Cognitive Apprenticeship is a method for transferring knowledge and skills from one person to another. It is based on the simple idea that humans learn from observing each other, imitating each other, and then trying to innovate or improve on what they see others doing.
This guide is aimed to help you learn and utilize cognitive apprenticeship. Here are some ways you can use it:
- Read about what apprenticeship is and why we use it at Learners Guild
- Learn about the practice of cognitive apprenticeship and how to engage in a cognitive apprenticeship session
- Get up to speed on the language of cognitive apprenticeship
- Watch a demonstration cognitive apprenticeship session between Tanner and Adam
- Participate in an ongoing Q&A by adding your question to this shared document
Once you've grasped the basic idea of cognitive apprenticeship, try it out with a more experienced learner! Think about what kind of task you'd like to do. Ideally, choose something at the far edge of your ZPD - difficult enough that you couldn't solve it on your own, but not completely out of your league. Reference the preparation section for more on how to prepare for a session.
Professional apprenticeships have been around for a while. They usually include an experienced professional (called a practitioner or craftsperson) and one or more learners who have less, little, or no experience in the craft being studied.
Unlike a classroom or lecture hall, an apprenticeship focuses on the doing of work as opposed to the explaining of concepts. Rather than telling you how things work, the practitioner in an apprenticeship will show you how they make things work, and they will call on you, not to answer questions, but to perform tasks that they believe you are ready to perform.
The goal of an apprenticeship is for you to learn by observing and doing actual work alongside a more experienced practitioner. It is meant to be a collaborative and constructive way to learn a new craft.
Learners Guild uses a special type of apprenticeship called Cognitive Apprenticeship. Cognitive Apprenticeship uses a specific set of practices or habits to help accelerate the transfer of expertise that is hard to see, hear, or observe directly. Cognitive Apprenticeship patterns of behavior allow learners to more easily identify the mental efforts being made by more experienced practitioners. These behaviors and patterns of interaction also help practitioners share their expertise in a way that makes their wisdom and experience more accessible to others.
Whenever you are learning a highly thoughtful craft (ex: software development) where most of the work is done within the human brain/body (as opposed to being performed on an object, like a football or a piano) Cognitive Apprenticeship is a powerful tool to get the most out of working with people who are more or less experienced than you. In fact, it has been shown to help experienced practitioners learn more about how they themselves practice their craft, and how they can do it even better.
Because everyone, regardless of experience, can learn from and with each other by engaging in a Cognitive Apprenticeship, Learners Guild believes it is one of the most dignified ways to learn a valued craft like software development. It's also quite simple.
Cognitive Apprenticeship can be practiced by moving sequentially and repeatedly through three states of mind.
Preparation -> Observation -> Reflection
Both experienced practitioners and learners must prepare to do work together. The goal of the preparation phase is for both practitioner and learner to make themselves ready for the work that will be performed on the chosen project.
Questions to answer during the preparation phase
- The Who
Who will be the practitioner that will perform the work on this goal or task? Who will be the learner(s) that will observe?
- The When and Where
When will the practitioner and the learner(s) meet? What tools and/or environment will be needed to perform and observe the task?
- The What
What specific goal will be efforted? What reading, studying, practicing, or other preparation must the practitioner do to attempt the goal? What reading, studying, practicing, or other preparation must be done by the learner(s) to be capable of observing the practitioner work on this particular goal?
The observation phase could also be referred to as the "working" phase. It's where the goal is efforted, the task performed, the work is done. The difference here, is that instead of just doing work, both the practitioner and the learner(s) do specific things that make the expertise being performed more observable by all participants.
Learner behaviors during observation
- Immediately before observing a practitioner perform a task, prepare to take notes and record questions and thoughts based on what you expect to be looking for.
- While observing a practitioner perform a task, continuously try to deduce the approach and the perspective they are using to complete the task.
- During the observation phase, avoid asking questions that might interrupt the practitioner, ask clarifying questions only.
- When an observation phase lasts longer than 60 minutes, ask to take a break and do a brief review before continuing to observe.
Practitioner behaviors during observation
- Immediately before beginning to work on a task, prime the learner to take notes and record questions/thoughts based on what you expect them to be looking for.
