Legitimate Peripheral Participation

Virginia Donnell Professor Middle Tennessee State University 4726 Poplarwood Road, Smyrna TN 37167 (615) 459-2257

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LEGITIMATE PERIPHERAL PARTICIPATION: A LEARNING PRACTICE BASED ON SITUATED COGNITION

INTRODUCTION Learning through experience involves both explicit and implicit learning. Learning in most educational institutions is designed as a solitary experience, involving isolation from other learners, and without the interference of the world (Wenger,1998).The value of learning by doing has been endorsed by notable learning theorists Piaget, Bruner, and Vygotsky. The placement of learning in a situation for effective experience in the social and cultural aspects of a professional field is a common practice for the high skilled fields of the arts, medicine, law and teaching (Lave and Wenger, 1999). Theorists Lave and Wenger (1999) have developed a theory of situated cognition that centers on the practice of learning through experience. Legitimate peripheral participation is a process of situated cognition derived from the cognitive theory of learning, and is a socio-cultural process for engaging students in a professional community of practice. COGNITIVE THEORY OF LEARNING The cognitive theory of learning is based on a model of information processing in which mental processes take in sensory information for learning (Driscoll,2000). Cognition is based on a machine-modeled system of inputs through a registration of the senses processed through the outputs of memory (Roblyer and Edwards, 2000). The cognitive theory of learning is concerned with a change in the mental processes resulting in learning. The cognitive theory is the act of processing information through which knowledge is gained by one’s perception. The process of learning happens when the brain conceives a thought that involves a change of mental association. Information in the learning process is gathered from the environment; it is

2 processed, and put into memory resulting in an increased capability (Driscoll,2000). The information processed is stored into memory through the senses (Driscoll,2000). The ability to capture information through mental associations, and the ability to store information in the working memory or long term memory, allows for information to be related to already stored information, organized and retrieved for response and understanding (Driscoll,2000). The cognitive theory involves the learning process as it is defined by its meaning to the learner. Meaningful learning as defined by Ausubel is the central focus of the cognitive process (Driscoll,2000). The interpretation of one’s experiences through a mental association creates learning that is meaningful, and understandable (Driscoll,2000). In Ausubel’s theory of learning, the learning must be meaningful to the learner, the information must be related to the learner, and the learner must use appropriate learning methods to learn the information through discovery, reception, rote or a combination (Driscoll,2000). Reception learning is learning that is transferred to the learner through verbalization or text-based format. Rote learning is learning gained through verbatim memorization. Discovery learning involves learning through problem solving, and experimentation through which information is derived in the process. Ausubel stressed that the information to be learned must be related to the learner’s experiences, and must be organized to enable the learner to make connections with prior learning (Driscoll,2000). Organizing the new information for connection to previous learning creates a bridge for association, and information retention(Driscoll,2000). The connection to prior learning is essential for remembering, and happens through the learner’s cognitive structures as indicated by the method of anchored instruction (Driscoll,2000). The process of anchoring ideas suggests that connecting new information to prior learning enables the learner to develop meaning

3 (Driscoll,2000). The learner’s experiences are essential for connecting and developing meaningful learning. SITUATED COGNITION Situated cognition is cognitive learning through doing situated in an environment that has an influence on the learning process. Lave and Wenger (1999) defines learning as situated activity in which learning occurs. Learning results from information gained through real world experience, situation and socialization. Knowledge developed in activity is situated cognition (Jonassen and Land,2000). Situated learning is learning that happens in a time and place in which the context has an impact on the learner due to the social and cultural influences of the situation (Lave and Wenger,1999). All elements of the situation impact the learner holistically, and shapes the learning experience. In situated cognition, learners learn holistically through social and cultural interactions in a field of practice in which the learning experience is not bound by the barriers of the classroom (Jonassen and Land,2000). Learners gain knowledge as it is applied rather than the acquisition of factual information learned in isolation from the application. Situated cognitive theory integrates the procedural and declarative knowledge, and is concerned with the context of the learning experience (Driscoll,2000). Declarative knowledge is concerned with knowing facts, and procedural knowledge is concerned with knowing the steps in the process (Driscoll,2000). The connectivity of learned information in isolation to the application process is not as effective as learning information as it is applied as suggested by the situated cognition theory. The declarative knowledge process in isolation lacks signals and visual cues for connecting the knowledge to the learner’s cognitive processes. If the context of learning changes from information transfer to practice, learners often fail to connect the information base to the application (Driscoll,2000).

