Situated Cognition: A Learning Framework to Support and Guide High-fidelity Simulation

Nursing education strives to prepare graduate nurses who are ready to enter the practice environment and within a short time practice independently. High-fidelity simulation (HFS) is an instructional strategy now being incorporated within nursing education to enhance transition from theory to practice. Nursing literature on use of HFS has consistently linked this instructional strategy to a broad experiential learning perspective. This article proposes situated cognition as a more concise learning framework to support and guide this pedagogical method in nursing education. Learning described from the situated cognition perspective occurs as a social activity incorporating the mind, the body, the activity, and the tools in a context that is complex and interactive. This article provides an overview of situated cognition, followed by an HFS case scenario illustrating the principles within this learning framework. Implications for nursing educational research considering the interdependent components (people, ingredients, and activity) of this situated cognition framework are introduced.