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Cognitive Apprenticeship

The document discusses cognitive apprenticeship, a method of teaching that focuses on teaching cognitive and metacognitive skills through guided experience. It involves modeling expert problem solving processes, coaching students as they practice, and encouraging articulation, reflection, and exploration. Key aspects include making thinking explicit, situated learning, and addressing inert knowledge. The method was proposed in 1989 and studies have found it effective for teaching complex domains like medicine, though few have proven statistical superiority over other methods.

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Randall Roberts
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254 views5 pages

Cognitive Apprenticeship

The document discusses cognitive apprenticeship, a method of teaching that focuses on teaching cognitive and metacognitive skills through guided experience. It involves modeling expert problem solving processes, coaching students as they practice, and encouraging articulation, reflection, and exploration. Key aspects include making thinking explicit, situated learning, and addressing inert knowledge. The method was proposed in 1989 and studies have found it effective for teaching complex domains like medicine, though few have proven statistical superiority over other methods.

Uploaded by

Randall Roberts
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Kuhn, 2011

Cognitive Apprenticeship
Statewide Campus System, Michigan State School of Osteopathic Medicine
2011

Gloria Kuhn, DO, PhD


Wayne State University, School of Medicine

Cognitive Apprenticeship

The Cognitive Apprenticeship is a method of teaching aimed primarily at teaching


the thought processes that experts use to handle/solve complex tasks and
problems. The focus of this learning-through-guided-experience is on cognitive
and metacognitive skills, rather than on the physical skills and processes of
traditional apprenticeships. Applying apprenticeship methods to largely cognitive
skills requires the externalization of processes that are usually carried out
internally. This is done by verbal communication between the learner and
teacher. This method of teaching includes a number of components. It was first
proposed by Alan Collins and colleagues in 1989. It is widely used in both adults
and children. Studies have shown it to be effective although few studies have
demonstrated it to be statistically superior to other forms of education (this is
extremely difficult to do in educational research).

Comparison of the Cognitive and Traditional Apprenticeships


Table 1
Cognitive Apprenticeship Traditional Apprenticeship
Thinking is made explicit by Observing performance of a task which
explanation, answering questions, and is obvious. Cognitive component not
asking learner to explain/elaborate to obvious and may be open to
ensure understanding. misinterpretation.
In complex domains such as medicine All learning takes place in the
and law a great deal of knowledge is workplace and actions and steps taken
acquired in formal didactic settings. by the expert are copied until the
When the learners enter the workplace apprentice is skilled enough in
they are not always able to use performance of the subtasks and
(transfer) what they have learned for sequencing to advance to more
solving problem s. complex tasks. The apprenticeship
advancement is based on competency.
It is obvious to the apprentice when a
task is not performed to the correct
level of competence.

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Kuhn, 2011

Table 1 cont.

The challenge of the cognitive The skills to be learned are inherent in


apprenticeship is to present a range of the task itself and so success becomes
tasks in a real world setting (situated self-evident.
learning) while at the same time
making explicit the reasoning of the
teacher and encouraging students to
think about the reasoning, construct a
mental model (mental schema) and
reflect on how this new knowledge can
be used and expanded upon.
Cognitive apprenticeship adds to the The use of the apprenticeship model
traditional model a structured way of continues to this day in medicine as
teaching both cognition (content) and well as other fields and serves an
metacognition (skills of learning and important purpose.
correct performance of problem
solving). Not only is knowledge
needed in problem solving but also the
learner needs to practice in decision
making and problem solving.

Components of the Cognitive Apprenticeship


1. Modeling

2. Coaching

3. Articulation

4. Reflection

5. Scaffolding and Fading

6. Exploration

1. Modeling -- involves an expert's carrying out a task so that student can


observe and build a conceptual model of the processes that are required
to accomplish the task. For example, a teacher might model the reading
process by reading aloud in one voice, while verbalizing her thought
processes (summarize what she just read, what she thinks might happen
next) in another voice.

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Kuhn, 2011

Medical example: Taking this analogy to medicine, an attending


physician could model the obtaining of a history from a patient with a
particular complaint. The physician would describe why they are asking
the questions they ask and how this information will help them determine a
differential diagnosis which then tells them what elements need to be
included in the physical exam , what tests to order, and finally how they
are integrating all of this information to form a diagnosis.

