ABSTRACT
Three prejudices have surrounded studies of skill and reasoning. One is that reasoning is a mental process, something that takes place in the brain rather than being bound up with the material world and situated, embodied action. The second is that skill is a property possessed by individuals rather than belonging to a collectivity of practitioners. The third is that the nature and characteristics of skill and reasoning can be decided as matters of rational thought and disciplinary methods. A number of "themes", "theoretical orientations", or "research directives" seem to aid discovery work. Each of these terms gives a slightly different emphasis, stressing, in turn, recurring issues and problems, ways of looking at things, and guides to further action. Rather than being claims on what has been found, what will be found, or what should be found, they reflect ways of thinking that help make discoveries.
