Using the Situated Learning Theory in my classroom

In my “Using the Internet in the Classroom” class, this week’s assignment is to discuss an education theory of which there are many. The specific theory of education I chose is Situated Learning because it is closer to what I use in my classroom. In the material provide for us to read, I learned that the principals of situated learning are

1. Knowledge needs to be presented in an authentic context, i.e., settings and applications that would normally involve that knowledge.
2. Learning requires social interaction and collaboration. (http://tip.psychology.org/lave.html)

I did a little more research and found that “situated learning was first proposed by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger as a model of learning in a Community of practice” (Wikipedia). “Lave argues that learning as it normally occurs is a function of the activity, context and culture in which it occurs (i.e., it is situated).” (http://tip.psychology.org/lave.html). “Situated learning environments are more likely to transfer to real-life problem solving (http://tecfa.unige.ch/staf/staf-e/pellerin/staf15/situacogn.htm).

As my bachelor’s degree is in Technical Education plus my experience in the Navy in training my team, I focus on kinesthetic learning – learning by doing. While in the Navy, there was some rote material that my team had to learn to pass the test but much of the material had to be learned in practice on the job. The part of the team that worked with us full-time, who actually were able to practice the material full-time, did much better on their annual promotion tests than the reservists who worked with us two weeks out of the year. The reservists were able to understand the material but did not have the opportunity to practice as much since the job involved work on a naval ship.

In the years that followed, I started work at a phone company, I had a trainer who first showed me through classroom activity and then sat me with an active worker at the computer. The worker put me in her chair and made me take the phone and the computer and start using what I learned in the classroom. It was intimidating at first but I soon felt comfortable with the job. I’ll always be grateful to her for forcing the issue and allowing me to take over her workstation.

Later, at the same phone company, I watched another trainer as she was training new hires which brought this theory more to the surface. She would work on the computer and have the new hire looking over her shoulder. Once the new hire was put at his/her computer, they were at a loss because they had only observed but had not done any of the physical work. Many left the job in frustration.

In my classroom, I teach middle schoolers how to use word processors, spreadsheets and presentation tools. Instead of rote practice which bores them easily, I try to apply real world activities for their learning opportunities. For word processing, we wrote thank you notes at Thanksgiving and made Christmas cards at Christmas. I also work with the other teachers when they assign essays and reports to the students. They provide the requirements of what the students have to write about and I provide the technical how-to in using a word processor to get the job done. Every year, Directions Credit Union comes in to teach the students about banking accounts and budgeting. We use this time to build our budgets in Excel spreadsheets to see how we can use the spreadsheets in our real world experiences. At the end of the year, we plan a party and they have to use a spreadsheet to budget the party expenses. For presentations, we utilize personal pictures to put together Powerpoint presentations or build slideshows through Moviemaker, all the time emphasizing what these tools can be used for in the outside world. If I were teaching adults again, I could utilize building resumes as a good situation learning example for the word processor.

Using the Situated Learning with Internet applications is a small leap from what I usually teach. Next year, I plan to institute Google Docs for our middle schoolers for a more collaborative application of word processing, spreadsheet and presentation tools. Google Docs allow for the student to share their work with their teachers including allowing the teachers to edit their work. I also believe utilizing the Google Docs will allow more affordability and flexibility in being able to share their homework. Right now, I have to specify that the students save their work in *.rtf format in word processors because most have Microsoft Works instead of Microsoft Word which is what we have at school; or the student has a new computer with MS Word 2007 which doesn’t play well with older versions of MS Word. Most of the students do not have spreadsheet tools but the Google Docs will change that.

In the “real world” where teamwork is favored, I believe my students will have a better head-start on collaborating in online teams by utilizing tools such as Google Docs. Instead of having each student have a separate spreadsheet as we do now, our students can plan our end-of-year party with a wiki using a Google Doc word processing document, share one spreadsheet to plan the expenses, and possibly even use the presentation tool to put together a fun slideshow of the year in review. Instead of boring, I can see where the students could have a lot of fun with this activity and use what they’ve learned for their future endeavors.