University of Technology, Sydney

A Refereed Paper Presented at the AARE 1999 Conference

Melbourne, 29 November -2 December

Abstract: Education often appears to be plagued by educational fads which make minor contributions to overall advancements in knowledge and the overcoming of persistent learning-teaching problems. Situated cognition has emerged as of major interest over the past few years. Its attraction in part seems to lie in its reconciliation of social and cognitive aspects of learning and greater recognition of the importance of social factors in learning. Recently less enthusiastic and more critical assessments of the paradigm have started to be published. This paper considers a number of the more recent of these. It also examines the question of whether the enthusiasm for its adoption and the related theories by Vygotsky has more to do with pressing economic and social needs relating to successful capitalistic production than with overcoming many of the perennial problems of effective learning and teaching.

This paper has developed out of a concern for the ways in which educational fads seem to emerge at regular intervals and be adopted uncritically, even in areas like education where there is supposed to be professional concern for objectivity and critical analysis. The aim of this paper is to subject situated cognition, which is considered by some to represent a major paradigm shift in teaching and learning (Sfard, 1998; St Julien, 1997), to more critical scrutiny and suggest that its adoption may be serving at least as many capitalist economic goals as concerns for more effective learning and education. This is not to deny that there may be value in greater attention to the social context; indeed, all teaching is a social activity and social issues impacting upon education are deserving of detailed research and study. This paper is also an attempt to develop greater awareness of historical and socio-economic factors which need to be taken into account in critically analysing a theory, with these elements until recently very frequently neglected in much educational writing focusing specifically upon teaching and learning issues. The recent emergence of an impressive literature examining the reasons for failure of previous fads and serious reforms indicates the complexity of change and the need to place efforts into far broader contexts (Good, Clark & Clark, 1997; Hargreaves, Lieberman, Fullan, & Hopkins, 1998).

Changes in knowledge are inevitable and desirable. However, uncritical acceptance of theories, which are not undergirded by a substantial underpinning of empirical evidence, are suspect in the writer's view with both theory and research findings necessary to arrive at satisfactory synthesis of relevant concepts and realities. The continual widespread adoption of fads before they are properly critically analysed, and subsequent dropping of them when their inadequacies are made more evident, reduces the professional status of all those who are involved in education, whether these be academics, teachers or administrators. The prevalence of educational fads may in fact help account for why practitioners in education are accorded little professional esteem in comparison with law and medicine, lack political power and often are not consulted when far reaching changes in educational policies deeply affecting Australian society are planned (see Hawke & Cornford, 1998).

Education often appears to be plagued by educational fads which make minor contributions to overall advancements in knowledge and the overcoming of persistent learning-teaching problems (Good et al. , 1997). Educational fads are defined here as theories, paradigms, sets of beliefs and strategies which are adopted by academics, teachers and administrators without any solid empirical evidence to support them. Under the influence of education fashions, educators have a tendency to move from fad to fad with little, if any, evidence to support the adoption of new strategies or organisational structures. Consequently there is little effort to address persistent problems centring upon effective teaching-learning which often are of long standing (Good et al., 1997). These comments have been made by Good, Clark and Clark (1997) in relation to North American school education, but they are equally applicable to what occurs in many other English speaking countries (Kennedy, 1997), with the USA a potent source of influences on account of its large population, English as a common language, and the large number of publications which originate from that source.

A variety of reasons have been advanced for the tendency to adopt fads in the USA. These include arguments that decentralised decision making, and multiple constituencies combine with multiple, conflicting goals to encourage adoption of fads (Cuban, 1990), that there is a lack of coherent contemporary reform efforts and focus upon acquiring new knowledge as opposed to what we already know (Kennedy, 1997), and practitioners with very limited understanding of major historical movements and trends in philosophy, psychology and education so are easily persuaded of the value of supposedly new ideas (Alexander, Murphy & Woods, 1996).