- While performing a task, verbalize your thoughts out loud as much as you can. BUT DO NOT TEACH! DO NOT INSTRUCT! DO NOT TRY TO EXPLAIN WHY YOU'RE DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING! Just do it!
- During the observation phase, avoid instructing or telling the learner what to do or what you're doing, demonstrate what to do instead.
- When the task being performed during an observation phase lasts more than 60 minutes, take a break and do a brief review with the learner(s) before continuing.
The reflection phase is the time to harvest learnings. The goal of the reflection phase is to identify what work was done, discuss the various perspectives/questions that came up for each participant during the observation phase, and to find a way to align on those perspectives. By the end of the reflection phase, everyone should experience having learned something valuable and feel inspired to prepare for the next task/goal.
Learner behaviors during reflection
- Immediately following a work session, conduct a thorough review with the practitioner.
- During a review of work done, describe what you noticed (what stood out to you) during the observation phase.
- While describing what you noticed, ask the practitioner any questions you wrote down as they become relevant.
- Throughout the reflection phase, try to see the work through the eyes of the practitioner, ask questions whenever you don't understand what they were thinking/doing.
- After collectively reviewing the observations phase, update your log/notes with your reflections.
- At the end of the reflection phase, ask yourself what you've learned through observing a more experienced practitioner and what you'd like to attempt to do next on your own.
Practitioner behaviors during reflection
- Immediately following a work session, conduct a thorough review with participating learner(s).
- During a review of work done, ask learner(s) to describe what they observed.
- When learner(s) describe what they observed, listen for and point out similarities and discrepancies with what you observed or thought about during the work session.
- When you observe a discrepancy between each of your perspectives, address that discrepancy openly and honestly.
- At the end of the review session, prompt learner(s) to reflect on what they learned and update their log/notes.
- While learner(s) update their log, add your own observations to it.
- Between apprenticeship sessions, inspire participating learner(s) to prepare for, seek value in, and reflect on the work they perform on their own.
After completing one cycle of cognitive apprenticeship (usually after completing a goal or task), you can expect to feel a desire for celebration and mental relaxation. You may also feel a desire to get right back to work. The approach in between sessions is entirely up to you. The goal is to make this cycle into a habit for yourself. Take the time to celebrate and reward yourself as best suits your personal practices for habit formation.
Cognitive Apprenticeship has the power to support practitioners and learners alike in the rapid improvement of their craft/practice. You can and will get a lot from your first use of it to achieve your goals. When it becomes second nature for you, you'll be a world-class learner and well on your way to becoming a world-class craftsperson. Have fun, and happy learning!
The below video shows two example cognitive apprenticeship sessions between Tanner and Adam. They go through two full cycles of preparation, practice/observation, and reflection, with some "meta-reflection" and discussion thrown in for good measure.
It is a long video, so if you're strapped for time, you should skip ahead to 35:00. You can also play at 1.5x or 2x speed if you don't mind listening to people that sound like chipmunks.
Link to video: https://shereef.wistia.com/medias/dbknami46w
Most of the terms below are borrowed directly from Vanessa P. Dennen and Kerry J. Burner's work, "The Cognitive Apprenticeship Model in Educational Practice".
A process through which a more experienced person assists a less experienced one by way of demonstration, support, and examples.
In cognitive apprenticeship, verbalizing the results of reflective acts.
In cognitive apprenticeship, assisting and supporting learners’ cognitive activities.
An apprenticeship process that utilizes cognitive and metacognitive skills and processes to guide learning.
A group of people bound by participation in an activity common to them all; may be formal or informal.
In cognitive apprenticeship, forming and testing a personal hypothesis in pursuit of learning.
In cognitive apprenticeship, demonstrating thought processes.
In cognitive apprenticeship, self-analysis and self-assessment.
Support that is provided to assist learners in reaching skill levels beyond their current abilities; essential to scaffolding is fading the support inversely to the learners’ acquisition of the skill that is being supported.
A specific time during which a practitioner and one or more learners engages in one full cycle of Preparation -> Observation/Practice -> Reflection.
The context or constellation of influential events and elements that govern and shape human life.
A term coined by Vygotsky to describe the space between a learner’s current skill level and the next skill level that the learner cannot reach without assistance.