Abstract
Psychological models of learning have been shaped by information processing models for four decades. These models have led to teaching models based on information transfer from teachers to students. However, recent research in many fields shows that information processing models do not account for much of human competence in everyday scientific and lay contexts. At the same time, situated cognition models have been developed that better account for competence in widely differing situations. The implications of situated cognition are rather different from those of information processing. Teaching and learning are no longer conceived simply in terms of information transfer but as increasing participation in everyday practices. Conceiving of science learning as a trajectory of increasing participation asks educators to rethink the purpose of science education from preparing scientists to preparing citizens to participate in public enactments of science, and this entails deinstitutionalising school science to take science beyond the classroom walls.
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Roth, WM., McGinn, M.K. Deinstitutionalising school science: Implications of a strong view of situated cognition. Research in Science Education 27, 497–513 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02461477
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02461477