Situated knowledge

Orifice. Orifice viscometers, also called efflux or cup viscometers, are commonly used to measure and control flow properties in the manufacture, processing, and appHcation of inks, paints, adhesives, and lubricating oils. Their design answered the need for simple, easy-to-operate viscometers in areas where precision and accuracy are not particularly important. In these situations knowledge of a tme viscosity is uimecessary, and the efflux time of a fixed volume of Hquid is a sufficient indication of the fluidity of the material. Examples of orifice viscometers include the Ford, Zahn, and Shell cups used for paints and inks and the Saybolt Universal and Furol instmments used for oils (Table 5). 

In the case of the CPI, there are relatively few situations where control room workers are likely to face continuous periods of overload. However, when overload does occur it is likely to be associated with situations when the plant is in an unusual or abnormal state for which the workers may not have any rules or procedures available. In these situations, knowledge-based processing (see Section 2.6.2), which needs considerable mental resources, will be required and errors of diagnosis are likely to occur. 

Johns T (1999) Plant constituents and the nutrition and health of indigenous peoples. In Nazarea VD (ed) Ethnoecology. Situated Knowledge, Located Lives. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, p 157... 

Haraway, D. J. (1988) Situated knowledges The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Fern. Stud. 14,575-600. 

Haraway, Donna. Situated Knowledges The Science Question in Feminism as a Site of Discourse on the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies 14, 1988, 575-599. Reprinted in Haraway, Simians, Cyborgs, and Women The Reinvention of Nature (Routledge, 1991). 

From the above analysis we observe that five situations are sufficient to cover the realm of story problems. And, from the evidence presented earlier, we observe that students do not draw on their understanding of these situations. We may conclude that students have not created appropriate schemas that utilize relevant situation knowledge, that is, schemas that build on previous experiences, that contain relevant abstractions, and that facilitate analogical reasoning. We come now to the crux of the matter If situation-based schemas develop, what will they look like ... 

All of the aforementioned steps are an exercise in futility if the situations hypothesized are not usable by problem solvers. At this point in the analysis, it is infeasible to consider systematic observation of individuals as they develop full schemas, because such development takes an extended period of time and probably requires an entirely new curriculum of study. It is premature to invest time and resources in this new curriculum until the fundamental premise about situation recognition is tested. Such a study of schema development will certainly be necessary at a later time, but the initial question concerns only whether the basic identifications can be made. Thus, at this juncture we ask only whether individuals can acquire and use basic situation knowledge. That is... 

The complete schema analysis described here yielded three main findings. First, situational knowledge is sufficient to characterize story problems. Only a small set of situations is required to make the distinctions. This is a key point, because it renders feasible the quest for a basis set of schemas. Second, although situational knowledge may seem so obvious to the experienced researcher and educator as to be almost blatant, in fact, almost no students or teachers appear to be using it in problem solving. Virtually none of the more than 100 individuals in the studies here showed any awareness of situational detail. Third, as one would hope, situational knowledge is relatively easy for students to acquire. Even the mathematically naive students were able to understand and learn about the situations. 

The fundamental question, of course, is why should they Of what use is situational knowledge Its importance lies in the development of strong schemas for problem solving. Situational knowledge has the potential to serve as the anchor for the creation of a basis set of coherent, cohesive schemas that link all of a student s knowledge about story problems. Situational knowledge is the means by which semantic and syntactic information may be compiled in an individual s knowledge network about such problems. 

The situational knowledge of every student can be described by such a network, using the student s interview responses. The two knowledge networks of Figure 7.3 illustrate the wealth of information available from the networks. Obviously, the amount and type of information recalled as well as the particular confusions of a student are highly individualized. The networks provide a way of studying how students differ in their initial encoding of information and subsequent formation of schemas. 

The original purpose of the follow-up study was to ascertain whether any long-term effects could be observed from the schema-based instruction. Three months had passed, a relatively long period of time in a student s life and ample time for students to forget completely the details of the material studied in Experiment I. After all, the students had little reason to retain the material. It was not part of their formal coursework, they (presumably) had virtually no opportunity to use their situational knowledge in the... 

At this point, each student was then given an abbreviated refresher lesson in SPS. This lesson lasted for about 5 min and merely described the situations again, using the original examples from the first SPS session. No computer exercises were presented. Finally, students were given a second set of 20 problems to sort, with explicit instructions to use their situational knowledge to form the groups. The entire session lasted about 1 hour. 

First sorting task. The students, of course, remembered that the subject of the earlier experiment was arithmetic problem solving, and most of them attempted to use situational knowledge to carry out the sorting task. A few resorted to using arithmetic operation... 

The simulation is an affirmation of the basic premise underlying schema theory, namely, that the nature of the connections among situational knowledge elements is critical. The statistical analyses of chapter 7 provide additional support. On the one hand, the simulation allows us to look closely at individual differences by modeling each student s performance. On the other hand, the statistical analyses point to several group characteristics with respect to learning new concepts. Both analyses are based on the cognitive maps. 

Thus, the best stable isotope thermometers will have large fractionations, involve relatively common minerals, and occur in rocks where equilibration can be evaluated. The ideal case is a rock where all minerals crystallized at a specific temperature (diagenetic, metamorphic or igneous), and then cooled rapidly in a closed system. In other situations, knowledge of the exchange kinetics of the minerals in question can be important in the choice of thermometer. 

Gherardi, S. (2008) Situated knowledge and situated action What do practice-based studies promise In Barry, D. Hansen, H. (eds.) The Sage handbook of new approaches in management and organization. London, Sage Publications, pp. 516-525. 

Sole, D., and Edmondson. A. 2002. Situated knowledge and learning in dispersed teams. 

Haraway, Donna. 1991. Situated Knowledges. The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege ofPartial Perspective In Donna Haraway. Simians, Cyborg, and Women. The Reinvention of Nature. Pp. 183-201. New York Routledge... 

The following discussion provides a brief overview of the physical structure of a mine to help readers understand how individuals are situated in geographic space and time. This discussion helps us understand the literal and figurative structure of situated knowledge in a hazardous worksite. 

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