4 Situated cognitive learning occurs when learners are involved in experiences that produce learning. Knowing and doing goes hand in hand in the learning process (Jonassen and Land, 2000). In a theory by Dewey (1938), learning involves meaningful activities for learners. Learners learn more by doing than through explicit learning alone, and more gains are achieved through implicit learning (Brown, 2002). Knowledge has two dimensions explicit – the facts and concepts and tacit – putting the knowledge into practice (Brown, 2002). The implicit learning is achieved through experience. Discovery and change occurs when explicit and tacit knowledge interact (Norris, Mason and Lefrere, 2003). The learning by experience theory is also stressed by Bruner’s learning by discovery theory. Involving students through participation in their own learning through exploration, recognizing and relating ideas will yield a higher level of learning (Bruner,1990). Piaget indicates that instruction does not have to be a formalized instruction, because students learn from life experience by interacting with their environment (Singer and Revenson,1996). The context of the learning process is an influential element of learning. Learning results from external inputs and internal means – socio-cultural and cognitive processing (Driscoll,2000). In Piaget’s theory of human functioning, the context of learning is impacted by two principal parts – assimilation and accommodation (Singer and Revenson,1996). Assimilation is the taking in new information with preconceived ideas about the acquired information (Singer and Revenson,1996). Accommodation is the adjustment to the new experience forcing a change in self-conception in relation to the world (Singer and Revenson,1996). In adaptation, one seeks balance between self, and the world through the development of emotions, maturation, experience and social interaction working together to create balance and motivate learning (Singer and Revenson,1996). In addition to the theory of assimilation and adaptation, Piaget

5 defines intelligence as the ability of an individual to cope with changes through organization and reorganization of experiences and reasoning (Singer and Revenson,1996). Learning resulting from real world experience involves social interaction. A person’s thoughts are adapted to the social context of the environment (Driscoll, 2000). Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory contributes to the situated cognitive theory (Driscoll, 2000) by stressing that social and cultural conditions are major influences on the learning process (Vygotsky,1978). Vygotsky’s theory emphasizes that learning must be understood within the cultural and social context in which learning occurs. An individual’s intellectual development does not happen without socialization, because socialization is a transfer of mental patterns or ways of thinking (Vygotsky,1978). To fully use experience as learning, the learner must have a multi-faceted interactive experience. The student in isolation in the learning experience is not effective because the experience does not involve the whole learner with others constructing knowledge (Moore,1998). The learner acquires knowledge through the activities and interaction with the people in the socio-cultural setting (Driscoll,2000). COMMUNITY OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE Situated learning is learning taking place in practice. Learning is situated in context of practice, and consists of interaction (Jonassen and Land, 2000). The community of practice is a theory that consists of a professional community’s characteristics, practices, culture, and the formation of one’s identity in the community. The theory is based on the assumptions that all learners are social beings, knowledge is considered as competence, knowing is participating, and meaning is derived from experience (Wenger,1998). The practice fields are designed with practical experiences, problem-solving, critical thinking, reflection opportunities, collaboration, socialization, and motivating environments (Jonassen and Land,2000).

6 The community of practice is based on a social theory of learning that is comprised of meaning, practice, community, and identity (Wenger,1998). Social practice is the way in which the learner engages with the world in real-life, and occupational settings (Wenger,1998) in order to learn the application of knowledge, and the nuances of how the professional culture accepts the newcomer in practicing new found skills. A community of practice is a common ground, and identity for developing socialization for learning (Norris, Mason and Lefrere,2003). Practice is a social process of sharing the knowledge, and the application of learning with newcomers for the purpose of reproduction of the community of practice (Wenger,1998). The characteristics of a community are a common cultural and historical heritage, interdependent system, and a reproduction cycle (Jonassen and Land,2000). The reproduction cycle consists of the transition of individuals coming in, and leaving the community. Communities of practice are continuously evolving through change in membership, and in knowledge that the membership brings into the community upon acceptance (Lave and Wenger,1999). In a community of practice, the three dimensions that maintains the coherence in practice are mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and a shared repertoire (Wenger,1998). Mutual engagement is the act of people working together, and negotiating meaning (Wenger, 1998). A joint enterprise is a mutual engagement of the participants in response to outside forces, and forces not within the control of participants (Wenger,1998). The community of practice is a socio-cultural community that embodies history, activities, conflicts, norms, values, and perceived structures (Lave and Wenger,1999). A shared repertoire are the resources for negotiating meaning through established patterns of engagement, organizational structure within the culture, ways of doing things, terminology, symbols, concepts, gestures, and history (Wenger,1998). Overtime, the community

7 repertoire becomes accepted, and sustained through unwritten rules of engagement, practice, behavior and operating structures. The repertoire embodies the culture of the community, and the process of enculturation into the social, and practical aspects of a particular profession (Brown,2002). An example of enculturation is seen in the last two years of undergraduate school in which students are engaged in advanced learning in a specific discipline, and graduate study (Brown,2002). In Piaget’s social and cultural theory, cultural norms are understood to be influential in an individual’s cognition (Driscoll,2000). According to Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences theory, cultures and disciplines can shape a student’s capacity to learn (Silver, Strong and Perini,1997). Culture is a system of routines, language, stories, beliefs, and ways of thinking in which experience, knowledge and interactions are organized in the social experience (Bruner,1990). The knowledge passed on to a learner can be a collection of social practices that consist of the culture of the community of practice (Lave and Wenger,1999). Tagiuri’s social system theory defines culture as the dimension of the psycho-social characteristics including the values, norms, assumptions, ways of thinking, belief systems, history, heroes and heroines, myths and rituals, artifacts, and behaviors (Owens,2001). An individual’s life and mind are shaped by the interaction with the culture that consists of symbolic systems (Bruner, 1990). Culture plays an important part in the development of the Multiple Intelligences, therefore the value placed on one intelligence over the other intelligences can cause one intelligence to be more developed than another intelligence (Brualdi,1998). An individual’s identity within the community of practice is developed through the interaction and socialization in the community. As the individual develops within the community of practice, the identity of the individual is constructed through socialization as related to the

