Distributed expertise in the classroom

The authors argue that schools should be communities where students learn to learn. In this setting teachers should be models of intentional learning and self-motivated scholarship, both individual and collaborative (Brown, 1992; Brown & Campione, 1990; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1991). If successful, graduates of such communities would be prepared as lifelong learners who have learned how to learn in many domains. The authors aim to produce a breed of "intelligent novices"(Brown, Bransford, Ferrara, & Campione, 1983), students who, although they may not possess the background knowledge needed in a new field, know how to go about gaining that knowledge. These learning experts would be better prepared to be inducted into the practitioner culture of their choosing; they would also have the background to select among several alternative practitioner cultures, rather than being tied to the one to which they were initially indentured, as in the case of traditional apprenticeships.