Cognition in the Wild Ch. 6: "Navigation as a context for learning"

Theme of the reading
This chapter is about learning on the job. It has three main parts.
The first part (pp.263-271) describes the conditions under which novice quartermasters learn to perform navigation tasks. It also explains how the social organization of the task and the nature of the tools of the trade affect the learning process for novices.
The second part (pp. 271-279) describes the processes by which the navigation system responds to error. This includes error detection and error recovery (repair), as well as how individuals and the system as a whole learn from error.
The third part (pp. 279-285) examines the way that tasks are carefully crafted by experienced navigators so that novices can begin useful work when they know almost nothing. It introduces Vygotsky's notions of internalization of high-level cognitive functions.

Getting ready to read
Definitions:
Scaffolding: when an expert and a novice work together, the expert may perform parts of a task while prompting the novice to perform simple sub-tasks in the larger task. The structure provided by the expert to constrain the novice's activity is called scaffolding. This is a metaphor from the scaffolding used in the building industry. There, scaffolding is a temporary structure put in place to help construct a building. In the case of learning on the job, the scaffolding is temporary structure that is put in place while the novice constructs a new skill.

Reading
Orienting questions and issues to keep in mind:

How does the decomposition of tasks affect learning?
What is the horizon of observation? What does it have to do with learning?
What is an open tool?
What four elements are necessary for the detection of error?
Why might a non-zero error rate actually be more desirable than the complete elimination of error? (see pg. 279)
Why is it useful to move the boundaries of the functional unit of analysis out beyond the individual when analysing instances of scaffolding?
Why is teaching a "doubly cultural" activity?
What is the importance of the observation that computational dependencies align with social dependencies in this system? (pg. 283)