An important additional factor is considered by the author to be the way the ways in which US politicians and policy makers within the US Department of Education and other departments focus the attention of educational researchers on selected economic and social issues as they affect an ethnically diverse population. Issues considered of US national importance, in a true functionalist sociological tradition, receive funding in a university system which is often dependent upon such large external and specifically focused consultancy briefs. There is nothing inherently wrong with this since societies have always attempted to use education to prepare their future citizens for effective functioning within that society (Cornford, 1998) and employ available expert resources to do this.

However, when political considerations change, so does the targeted funding and new research projects are generated although the original issues investigated may still not have been fully investigated or resolved (Good et al. 1997). For example the specific funding for school-to-work transition which has driven much recent research in this area over the past several years has been replaced with another layer of concerns, many centred upon the multicultural nature of present American society, New Standards and the development of new sets of skills for a knowledge society (eg see Resnick & Wirt, 1995). Similar issues and forces could be seen to be operative in Australia in its federal system of government along with varied and different state systems of kindergarten, primary, secondary, vocational and tertiary education, although on a much smaller scale on account of a much smaller population and much less money available for research.

Situated cognition has emerged as of major interest in academic circles in the USA, Australia and a number of other countries over the past few years (Anderson, Reder & Simon, 1996; Billett, 1996, 1998; Greeno, 1997; Sfard, 1998). Its attraction, in part, seems to lie in its potential reconciliation of social and cognitive aspects of learning, and greater recognition of the importance of social factors in learning (Billett, 1996). However, it needs to be recognised that the most extensively developed, coherent account of situated cognition theory as advanced by Lave (1988, 1990, 1993; Lave and Wenger, 1991) is based upon attacks on cognitive psychology. These attacks were mounted at a time when educational psychology was perceived as of not providing any effective, immediate solutions to many of the problems identified as important in American society. However, these attacks themselves need to be seen in the context of the failure of educational psychology research findings to be widely and effectively implemented in teaching practices and procedures (Kennedy, 1997).

Situated cognition has been adopted by researchers and writers from a variety of research traditions and perspectives, including the specialist areas of cognitive anthropology, post-modernism, critical psychology and ecological and ethnomethodological perspectives (Lave, 1993). Given this diversity, it is not surprising that there have emerged a number of quite different situated cognition theories which reflect the particular interests and foci of the individual theorists. These include Lave herself (1988, 1990, 1993), Greeno (1991, 1997), Billett (1996), and Brown, Collins and Duguid (1989). This list is only indicative and is not meant to be seen as exhaustive.

The common links between these theorists appear to be emphasis upon the physical and social context as the basis for all learning, descriptive analyses of learning and learning situations, and lack of consideration of conceptions of structures in the mind. Given the variety of theorists, some such as Greeno (1991, 1997), however, do appear to give consideration to cognitive structures which permit consistent and relatively predictable forms of learning and social behaviour. A number also appear to challenge conventional concepts of transfer of learning (eg Lave, 1988; Greeno, 1997; Billett, 1998). Post-modernist concepts and theories emphasising mutability and impermanence, and the importance of language in socially constructed interaction appear to have been seminal forces in the development of these various positions in relation to transfer.

A number of the movements with which the core of situated cognition adherents identify, such as post-modernism, cognitive anthropology, post-modernism, critical psychology and ethnomethodological perspectives may be seen as part of the reaction against scientific rationalism/positivism also. Like all reactions, this one appears to have exceeded reasonable limits; in many of these areas there is an excess of theory and little empirical evidence, apart from case studies which generally can be criticised as lacking reliability and generalisability. The need for empirical research in partnership with theory is again being asserted in areas which involve more direct and practical applications (Good et al., 1997). An interesting exercise is to compare the Foreword by Houston (1996) in the Handbook of Research on Teacher Education with the Foreword to the previous edition (Houston, 1990), and to note the rebalancing from qualitative to quantitative research methods which is taking place.

