Situated Learning in Computer Science Education

Sociocultural theories of learning such as Wenger and Lave’s situated learning have been suggested as alternatives to cognitive theories of learning like constructivism. This article examines situated learning within the context of computer science (CS) education. Situated learning accurately describes some CS communities like open-source software development, but it is not applicable to other CS communities, especially those that deal with non-CS application areas. I show how situated learning can inform CS education by analyzing debates on curriculum and pedagogy within this framework. CS educators should closely examine professional CS communities of practice and design educational activities to model the actual activities of those communities.