Jean Lave

Who is Jean Lave?

Jean Lave, PhD, is a social anthropologist and social learning theorist. She completed her doctorate in Social Anthropology at Harvard University in 1968. She is currently a Professor of Education and Geography at the University of California, Berkeley.

Her studies of apprenticeships are recognized as significant contributions to educational psychology. She, along with Etienne Wenger, pioneered the theories of Situated learning and Community of practice.

In 1988, Lave showed that nuns in Irvine, California who could successfully do the mathematics needed for comparison shopping were unable to do the same mathematics when they were placed in a classroom environment.