Theories developed by Vygotsky in the 1920s and 30s appear to have provided important elements which are incorporated into most situated cognition theories (Lave, 1993; Kirshner & Whitson, 1998). There have been attempts to argue that social cognition theories derived from Vygotsky's work and situated cognition theories represent conceptually different bases (eg Greeno, 1991; Reynolds, Sinatra & Jetton, 1996), but these arguments are not logically convincing. Vygotsky's theories appear to have been adopted and incorporated into situated cognition theories because Vygotsky's earlier theories of learning encapsulate many of the concerns of the situated cognitionists. Especially important appear to be Vygotsky's ideas on the roles scaffolding and the zone of proximal development play in the internalisation of language and social constructs in social interaction. The development of language and thinking in young children, who have yet to learn its mores and ways of thinking of the culture, are seen as dependent upon these concepts and interactions with more knowledgeable adults (Wertsch, 1985; Kirshner & Whitson, 1998).

In terms of theory development, situated cognition would appear to have incorporated the theories of Vygotsky in much the same ways that the work of the earlier Gestaltists in Germany was absorbed by cognitive and learning psychology theorists by the early sixties. Only in the case of situated cognition, the large volume of theorising by Vygotsky and his successors in Russia appears to have provided a much more integrated body of theorising upon which to base additional theory and interpretations.

Recently less enthusiastic and more critical assessments of the situated cognition paradigm have started to be published as underlying constructions and assumptions of contemporary theorists have been examined. This paper considers a number of the more recent of these, which the writer considers of particular importance in the establishment of a more balanced view on situated cognition. Considered here will be the work of Anderson et al. (1996, 1997), Sfard (1998) and most recently Kirshner and Whitson (1998). What also will be argued is that the debate is pointing to underlying currents of a socio-economic and political nature although the main texts purportedly involve the elucidation of different approaches in conceptualising teaching-learning-performance issues.

Kirshner and Whitson (1998, p. 22) have correctly identified what are the major concerns advanced by Anderson Reder and Simon in their 1996 and 1997 articles which challenge the undergirding theory and conceptions of situated cognition. These include: action is grounded in the concrete situation in which it occurs; knowledge does not transfer between tasks; training by abstraction is of little use; and instruction must be done in complex social environments.

Anderson et al. advance arguments which effectively refute many of these propositions, which were derived from the writings especially of Lave, but also other situated cognitionists. They argue, at least convincingly for this writer, that abstractions and schemata are necessary to guide action and these in turn permits application beyond the context in which the initial learning occurred. There is ample evidence that there is such a thing as transfer of learning but this cannot be readily predicted or teaching outcomes guaranteed. The writer considers that younger children spontaneously demonstrate transfer of learning but much of this may need to be corrected or refined to more correct and effective applications as through the means identified by Rumelhart and Norman (1978). Additionally, Anderson et al. argue successfully that school learning and training via abstraction can result in useful applications and that learning can occur in individuals divorced from complex social environments.

In effect, the widely based claims of Lave (1988, 1993; Lave & Wenger, 1991) and others are revealed by Anderson et al. as at best partial truths. The same can perhaps be argued of Anderson et al.'s claims and examples - these are not universally true of all situations and circumstances. What seems one of Anderson et al.'s (1997) most important observations is the use of specialised language, for which read reliance on high level abstractions, difficult language and grammatical structures in Lave's and other situated cognition writings, which make it very difficult to gain clear understanding of her arguments. It is also an interesting exercise to read Lave with an eye to practical teaching applications. It soon becomes apparent that specific recommendations to guide the translation of situated cognition theory into specific educational practice as in a classroom with groups of either adults or children are totally absent (eg see Lave 1990). As Good et al. (1997) have observed, frequently with new movements there is failure to consider direct and practical applications in real classroom contexts.

Along with Anderson et al. (1996, 1997), Kirshner and Whitson (1998, p. 27) conclude that situated cognition does not provide the framework for understanding or improving educational practice, despite the enthusiasm of those like Greeno (1997). However, they do see possibilities for further development and research in exploring epistemological and more practical educational practice issues. Kirshner and Whitson's (1998) most important contributions may lie in highlighting the conceptual and logical weaknesses in most of the situated cognitionists', but especially Lave's, accounts of knowledge structures and also in adequately conceptualising the role of the individual against social determinism. Another potentially valuable contribution is the direction of further research towards analysis of inter-relationary roles of language, thought, social interaction and behaviour.

