MELANIE_FINAL PROJECT

Enhancing Instructional
Design with Situated
Cognition
Purdue University EDCI 531
3/2/2014

Enhancing Instructional Design with Situated Cognition

Educators strive to give knowledge to their students in ways that are effective
and relevant to the student. Too often educators hear that information has been
regurgitated so many times that it is no longer appealing to the student. By taking into
account the students social interactions, as well as their social schema, instructional
designers can better create a curriculum that is both effective and relevant to the learner.
Situated cognition emphasizes the web of social and activity within which authentic
learning takes place (Wilson & Myers, 2000).
Another important aspect to consider is learner motivation. Understanding
Kellers ARCS model will also help instructional designers develop content that is rich in
practical knowledge while also arousing students desire to learn. This model can apply
to a variety of learning situations and connects, among other things, learning with
learners goals through relevance (Keller, 2010, p. 22).
While learning has often been thought of as an individual process, situated
cognition shifts the focus from the individual to the sociocultural sets and the activities of
the people within that setting (Driscoll, 2005). For instructional designers, the key
concept is not so much what students learn, but how students learn it. By knowing the
targeted audience, the learners sociocultural background as well as motivational factors,
instructional designers can create instruction that is not only relevant, but exciting to the
learner.
Instructional designers must also take into account a learners zone of proximal
development when creating instruction. Developed by Vygotsky, the Zone of Proximal
Development focuses on the idea that students are able to perform certain tasks alone,
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Enhancing Instructional Design with Situated Cognition

but are able to perform a greater number of tasks by collaborating with their peers. The
zone of proximal development refers to an interactive system in which people work on a
problem which one of them, alone, could not effectively complete (Kirshner & Whitson,
1997).
By integrating situated cognitive practices within the curriculum, instructional
designers will be able to effectively reach students with knowledge that is relevant and
attainable within the learning communities. This paper seeks to show how instructional
design is enhanced by utilizing a learning community through the use of collaboration,
the Zone of Proximal Development, and influencing student motivation.

Application
Relevance
Keller (2010) defines relevance as what people consider instrumental in meeting
needs and satisfying personal desires (p. 48). While the skill and drill activities of
behaviorism are useful for certain types of learning, such as math facts, and learning is
an ongoing process like the constructivists state, educators must take learning a step
further and keep in mind that meaningful information is easier to learn and remember. It
stands to reason, then, that cognition, specifically situated cognition, is a far better,
more effective, means for learners to gain knowledge. It offers students relevant ways
to utilize their community to problem solve. In other words, students are presented with
a problem and are able to come to a solution by sharing ideas and opinions with others.

Enhancing Instructional Design with Situated Cognition

Research shows that discussion-based practices improve comprehension of the
text and critical-thinking skills for students across ethnic backgrounds and
socioeconomic contexts (Murphy et al, 2009). To exemplify the position that situated
cognition activities enhance instructional design, I created an online classroom focusing
on figurative language. The objective being that students are presented with a problem
(explain how figurative language enriches written work) and through multiple
perspectives, come to a solution or conclusion.
With the idea that learning happens in a collaborative setting, I created the online
classroom to help students learn through collaboration. Much like EDCI 531, my
Wildcat English focuses on different learning styles and encourages students to glean
knowledge from one another.

Cognitive Apprenticeships
Apprenticeship programs have been around as long as humans have been on
the earth. Learners see the process all along the way: A child watches her parent cook
dinner and help as they are able. Eventually, that child is able to cook dinner by
themselves and can pass that learning on to others. John Seeley Brown states that
People who use tools actively rather than just acquire them, by contrast, build
an increasingly rich implicit understanding of the world in which they use the
tools and of the tools themselves. The understanding, both of the world and of
the tool, continually changes as a result of their interaction. Learning and acting
are interestingly indistinct, learning being a continuous, life-long process
resulting from acting in situations (Seely Brown, Collins & Duguid).

Cognitive apprenticeship goes back to the early apprenticeship form of learning,

but also incorporates elements of modern day schooling (Collins et al,1991). That is,
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Enhancing Instructional Design with Situated Cognition

they take the tangible part of learning, the physical activities such as solving math
problems, and they enmesh the cognitive element, the thinking process that happens
while solving math problems, thereby making thinking visible. To do this, teachers
must deliberately embed circumstances to help students obtain robust understanding
(Seely et al).
Research shows that discussion-based practices improve comprehension of the
text and critical-thinking skills for students across ethnic backgrounds and
socioeconomic contexts (Murphy et al, 2009).

eLearning Strategies
There are many strategies instructional designers may use when creating an
eLearning platform that utilizes situated cognition.

