Center for the Study of Reading

Noting that skills and knowledge taught in schools have become abstracted from their uses in the world, this paper clarifies some of the implications for the nature of the knowledge that students acquire through a i;roposal for the retooling of apprenticeship methods for the teaching and learning of cognitive skills. The paper specifically proposes the development of a new cognitive apprenticeship to teach students the thinking and problem-solving skills involved in school subjects such as reading, writing, and mathematics. The first section of the paper, after discussing key shortcomings in current curricular and pedagogical practices, presents some of the structural features of traditional apprenticeship, detailing what would be required to adapt these characteristics to the teaching and learning of cognitive skills. The central section of the paper considers three recently developed pedagogical models that exemplify aspects of apprenticeship methods in teaching thinking and reasoning skills. The section notes that these methods--A. S. Palincsar and A. L. Brown's reciprocal reading teaching, M. Scardamalia and C. Bereiter's procedural facilitation of writing, and A. H. Schoenfeld's method for teaching mathematical problem solving--appear to develop successfully not only the cognitive, but also the metacognitive, skills required for true expertise. The final section organizes ideas on the purposes and characteristics of successful teaching into a general framework for the design of learning "environments," including the content being taught, pedagogical methods employed, sequencing of learning activities, and the sociology of learning--emphasizing how cognitive apprenticeship goes beyond the techniques of traditional apprenticeship. Tables of data are included, and references are appended. (Author/NKA) CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF READING Technical Report No. 403 COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP: TEACHING THE CRAFT OF READING, WRITING, AND MATHEMATICS Allan Collins BBN Laboratories John Seely Brown Susan E. Newman Xerox Palo Alto Research Center