Legitimate Peripheral Participation: Entering A Community of Practice

Etienne Wenger and Jean Lave were authors critiquing educational assumptions that are largely still with us in public education, namely that learning is an individual process, that is has a beginning and an end, that is is best separated from the rest of our activities, and that it is the result of teaching. This article will introduce and explore the social theory of learning, identify key concepts and illustrate them with specific examples, and will conclude with considerations around the promise and challenge of leveraging the power of this theory in the seminary experience