This paper has already discussed

the importance of motivation to learning, but how is motivation achieved? Another way
to motivate students is by building the confidence. By encouraging discussion among
the students as the primary route for information, students are alternately allowed to be
the student as well as the teacher. This helps boost confidence among the students
and embeds a certain amount of ownership into their learning.
Another strategy that is highly effective is the use of visually appealing graphics
such as animation or video. If embedded correctly, and not over-done, aesthetically
pleasing content will keep students motivated to complete the task at hand. An
example of this would be a simulation game.
For my lesson on figurative language, a game was incorporated where students
were asked to identify various literary devices. Each correct response filled in a missing

Enhancing Instructional Design with Situated Cognition

piece to the puzzle so that by the end of the game, students were able to determine
what the picture under the game was (in this instance it was a picture of an animal to go
with the theme of Wildcat). Every so often a correct response would elicit praise from
the game, or an incorrect response would elicit encouraging responses. At the end of
the game, students were required to reflect on the various aspects of the game and
determine which part was most challenging to them. They then had to offer constructive
criticism and/or advice on three classmates posts.

Future Research
There is a phenomenon called fossilization that occurs occasionally in the
situated cognitive learning environment. Fossilization refers to the learning of incorrect,
but understandable, syntax and pronunciation which suffice for communication (Tripp,
1993). This hinders the learning process and does not allow the learner to progress to
a higher degree of knowledge. Because online learning environments are largely
unsupervised, such learning discrepancies can occur. Future research should focus on
solutions to fossilization within the online situated cognitive classroom.
Another factor that should be further researched would be the environment of a
situated cognitive classroom, specifically the discussions and interactions between the
individual learner and the group. Salomon and Perkins (1998) discuss this problem by
identifying the student taking advantage of his or her team members work, or in the
corporate climber being more interested in personal advancement than in the overall
success of the organization. In such cases, the collective has learned, but what it has

Enhancing Instructional Design with Situated Cognition

learned happens to be profoundly limiting both for the group and for the participating
individual (Salomon and Perkins, 1998).

Conclusion
This paper has shown how important it is for instructional designers to be aware
of every aspect of the learners environment. Using situated cognition, instructional
designers can make effective and relevant learning environments that will facilitate
learning so that even new comers to the group are still able to glean knowledge from
the other members within the group.
In regards to my collaborative lesson on figurative language; (http://melaniefinalproject-edci531.weebly.com) participants who are engaged in the conversation next
week will acquire knowledge just as participants who engage in the conversation today.
Instructional design is enhanced with the use of situated cognition because it enables
students to gain meaning from multiple perspectives and then reason their way to a
conclusion (or solution), thereby making the knowledge relevant to the learner.

Enhancing Instructional Design with Situated Cognition

References:
Collins, A., Holum, A., & Seeley Brown, J. (1991). Cognitive apprenticeship: Making
thinking visible. Retrieved from http://www.21learn.org/archive/cognitiveapprenticeship-making-thinking-visible/
Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston, MA:
Pearson.

Keller, J. M. (2010). Motivational design for learning and performance: The ARCS
Model approach. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com

Kirshner, D., & Whitson, J. (1997). Editors' introduction to situated cognition: social,
semiotic, & psychological perspectives. In D. Kirshner & J. Whitson (Eds.),
Situated Cognition: Social, Semiotic, & Psychological Perspectives Retrieved
from
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=w3yRORQocjwC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7
&dq=situated cognition&ots=a4Hao52vM&sig=gDigzzAFID0_WaGlOlQOQNLET6M

McClesky, J. (2009, 08 10). Five e-learning design strategies that keep learners coming
back for more. Learning Solutions, Retrieved from
http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/155/five-e-learning-designstrategies-that-keep-learners-coming-back-for-more

Murphy, P. K., Wilkinson, I. A. G., Soter, A.O., Hennessey, M. N., & Alexander, J. F.
(2009). Examining the Effects of Classroom Discussion on Students' High-Level
Comprehension of Text: A Meta-Analysis . Journal of Educational Psychology,
101(3), 740-764.

Salomon, G., & Perkins, D. N. (1998). Individual and social aspects of learning. In P. D.
Pearson & A. Iran-Nejad (Eds.), Review of Research in Education, 23, 1-24.
Retrieved from http://carbon.ucdenver.edu/~bwilson/SitCog.html

Enhancing Instructional Design with Situated Cognition

Seely Brown, J., Collins, A. & Duguid, P. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.johnseelybrown.com/Situated Cognition and the culture of
learning.pdf

Tripp, S. D. (1993, March). Theories, traditions, and situated learning. Educational

Technology, 71-77. Retrieved from
http://carbon.ucdenver.edu/~bwilson/SitCog.html

Wilson, B., & Myers, K. M. (2000). Situated cognition in theoretical and practical context.
In D. Johnassen & S. Land (Eds.), Theoretical Foundations of Learning
Environments Retrieved from
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=QcmQAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA
57&dq=situated cognition&ots=ULdop1aiHw&sig=UDPmJSG5nGNxom54QHQdAgapPw