Communities of Practice in Mathematics Education

Definition and Originators

Communities of practice (CoP) are an important component of an emerging social theory of learning. Lave and Wenger (1991) originally envisioned this social learning theory as a way to deepen and extend the notion of situated learning that occurs in traditional craft apprenticeships, contexts in which education occurs outside of formal schools (“Anthropological Approaches”). Drawing upon evidence from ethnographic investigations of apprenticeships in a range of settings (e.g., tailoring), they have frequently argued that it is important to separate learning from formal school contexts to understand that most human activities involve some form of teaching and learning. Wenger (1998) argued that three dimensions inherently connect CoP’s two components (community and practice): “1) mutual engagement; 2) a joint enterprise; 3) a shared repertoire” (p. 73). One important aim of a CoP is the negotiation of meaning among participants. Groups of people who live or...