You Can′t Get There from Here: Situated Learning Transfer, and Map Skills

This study explored the comparative effectiveness of two instructional methods, one based on the tenets of situated cognition and the other a traditional classroom-based presentation. Two classes of fourth graders from a university research school completed instruction in map skills. Following the instruction, both groups completed a written assessment and two performance assessments, one of which was designed to assess far transfer of knowledge. The situated cognition group performed significantly better on the performance test than did the traditional instruction group, while there were no significant differences between the two group′s performances on the other two measures. The situated cognition approach appears to lead to better outcomes on a performance assessment of map skills and did not impair performance, as compared with the traditional approach, on either a written assessment or a transfer performance assessment of map skills.