8 professional community (Wenger,1998). Learners develop skills and knowledge in the context of a culture to go from novice to full membership (Lave and Wenger,1999). The identity of the individual is defined by the relationships with the community, and the individual’s relations with the community (Lave and Wenger,1999). LEGITIMATE PERIPHERAL PARTICIPATION A learner develops in relation to the professional community of practice that is outside the classroom (Jonassen and Land,2000). Legitimate peripheral participation is a the process in which a learner is changed through a social experience incorporating skill in practice within the community of practice (Lave and Wenger,1999). As a means of approximate participation for the learner does not simply imply observation, but exposure to learning through closely supervised experience, special assisted experience, and less pressured experience (Wenger,1998). Participation involves the construction of knowledge through action in the context of the real world of practice (Lave and Wenger,1999). The basic premises of legitimate peripheral participation are consistent with Dewey’s theory that experiences must be connected with meaningful learning (Dewey,1938). In order for legitimate peripheral participation to be effective and meaningful, the community of practice must allow full interaction with the members, operations of the practice, and culture of the practice (Wenger,1998). Learning through legitimate peripheral participation involves socialization in the community of practice. As an individual in a community of practice, the person is constructing knowledge from that specific socio-cultural context and community (Lave and Wenger,1999). One of the key goals of learning as social practice is the continuous learning through socially and culturally-mediated experiences involving relations that occur in communities of practice (Lave and Wenger,1999). Learning as social practice involves the learner holistically interacting with

9 the world, evolving as a result of socializing, and continuously renewing relations in the world (Lave and Wenger,1999). Legitimate peripheral participation in practice focuses on practical application of knowledge through the use of practice fields. Practice fields for learning consist of anchored instruction, problem-based learning, and cognitive apprenticeships (Jonassen and Land,2000). Legitimate peripheral participation as conceived by Lave and Wenger (1999) is through the study of apprenticeship as a means of the social and cultural context of learning. The importance of apprenticeships are necessary because students do not gain practical application of knowledge in school (Brandt,1993). Practical application of knowledge is consistent with Dewey’s theory that all real learning comes through experience (Dewey, 1938). Learning as a partial participant is an empowering practice for the novice in the process of becoming a full participant (Lave and Wenger,1999). Learners thrive in the learning experience when the practical application of concepts are used (Brandt,1993). Implicit learning and practices are just as necessary as the explicit knowledge because it enables the learner to become a part of the professional community, share in the culture, and gain access to the professional community (Brown,2002). Through apprenticeships, students can gain skill and knowing (Campbell, 1997). Lave and Wenger (1999) studied the apprenticeship as a method of legitimate peripheral participation in the form of cultural traditions. Through the study of the Yucatec Mayan midwives in Mexico, and the tailors in Liberia, Lave and Wenger (1999) found that the apprenticeships are concrete, and organized methods of learning specialized knowledge integrated into the social and cultural ways of daily life. In professions, where high skills and knowledge are required for practice such as medicine, the academy, law and the arts, apprenticeships are still used in the learning process (Lave and Wenger,1999). As indicated by a

10 study of students using apprenticeships to enter the music industry, apprenticeships are the connection to the industry through which students are exposed to work behavior and culture, and the expectations of the professional practice (Rolston and Herrera,2000). SUMMARY Legitimate peripheral participation is a process of situated cognition derived from the cognitive theory of learning, and is a socio-cultural process for engaging learners in a professional community of practice. The learning experience situated in a community of practice in the form of an apprenticeship, can enable learners to access a professional culture, and to learn valuable skills of the professional practice. Knowledge put in practice is shared in a social, collaborative situation giving more dimensional understanding of the knowledge acquired (Brown,2002). As an integral part of the learning experience, socialization can provide the learner with a socio-cultural understanding of the professional community. Learning by experience is an integral part of the real world (Lave and Wenger, 1999).

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12 Rolston, C. P. and Herrera, D. (2000). The critical role of university-sponsored internships for entry into the professional music business: A report of a national survey. Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society, 30(2), 102. Silver, H., Strong, R. and Perini, M. (1997). Integrating learning styles and multiple intelligences. Educational Leadership, 55(1), 22-28. Singer, D. G. and Revenson, T.A. (1996). A Piaget primer: How a child thinks (Revised ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.