Situated cognition theory holds that knowledge is not portable, abstract, and decontextualized but always embedded in the specific practices, tools, and social relationships of its original context. What is learned in school often cannot be transferred to real-world situations precisely because it was never situated in the conditions of actual use. Apprenticeship, project-based learning, and community-embedded education are not pedagogical preferences but recognition of how cognition actually works: in context, with others, using real tools on real problems.
Each step builds on the last.