notion of situated learning--that learning is fundamentally a social process and not solely in the learner's head. The authors maintain that learning viewed as situated activity has as its central defining characteristic a process they call legitimate peripheral participation. Learners participate in communities of practitioners, moving toward full participation in the sociocultural practices of a community. Legitimate peripheral participation provides a way to speak about crucial relations between newcomers and oldtimers and about their activities, identities, artifacts, knowledge and practice. The communities discussed in the book are midwives, tailors, quartermasters, butchers, and recovering alcoholics, however, the process by which participants in those communities learn can be generalized to other social groups.

Book Description :

The authors maintain that learning viewed as situated activity has as its central defining characteristic a process known as legitimate peripheral participation in this important theoretical treatise.

About the Author :

Jean Lave is Professor of Education and Geography at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of Cognition in Practice, coauthor of Understanding Practice and Situated Learning, and coeditor of History in Person.