My reflections on Situated Learning

First of all, I found interesting to know that Situated learning is a theory of knowledge acquisition with antecedents in the theory of affordances (Gibson) and social learning (Vygotsky). This theory has been applied in the context of technology-based learning activities for schools. Lave and Wenger, the authors, propose that learning involves a process of engagement in a community practice.

According to Lave, learning is a function of the activity, context and culture in which it occurs; it means that it is situated.

From my own point of view, I think it is of great importance the idea of promoting learning by establishing the connections between contents and context in which participants revolve because this approach allows participants to utilize prior knowledge, interests, needs and styles of their own. Regarding my Social Service practice, it was necessary to consider characteristics of population being serviced by this Juvenile Integration Center: Users are usually young teens that are experiencing a personal crisis, and are in the process of rehabilitation. These youths have also experienced some sort of academic failure which includes a non pleasant experience in learning English as a second language.

This is why motivation becomes a crucial element to ensure success. How do I present my curriculum in such a way that it is interesting to my students? by including activities that represent a day to day situation which are applicable to the working life of these young teens.

Each content will focus to different social practices of the language, thus establishing the complexity of this language and it is a tool to communicate and procure knowledge. For example, we establish that the purposes of the project "The Interview” as means to procure a new job or a scholarship. With this in mind all students will play the role of interviewers, and interviewees which facilitates the acquisition of language skills utilized in giving and obtaining information, vocabulary, grammatical structure and interacting through the use of written and oral texts. This is established in the principle of situated learning that says:

Knowledge needs to be presented in an authentic context, i.e., settings and applications that would normally involve that knowledge.

Conversely, Social Interaction is a component of situated learning. Considering this interaction need when planning one must establish different groups that would allow student the interchange of communicative experiences. This is another principle that situated learning deals with:

              Learning requires social interaction and collaboration

For which one must ensure a Community of practice is established in the classroom. Etienne Wenger states that Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human venture; Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. (Wenger circa 2007). Reflecting on that I pretend to establish an proper environment with participating students that favors mutual respect, acceptance and collaborative work, skills required for a future employment.

References:

Culatta, R. (2012). Situated Learning (J. Lave). Retrieved from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/situated-learning.html

Smith, M. K. (1999) 'The social/situational orientation to learning', The encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/learning-social.htm, Last update: December 01, 2011.