Developed by Allan Collins, John Seely Brown, and Susan E. Newman (Cognitive Apprenticeship, 1989), with Ann Holum (1991).
Teaches judgment-heavy skills by having an expert think aloud while working, coaching the learner's attempts, adding scaffolds, asking for explanations, comparing approaches, and then withdrawing support.
When to reach for it
Bringing someone into work where the hard part is judgment and lectures or finished examples have not transferred it.
How it runs
- Name the skill to be passed on.
- Work the task aloud, narrating each choice and dead end.
- Watch the learner try, and coach in the moment.
- Give temporary supports, and ask the learner to explain their reasoning.
- Compare the learner's process with the expert's.
- Remove supports as competence grows.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Cognitive Apprenticeship: Teaching the Crafts of Reading, Writing, and Mathematics, Knowing, Learning, and Instruction (Lauren B. Resnick, ed.), 1989
- Cognitive Apprenticeship: Making Thinking Visible, American Educator, 1991