Susan E. Newman

Bio: Susan E. Newman is an academic researcher from PARC. The author has contributed to research in topics: Apprenticeship & Cognitive skill. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 3 publications receiving 7508 citations.

Cognitive Apprenticeship: Teaching the Craft of Reading, Writing and Mathematics

Abstract: : Even today, many complex and important skills, such as those required for language use and social interaction, are learned informally through apprenticeshiplike methods -- i.e., methods involving not didactic teaching, but observation, coaching, and successive approximation while carrying out a variety of tasks and activities. The differences between formal schooling and apprenticeship methods are many, but for our purposes, one is most important. Perhaps as a by-product of the specialization of learning in schools, skills and knowledge taught in schools have become abstracted from their uses in the world. In apprenticeship learning, on the other hand, target skills are not only continually in use by skilled practitioners, but are instrumental to the accomplishment of meaningful tasks. Said differently, apprenticeship embeds the learning of skills and knowledge in the social and functional context of their use. This difference is not academic, but has serious implications for the nature of the knowledge that students acquire. This paper attempts to elucidate some of those implications through a proposal for the retooling of apprenticeship methods for the teaching and learning of cognitive skills. Specifically, we propose 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.

Cognitive Apprenticeship: Teaching the Crafts of Reading, Writing, and Mathematics

Abstract: This chapter attempts to elucidate some of those implications through a proposal for adapting apprenticeship methods for the teaching and learning of cognitive skills. 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. To make real differences in students' skill, need both to understand the nature of expert practice and to devise methods appropriate to learning that practice. An idea of the methods and why they are likely to be effective, the chapter considers some of the crucial features of traditional apprenticeship, as practiced in a West African tailoring shop. Cognitive apprenticeship teaching methods are designs to bring these tacit processes into the open, where students can observe, enact, and practice them with help from the teacher and from other students. In addition to the emphasis on cognitive and metacognitive skills, there are two major differences between cognitive apprenticeship and traditional apprenticeship.

Issues in cognitive and social ergonomics: from our house to bauhaus

Abstract: Intelligibility is one of the key factors affecting the acceptance and effective use of information systems. In this article, we discuss the ways in which recognition of this factor challenges current system design strategies, as well as current theoretical perspectives and research methodologies. In particular, we claim that in order to understand the problem of system intelligibility, we must focus not only on the cognitive, but also on the social aspects of system use. After considering some of the sources of users' difficulty in understanding information systems, we propose a new global philosophy for interface design: design for the management of trouble. We discuss the design implications of four mechanisms for improving system intelligibility: (1) useful mental models of the system and its associated subsystems, (2) communicative repair in user-system interaction, (3) new training strategies, and (4) use of the larger social environment as an aid to understanding information systems. We then discuss the possibility of developing intelligent systems capable of providing assistance and feedback related specifically to users' actions. We claim that development of such systems requires understanding the mechanisms for achieving mutual intelligibility in interaction and propose new research approaches for investigating these mechanisms. In the final section, we elaborate on the relationship between information systems and the larger social environment, suggesting that the functionality and design of information systems can deeply influence the surrounding culture. We propose adopting a goal of socially proactive design and discuss the possibilities for embedding new paradigms for communication and problem solving in specialized information systems.

Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning

Abstract: Many teaching practices implicitly assume that conceptual knowledge can be abstracted from the situations in which it is learned and used. This article argues that this assumption inevitably limits the effectiveness of such practices. Drawing on recent research into cognition as it is manifest in everyday activity, the authors argue that knowledge is situated, being in part a product of the activity, context, and culture in which it is developed and used. They discuss how this view of knowledge affects our understanding of learning, and they note that conventional schooling too often ignores the influence of school culture on what is learned in school. As an alternative to conventional practices, they propose cognitive apprenticeship (Collins, Brown, & Newman, in press), which honors the situated nature of knowledge. They examine two examples of mathematics instruction that exhibit certain key features of this approach to teaching.

Problem-Based Learning: What and How Do Students Learn?.

Abstract: Problem-based approaches to learning have a long history of advocating experience-based education. Psychological research and theory suggests that by having students learn through the experience of solving problems, they can learn both content and thinking strategies. Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional method in which students learn through facilitated problem solving. In PBL, student learning centers on a complex problem that does not have a single correct answer. Students work in collaborative groups to identify what they need to learn in order to solve a problem. They engage in self-directed learning (SDL) and then apply their new knowledge to the problem and reflect on what they learned and the effectiveness of the strategies employed. The teacher acts to facilitate the learning process rather than to provide knowledge. The goals of PBL include helping students develop 1) flexible knowledge, 2) effective problem-solving skills, 3) SDL skills, 4) effective collaboration skills, and 5) intrinsic motivation. This article discusses the nature of learning in PBL and examines the empirical evidence supporting it. There is considerable research on the first 3 goals of PBL but little on the last 2. Moreover, minimal research has been conducted outside medical and gifted education. Understanding how these goals are achieved with less skilled learners is an important part of a research agenda for PBL. The evidence suggests that PBL is an instructional approach that offers the potential to help students develop flexible understanding and lifelong learning skills.

The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development.

Abstract: Building on and extending existing research, this article proposes a 4-phase model of interest development. The model describes 4 phases in the development and deepening of learner interest: triggered situational interest, maintained situational interest, emerging (less-developed) individual interest, and well-developed individual interest. Affective as well as cognitive factors are considered. Educational implications of the proposed model are identified.

Problem Based Learning: An instructional model and its constructivist framework

Abstract: It is said that there’s nothing so practical as good theory. It may also be said that there’s nothing so theoretically interesting as good practice 1 . This is particularly true of efforts to relate constructivism as a theory of learning to the practice of instruction. Our goal in this paper is to provide a clear link between the theoretical principles of constructivism, the practice of instructional design, and the practice of teaching. We will begin with a basic characterization of constructivism identifying what we believe to be the central principles in learning and understanding. We will then identify and elaborate on eight instructional principles for the design of a constructivist learning environment. Finally, we will examine what we consider to be one of the best exemplars of a constructivist learning environment -- Problem Based Learning as described by Barrows (1985, 1986, 1992).

Focus on Formative Feedback

Abstract: This article reviews the corpus of research on feedback, with a focus on formative feedback—defined as information communicated to the learner that is intended to modify his or her thinking or behavior to improve learning According to researchers, formative feedback should be nonevaluative, supportive, timely, and specific Formative feedback is usually presented as information to a learner in response to some action on the learner’s part It comes in a variety of types (eg, verification of response accuracy, explanation of the correct answer, hints, worked examples) and can be administered at various times during the learning process (eg, immediately following an answer, after some time has elapsed) Finally, several variables have been shown to interact with formative feedback’s success at promoting learning (eg, individual characteristics of the learner and aspects of the task) All of these issues are discussed This review concludes with guidelines for generating formative feedback