Abstract

In traditional forms of school and university instruction, students acquire mainly inert knowledge, that is, knowledge which can be used in instructional settings, but cannot be applied for solving complex problems typical of everyday or professional life. We present empirical studies that reveal specific deficits of university students with respect to knowledge application and that show that current forms of university instruction are not an appropriate environment for students to gain flexible expertise in their respective domains. Arguing along the theoretical approaches of Lave (1992) and Rogoff (1990), we conceive the development of expertise as becoming a full participant in a community of practice by legitimate peripheral and guided participation. To prepare university students for this type of enculturation in later professional life, the Cognitive Apprenticeship approach (Collins, Brown, & Newman, 1989) seems to be fruitful. This instructional method comprises authentic or, at least, close-to- reality problems that have to be solved cooperatively with an expert or a peer. However, there is a lack of research about the specific boundary conditions for the application of the Cognitive Apprenticeship approach. On the basis of empirical data from our research, we discuss the potential use of apprenticeship methods under the perspective of life-long learning