ABSTRACT
Our group has been working within a framework that we call Anchored Instruction (Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt, 1990). The anchored-instruction approach represents an attempt to help students become actively engaged in learning by situating or anchoring instruction in interesting and realistic problem-solving environments. These environments are designed to (a) invite the kinds of thinking that help students develop general skills and attitudes that contribute to effective problem solving, and (b) acquire specific concepts and principles that allow them to think effectively about particular domains (e.g., Bransford, Vye, Kinzer & Risko, 1990; Bransford, Sherwood, Vye & Rieser, 1986; Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt, 1990). In this chapter, we specifically address the issue of what an anchored approach to science instruction might mean, and discuss an example project: our series Scientists-in-Action. The overall goal of the project is to use videodisc and computer technology to recreate the kinds of experiences that would be available to students if they apprenticed themselves to real scientists working on problems important to us all (Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt, 1992a).