Kirshner and Whitson argue that a true synthesis of social and individual cognition is impossible on the basis of Lave's theorising. The account that Lave (1988) gives of structuring resources involving aspects of the setting and the individual's own thinking is argued to be inadequate, especially when taken in conjunction with her views of social determinism derived from Bourdieu. Specifically Kirshner and Whitson see the concept of multiple realities advanced by Lave as involving vague and ambiguous meanings. They propose that more attention need to be directed to the role of the individual and understanding of the processes involved in thinking and language usage. Here they draw upon the work of the earlier American philosopher C. S. Peirce, who influenced John Dewey, to explain complex semiotic and epistemological theories regarding the connections between language, thought and action. (See Kirshner & Whitson, 1998, for full explanation of these complex issues.) Already the resurrection of Peirce's ideas is generating considerable debate. (See American Educational Research Journal, 36 (1-Spring), 1999, pp. 47-114, for contributions by numerous writers.)

Other, earlier writers have identified the weaknesses in situated cognition theory in relation to lack of knowledge structures (eg Renkl, Mandl, & Gruber, 1996) and lack of full understanding of the role of the individual in the development of ideas divorced from generally accepted social norms (eg Cornford, 1996, pp. 4-6). However, in Kirshner and Whitson's article both of these issues in conjunction are given more detailed, intensive and extensive treatment, something absent from these earlier writings where the identification of the problems was made with the chief focus being upon other educational issues.

Perhaps one of the more valuable services which Kirshner and Whitson perform is to identify more clearly for the average reader some of the sub-text of socio-economic pressures which have led to the emergence of situated cognition theory and debate over its adequacy. This occurs in two ways. First, they highlight the fact that Lave's theorising involved aspects of settings and wider social and political arenas (Lave, 1988, p. 151; Kirshner & Whitson, 1998, p. 23). And second, they redirect attention to the underlying standard for judging the arguments and theories identified by Donmoyer (1997) in the debates between Anderson et al. (1996, 1997) and Greeno (1997). As both sets of writers point out, there is adoption 'of the utilitarian standard of relevance for education as a determinant of the adequacy of situative and cognitive perspectives' (Kirshner and Whitson, 1998, p. 27). As will be argued later in this paper, the socio-economic pressures surrounding the emergence of situated cognition and debates around its adequacy, need to be more clearly identified.

Sfard's (1998) article entitled On two metaphors of learning and the dangers of choosing just one reflects the general tenor of her arguments which sprang from the debate over situated learning, especially the arguments advanced by Anderson et al (1996). The two metaphors which she identifies as important in guiding our work as learners, teachers and researchers are the Acquisition Metaphor (AM) and the Participation Metaphor (PM). The issue of the usefulness of metaphors or their limitations will not be engaged in this paper although it should be recognised that the belief that one thing is the same as another, which is what metaphor implies, is fraught with difficulties where both similarities and differences between concepts or sets of ideas exist.

The AM is seen as involving the acquisition of knowledge. Sfard considers that this has dominated our thinking since the dawn of history (Sfard, 1998, pp. 5-6). She has noted correctly the changing language usage that signals the emergence of concern with the PM. As she states: "The talk about states has been replaced with attention to activities. In the images of learning that emerges from this linguistic turn the permanence of having gives way to the constant flux of doing." (Sfard, 1998, p. 6, emphasis in the original). While Sfard correctly argues that what is involved is a shift to consideration of doing through participation in a community, what she appears unaware of, or at least does not pursue, is the connection between pressures in the socio-economic and political contexts which have apparently led to this emphasis upon doing. These issues, which appear important for understanding and contextualising the debate over situated cognition and the various aspects of learning, will be returned to in the next section of this paper.

One additional point made by Sfard (1998), which is of considerable importance, is her insistence that even with metaphors it is not just a case of "anything goes": there is still a need for empirical data. She argues persuasively that 'To count as trustworthy, resulting theories must be experimentally testable and congruent with data.' (Sfard, 1998, 12). As well she must know Lave's (1988, 1993; Lave & Wenger, 1991) and many other accounts of situated cognition are heavily dependent upon qualitative case studies and theory.

