Lesson Plans and Situated Learning-and-Teaching

Like all texts, Suchman’s book is historically situated within a particular intellectual tradition. That tradition includes work in North American psychology, from the period in which behaviorism dominated to that of the “cognitive revolution” and beyond, in which the computer has become the favored model for the study of cognitive activity. Against this background, Suchman raises a question of both theoretical and practical importance: What is the relation between plans and the actions to which they are related? In this commentary, I shall summarize the central theoretical argument, as I understand it, and show its similarity to and differences from key features of cultural historical activity theory. I shall then consider its potential as well as its actual impact on education.

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