ABSTRACT
Many teaching practices implicitly assume that conceptual knowledge can be abstracted from the situations in which it is learned and used. This article argues that this assumption inevitably limits the effectiveness of such practices. Drawing on research into cognition as it is manifested in everyday activity, it shows that knowledge is situated, being in part a product of the activity, context, and culture in which it is developed and used. The chapter discusses how this view of knowledge affects our understanding of learning, and suggests that conventional schooling too often ignores the influence of school culture on what is learned in school. In contemporary education, the idea of situational or contextual learning is less earth-shattering than it was at the time this article was written. It has received much attention in schools, research, textbooks, and even standardised tests.