The strong focus upon doing and transfer in the debates over situated cognition, it is argued here, have their origins in the changes wrought by the technological, economic and social revolutions unleashed by application of computer and information technologies and corresponding changes to the nature of knowledge, work and skill (see Cornford, 1998). Increased international competitiveness, the breaking down of trade barriers, and the relative decline of the economic power of the English-speaking world (Cornford, 1998, pp. 169-170), in particular the USA, with the emergence of Germany, Japan and the Asian 'tiger' nations in the late 1980s-early 1990s as economic powerhouses (World Economic Forum, 1992), have led to intense efforts in most countries, but especially the USA, to increase the effectiveness of education and learning in order to achieve national competitive advantage. The emphasis upon doing reflects the increased focus upon the need for immediate, performance results, and impatience with earlier approaches to learning which conceived of the benefits of learning accruing slowly and with learning being focused upon theoretical knowledge. This also reflects an important movement from the class-based concept of the educated individual unengaged in physical activity, within which traditionally knowing was seen as superior to doing (Ainley, 1993; Cornford, 1998).

It is no coincidence that transfer has emerged as a central issue in arguments over situated cognition theories. Transfer is a central construct in effective performance and is necessary to account for the wider application of knowledge and skills beyond the initial learning settings. Problem solving, widely recognised as of the utmost importance in effective workplace performance, is highly dependent upon transfer (Cornford, 1999). Lave's (1988; Lave & Wenger, 1991) original formulations of situated cognition theory are based very strongly upon the problems of attaining transfer and the failure of much conventional school education to result in this. Impetus for the situated cognition theories of Brown, Collins and Duguid (1989) also can be sourced to the same issues of transfer and the perceived failures of conventional school education to achieve this. While the debates have been framed in terms of educational psychology and learning-teaching theories, the failure of schools to produce students with the desired knowledge and capabilities reflects the deeper socio-economic problem of the need of societies, locked into international competition, to produce more effective workers and problem solvers.

Fads and enthusiasms for theories do not occur in a vacuum - they occur in relation to specific sets of social conditions and circumstances. Analysis of these from a socio-historical-economic perspective can provide additional, valuable insights. It can be argued that Vygotsky's theories, as encapsulated in social cognition theories, have the potential to serve important social engineering purposes, just as they did in the 1920s and 30s in the USSR.

Vygotsky's theories were seen by him and others as important in the development of social cohesion through formal education in the USSR through the twenties and thirties. In effect they were part of the formula for social engineering adopted as official education policy after the geneticist Lysenko convinced Stalin that social engineering could act to change genetic endowment in one or two generations (Dziewanowski, 1985, pp. 222-4). Vygotsky was in fact an enthusiast for the changes in political orientation which had emerged from the Russian Revolution (Wertsch, 1985). Furthermore, historically, this period in the USSR marked major attempts to eliminate an older generation who were seen as hostile to the new communist philosophies and also the education in appropriate ways of a young future workforce of a multi-ethnic state (Dziewanowski, 1985, pp. 193-221).

The conditions operating in the USA in particular, and a number of other countries, where situated cognition seems to be enthusiastically received, parallel the requirements for cultural integration in the USSR. For convenience the arguments in this paper will focus upon the USA. Kennedy (1997), amongst others, has recognised that one of the challenges facing the USA is the teaching of a range of distinctly different ethnic and cultural groups. In the USA the Afro-American, Hispanic and Asian groups, which constitute the major newer ethnic groupings, represent not just different cultural values, but also different language groups which, as the Watts riots in Los Angeles showed some years ago, are capable of conducting bitter warfare.

