Where it is used
Each entry identifies the volume, edition, chapter or appendix in which the work appears.
The evidence behind the series
Follow the research.
Explore every source.
Browse the scientific research and professional literature used across all seven volumes of The Science of Learning for Educators.
7book volumes
8author ranges
1searchable library
Search the collection
Find a paper, author or idea.
Choose an author range, search a title or concept, or narrow the collection by source type. Open any result to see where it appears in the books, read its evidence summary and follow available source links.
3 references
-
- Vol 6 PE: App E
- Vol 6 RE: Chapter 5
distributed leadershipconcertive actiondistributed cognitioncollective agencydivision of labourinformal expertiseJournal article Evidence summaryAt a glance
Gronn proposes distributed leadership as an alternative unit of analysis to explanations centred on a single formal leader. An additive view counts leadership contributions made by multiple individuals, but a holistic view examines concertive action whose combined effect is more than independently aggregated behaviour.
Key ideas
Concertive patterns can arise through spontaneous collaboration, intuitive working relationships developed over time, or institutionalised practices and structures. Interdependence and coordination are therefore central: distributing tasks or appointing committees does not necessarily distribute leadership. The article connects distributed cognition, activity theory, and division of labour to leadership research and argues that analysts should study how influence is stretched across people, tools, routines, and situations. This perspective can reveal informal expertise and collective agency, but it does not imply that hierarchy, power, accountability, or individual responsibility disappear.
Why it matters
For schools and organisations, the framework supports examining actual patterns of joint work and influence rather than assuming either that the designated leader acts alone or that participation is automatically equal and democratic.
View or buy the cited work >>Read a similar article free online >>
-
- Vol 6 RE: Chapter 13, App C, App D
networked expertisedistributed cognitioncognitive division of laborknowledge creationprofessional networksboundary crossingshared problem solvingcollective accountabilityBook Evidence summaryAt a glance
Hakkarainen and colleagues conceptualise expertise as a networked, relational achievement rather than knowledge contained wholly within exceptional individuals. Competent activity depends on interaction, shared problem solving, division of cognitive labour, and access to socially developed conceptual and material tools.
Key ideas
Drawing on workplace studies and psychological, sociological, and educational research, the book examines communities, organisations, professional networks, knowledge creation, innovation, and development of expertise. Networks allow participants to locate complementary competence, circulate and transform knowledge, and address problems too complex for one person, but connection alone does not guarantee learning. Trust, shared objects, communication practices, boundary crossing, and structures that support contribution and critique matter. Individuals still require deep knowledge and agency; distributed expertise is not a reason to neglect personal learning or accountability.
Why it matters
For education, the perspective supports authentic collective problems, participation in knowledge practices, access to varied expertise, and tools that make developing ideas shareable. Evaluation should examine changes in both individual capability and the network’s capacity to create and use knowledge.
View or buy the cited work >>Read a similar article free online >>
-
- Vol 7 RE: Chapter 3
distributed cognitioncognitive systemsrepresentational statescognitive artefactssocial coordinationsituated cognitioncultural cognitionauthentic practiceBook Evidence summaryAt a glance
Hutchins combines ethnography, anthropology, and cognitive science to analyse navigation aboard a large naval vessel. Instead of treating cognition as computation located solely inside one person, he follows how information is represented, transformed, and coordinated across crew members, instruments, charts, procedures, language, spatial arrangements, and historically developed practices.
Key ideas
The navigation team forms a cognitive system whose properties cannot be inferred by examining each participant in isolation. Tools do more than store outputs: their structure reorganises tasks, constrains action, and supports propagation of representational states. Social organisation distributes expertise, checks error, and enables complex performance, while learning occurs through participation and changes in the larger activity system. Comparisons with Micronesian navigation show that cognition is culturally constituted, not merely an invariant mechanism later influenced by culture.
Why it matters
The book does not deny individual mental activity; it changes the unit of analysis needed to explain real work. Its methodological lesson is to study cognition in authentic practice and trace coordination among people and artefacts over time, revealing capacities and failure modes invisible in decontextualised laboratory tasks.
View or buy the cited work >>Read a similar article free online >>
A transparent research trail
More than a bibliography.
What it contributes
Evidence summaries explain the central idea and why the source matters to educators.
How to access it
Entries link to lawful full text where available, or to a publisher, library or purchase page.
Edition abbreviations
- TE
- Teacher Edition
- PE
- Practice Edition
- RE
- Research Edition
Citation checks
References are checked against publisher records, scholarly indexes, DOI or ISBN metadata, repositories and author records where available. An entry marked [Citation not verified] preserves the wording found in the relevant volume without attributing findings to an unconfirmed work.
From sources to a coherent pathway