Cognitive Apprenticeship OMG!!!

The article Cognitive Apprenticeship Making Thinking Visable caught my eye because in scanning it seemed to address how to better instruct reading, writing and math. My technology center participates in Technology Centers That Work a initiative that supports high schools in instructing these three key elements. But this article offered so much more. A must read for all of the nursing education majors in this class, this article detailed how to help students critically think, an issue all nursing programs struggle with. Using the framework of apprenticeship i.e. modeling, scaffolding, fading and coaching, the authors translate this model to cognitive applications. The suggestions for teaching reading were especially important to me as many of our students come in reading at less than the 12 grade level. Although this article stimulated alot of ideas that I will use in my current position, I wondered throughout the reading, how it fit in the course we are taking. The conclusion cleared up any doubt of that association by reviewing the four dimensions that constitute any learning environment, listing the set of characteristics that should be considered in constructing or evaluating learning environments. It answered several of the questions my group had posed in determining characteristics of virtual communities. A good read, definitely recommended by me!!