The economic success of the USA, a major capitalist producer of goods and services can only continue if all cultural groups are educated to live in harmony and work together, both in newer forms of production as in a knowledge society (Drucker, 1994), or more conventional blue-collar activities (Kotkin & Friedman, 1998). There is a need to engage in social engineering to maintain inter-cultural harmony and cooperation in the USA, quite apart from the need to educate for a knowledge society. There is considerable statistical evidence that much of the USA's present boom-time prosperity is reliant upon immigrants in the workforce (Kotkin & Friedman, 1998). And these data relate not just to menial work activities but to highly skilled and specialised areas in which the US has come to be seen as a world leader. One third of the engineers in Silicon Valley, the hot-bed of computing innovation, are from countries other than the USA, while half the special effects operatives based in Los Angeles are from other countries, chiefly Europe and Asia (Kotkin & Friedman, 1998, p. 17). Adoption of educational processes which emphasise social processes is thus very much allied to the USA's need for an integrated workforce where inter-cultural conflicts are reduced.

An ironic perspective to all of this is the ways in which the methods of indoctrination of the Russian population via the formal schooling system can be seen to have been an abject failure since the fall of the soviet empire on two separate accounts. First, the alacrity with which most of the population of the formerly socialist republics have embraced capitalism and religion would appear to point to a significant failure in indoctrination of this population. The heavily controlled state education system, where religion was regarded as anathema on account of its competition with the socialist doctrine, actively criticised capitalism while extolling the virtues of soviet brands of socialism. Second, the degree of ethnic rivalry, finding its most obvious expression in the re-assertion of ethnic identity in the reconstitution of separate republics and their conflicts, most evident in the recent war in Chechnya, and the distrust of ethnic minorities within Russia itself, appears not to have been lessened by experiences of all citizens in the state education system directed towards political indoctrination of the service for the benefit of the whole country.

It has been argued in this paper that the debate over situated cognition needs to be seen in a broader context. The argument which is occurring in educational circles with its main text as effectiveness of competing teaching-learning paradigms has its origins in a variety of sources, but it is not possible to understand fully what is occurring, or the areas chosen and made subject to intense analysis, without placing the debate within the context of increased international competition. In particular, the emphasis upon doing over knowing, and transfer originate from changes to the balance of power between nations and increased international competitiveness.

In problem solving it is generally recognised that the formulation or framing of the problem is central to its solution. The correct framing of the issues or, perhaps more correctly, the identification of the factors involved in framing statements may lead to more effective problem solving. However it is highly unlikely that the issues surrounding problems in transfer which have been recognised in the psychology literature for nearly a century (Cox, 1997) will be solved to any significant degree by reframing the problems just to contextualise them socially. The debate over situated learning takes on additional dimensions when the underlying forces acting as a catalyst for the debates have been made more explicit. Anderson et al. (1997) appear to be correct in their assessment of Greeno's (1997) efforts to reframe the issues as semantic games. And this despite Anderson et al.'s failure to place the debate within the relevant socio-historical-economic contexts. In terms of effective educational practice, the failure to acknowledge transfer as a real phenomenon and to restrict conceptualisation of transfer to the setting in which teaching takes place as some situated cognition theorists like Lave (1988, 1990, 1993; Lave and Wenger, 1991) would have us believe, is short sighted and dangerous (Anderson et al., 1996, 1997).

So, finally, to answer the question posed as part of the title of this paper. Despite its obvious limitations, situated cognition appears not to be just another educational fad where the outcomes of the arguments and debate will carry little real impact as is so often the case (Good et al. 1997). These ongoing arguments over situated cognition appear to have at their heart teaching and learning issues which potentially will have far reaching consequences for performance and productivity in the real world of work. In this case the international competition which underlies the debate carries considerable consequences in terms of relative economic affluence and power and ultimately for individuals the quality of their everyday lives and the standards of living that they will enjoy.

By focusing beyond the school years to adult life and work, the arguments may serve the valuable purpose of linking schooling more meaningfully to adult life and also to focusing upon the development of effective policies to make lifelong learning a reality. There appears to be reasonable hope that the interest in social factors in learning will reinvigorate an approach to education which has languished relatively speaking since the fifties. Even if empirical research is only directed to disproof of many of the situated cognition claims, a richer understanding of the importance of the social context in teaching and learning is likely to result.

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