2. Coaching - consists of observing students while they carry out a task and
offering hints, feedback, modeling, reminders, etc.

Medical example: observing a learner perform an exam of the abdomen


and giving feedback on the performance.

3. Articulation - includes any method of getting students to articulate their


knowledge, reasoning, or problem-solving processes.

Medical example: having a medical student or resident present a case.

4. Reflection - enables students to compare their own problem-solving


processes with those of an expert or another student.

Medical example: Asking a resident what they learned as a result of


having seen a patient.

5. Exploration - involves pushing students into a mode of problem solving


on their own. Forcing them to do exploration is critical if they are to learn
how to frame questions or problems that are interesting and that they can
solve.

Medical example: Allowing residents to function as captain of the code


team.

Glossary of Terms

Cognition: the act or process of knowing. The term refers to a faculty for the
processing of information, applying knowledge, and changing preferences.

Cognitive Apprenticeship: is a method of teaching aimed primarily at teaching


the mental processes that experts use to handle complex tasks.

Inert Knowledge: The term was first coined by Alfed North Whitehead. Inert
knowledge is that information which the student can express but not use. It is one
of the reasons learners have difficulty with the transfer of knowledge. Medical
students frequently have inert knowledge. This explains why they may have

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Kuhn, 2011

information which they can’t apply in the clinical setting to evaluate and treat
patients. The knowledge is not "forgotten" exactly, but it is inaccessible.

Metacognition: knowing about knowing. Metacognition refers to one’s


knowledge concerning one’s own cognitive processes or anything related to
them, e.g., the learning-relevant properties of information or data. For example, I
am engaging in metacognition if I notice that I am having more trouble learning A
than B; if it strikes me that I should double check C before accepting it as fact.
—J. H. Flavell (1976, p. 232)

Mental schema: A mental program or formula that has been proposed by Jean
Piaget and other psychologists as a means by which people represent the world
and regulate their interactions with it. The term "schema" is used in psychology
to refer to a mental framework that allows you to make sense of aspects of your
environment

Situated cognition: knowledge or “knowing” is linked to doing and all


knowledge is situated in activity bound to social, cultural and physical contexts.
Knowledge taken out of context may not have any meaning and is thought to be
one of the reasons it is difficult to use what has been learned in a classroom
setting to solve real world problems. Proponents of the cognitive apprenticeship
believe that learning using this method is situated learning and leads to better
transfer of knowledge both from the classroom (when the cognitive
apprenticeship is used as the method of teaching in the classroom) and in the
workplace setting.

Transfer of knowledge: use of what has been learned in one setting to solve
problems or learn new material in another setting. When students know
something but can’t transfer it, it is often referred to as inert knowledge.

Further Reading[1]
[1-7]
1. Anderson, J.R., L.M. Reder, and H.A. Simon, Situated Learning and
Education. Educational Researcher, 1996. 25(4): p. 5-11.
2. Collins, A., J. Brown, and S. Newman, eds. Cognitive Apprenticeship:
Teaching the Crafts of Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. Knowing,
Learning, and Instruction: Essays in Honor of Robert Glaser, ed. L.
Resnick1989, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Hillsdale, New Jersey.
3. Collins, A., J. Seely, and Y. Brown, Cognitive Apprenticeship: Making
Thinking Visible. American Educator, 1991(Winter): p. 1-18.
4. Flavell, J.H., ed. Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. The nature of
intelligence, ed. L. Resnick1976, Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates:
Hillsdale, NJ: .
5. Franzese, C.B. and S.P. Stringer, The evolution of surgical training:
perspectives on educational models from the past to the future.
Otolaryngol Clin North Am, 2007. 40(6): p. 1227-35, vii.

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Kuhn, 2011

6. Kassirer, J.P., Teaching clinical reasoning: Case-based and coached.


Acad Med. 85(7): p. 1118-24.
7. Paz Dennen, V., Cognitive Apprenticeship in Educational Practice:
Research on Scaffolding, Modeling, Mentoring, and Coaching as
Instructional Strategies. 2nd ed. Handbook of Research on Educational
Communications and Technology D.H. Jonassen2004, Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates Publishers Mahwah, NJ, US. pp. 813-828.

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