American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Cognitive Science Society
American Educational Research Association (AERA)
National Academy of Education
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Visiting Senior Lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Visiting Scholar, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Professor of Education and Social Policy (Learning Sciences), Northwestern University
Research Professor, School of Education, Boston College
Principal Scientist, BBN Technologies (Bolt Beranek and Newman)
Co-Director, U.S. Department of Education – Center for Technology in Education (CTE)
Senior Scientist, BBN Technologies (Bolt Beranek and Newman)
Professor Emeritus of Learning Sciences at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy, noted for foundational contributions to cognitive apprenticeship, situated learning, intelligent tutoring systems, and design-based research. He is a member of the National Academy of Education and a fellow of AAAI, AERA, AAAS, and the Cognitive Science Society; earlier he served as founding editor of Cognitive Science and first chair of the Cognitive Science Society. From 1991–1994 he co-directed the U.S. Department of Education’s Center for Technology in Education. His recent books include What’s Worth Teaching? and (with Richard Halverson) Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology. citeturn1search1turn1search3turn22search5
An instructional framework that adapts apprenticeship methods to cognitive domains by making expert processes visible and situating learning in authentic activity. It emphasizes modeling, coaching, scaffolding, articulation, reflection, and exploration.
A framework that identifies target knowledge structures (epistemic forms) and strategic moves (epistemic games) learners use to organize inquiry, supporting analysis of structure, function, and process in complex domains.
An approach to studying learning in natural settings through iterative design, enactment, analysis, and redesign of innovations to develop and refine theory and practice.
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning • Journal
Synthesizes arguments from Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology to examine tensions between traditional schooling and digital media. Reviews prospects and challenges of technology-enabled learning and stresses the need for coherent models to guide educational transformation.
Journal of the Learning Sciences • Journal
Introduces design research as an evolution of early “design experiments” for studying and refining educational innovations in real settings. Clarifies goals, relationships to other methodologies, and provides examples and guidelines for conducting rigorous, iterative studies that both improve designs and contribute to theory.
Educational Psychologist • Journal
Defines epistemic forms as target knowledge structures that guide inquiry (e.g., lists, matrices, causal maps) and epistemic games as strategies for filling them out. Details one such game and overviews a catalog of games that support structural, functional, and process analyses to foster disciplined inquiry.
Educational Researcher • Journal
Argues that knowledge is fundamentally situated—shaped by the activity, context, and culture in which it is developed and used. Critiques school practices that detach concepts from use, and proposes cognitive apprenticeship as a model that honors the social and practical nature of knowing. Illustrates the approach with mathematics teaching examples that make expert practices visible and meaningful.
Educational Researcher • Journal
Introduces the idea of systemic validity—tests should induce instructional and curricular changes that cultivate the very competencies they aim to measure. Analyzes features that support systemic validity and offers design principles for assessment systems, illustrated through a student assessment design example.
Teachers College Press • Book
Examines how digital technologies are transforming learning in and beyond schools and argues for reimagining schooling to leverage new media and “anytime, anywhere” learning. Provides a balanced account of opportunities and challenges and offers practical guidance for curriculum, assessment, equity, and leadership in a technological world.
Teachers College Press • Book
Synthesizes how digital technologies are reshaping learning in and out of school and proposes ways schools can adapt. The book contrasts enthusiast vs. skeptic arguments, traces the evolution of American schooling, and offers design‑oriented recommendations for assessment, curriculum, equity, and policy to align schooling with 21st‑century learning opportunities.
Teachers College Press • Book
Proposes criteria for deciding what knowledge and skills matter today and outlines a curriculum aligned with the demands of a networked, technology-rich society. Argues for cultivating flexible, self-directed learners and details implications for literacy, STEM, and redesigning schools to prepare students for complex, changing contexts.
NASSP Bulletin • Journal
Describes the learning‑communities approach in which classrooms cultivate shared goals, distributed expertise, and collective knowledge building. Highlights how networks and partnerships beyond the classroom can extend participation and support lifelong learning.
New Directions in Educational Technology (Springer) • Chapter
Calls for a cumulative “design science” that synthesizes research on educational technology and develops methodologies for design experiments. Outlines how systematic study of technology-rich learning environments can yield transferable principles for introducing and sustaining innovations in schools.
American Educator • Journal
Presents cognitive apprenticeship as a classroom model that adapts apprenticeship methods to cognitive skills, emphasizing modeling, coaching, scaffolding, articulation, reflection, and exploration. Shows how making expert reasoning visible helps students appropriate strategies in reading, writing, and mathematics.
Center for the Study of Reading, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign • Report
Argues that computers enable resource‑intensive learning environments aligned with cognitive apprenticeship. Emphasizes modeling, coaching, performance reflection, articulation, and the value of situating knowledge in authentic contexts; contends that technology can make such learning scalable and cost‑effective.
Knowing, Learning, and Instruction: Essays in Honor of Robert Glaser (Lawrence Erlbaum) • Chapter
Articulates the cognitive apprenticeship framework: adapting apprenticeship to cognitive domains by making tacit expert processes visible, situating tasks, sequencing experiences, and shaping the learning culture. Describes methods and classroom cases in reading, writing, and mathematics.