Cognitive Apprenticeship

Image based on "Cognitive Apprenticeship," an essay by Allan Collins, published in The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences.

Teaching methods of cognitive apprenticeship are described in six terms: 

1. Modeling involves an expert performing a task so that the students can observe and build a conceptual model of the processes that are required to accomplish it.
2. Coaching consists of observing students while they carry out a task and offering feedback, challenges, and new tasks aimed at bringing their performance closer to expert performance.
3. Scaffolding refers to the supports provided by a teacher to a learner. This can include help or suggestions, or physical help such a cue cards (a card with a correct answer or hint written on it).
4. Articulation includes any method of getting students to describe their mental process of problem solving or reasoning. This helps lead students to a better understanding of the processes involved.
5. Reflection involves enabling their own problem solving process with other people’s processes, including experts. This comparison can lead the student to new ideas or to re-consider an old idea in a new way.
6. Exploration involves getting students to set their own goals for learning. The teacher can, at first, set goals for students and then encourage students to alter those goals according to what the student is interested in.