The Social Organization of Knowledge and Practice: A Symposium: Introduction: Situationally Specific Practice

Abstract

In a discussion of closely related research, the authors of this symposium examine evidence for the situationally specific character of problem‐solving practices. They document situational variation in what constitutes a problem, in the procedures used, in the distribution of knowledge among people and settings, and in success at problemsolving by the same people in different contexts. These findings provoke speculation about relations among social contexts, knowledge, and activity, and about relations between school‐learned problemsolving techniques and those learned and used in other settings. Arithmetic practices observed in Liberian classrooms, among grocery shoppers and novice dieters, and in product assembly tasks among commercial dairy workers provide the empirical basis for the discussion.