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The Transformation of Learning

The Transformation of Learning

The Transformation of Learning

Advances in Cultural-Historical Activity Theory
Bert van Oers, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Wim Wardekker, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Ed Elbers, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
René van der Veer, Universiteit Leiden
March 2008
Available
Hardback
9780521868921

    Learning is a changing phenomenon, depending on the advances in theory and research. This book presents a relatively new approach to learning, based on meaningful human activities in cultural practices and in collaboration with others. It draws extensively from the ideas of Lev Vygotsky and his recent followers. The book presents ideas that elaborate this learning theory and also gives recent developments and applications of this approach in a variety of educational situations in and outside of school. A core issue in the research presented in this book consists of the way people learn to make sense of and give meaning to cultural instruments and practices in collaboration with others.

    • Presents advances in sociocultural activity theory
    • Argues for a different view of learning processes in schools
    • View of learning connects school learning and out-of-school learning

    Product details

    March 2008
    Hardback
    9780521868921
    416 pages
    234 × 160 × 32 mm
    0.69kg
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Learning and learning theory from a cultural-historical point of view Bert van Oers
    • Part I. Tenets of Activity Theory: Introduction to Part I. Exploring Vygotsky's legacy: the meaning of mediation René van der Veer
    • 2. Multiple readings of Vygotsky René van der Veer
    • 3. Exploring the links between external and internal activity from a cultural-historical perspective Igor Arievich
    • 4. Reflections on points of departure in the development of sociocultural and activity theory Harry Daniels
    • 5. Language in cultural-historical perspective Peter E. Jones
    • 6. The formation experiment in the age of hypermedia and distance learning Hartmut Giest
    • 7. Constructivism and meaning construction Ronald Arendt
    • 8. Subject, subjectivity, and development in cultural-historical psychology Fernando Luis González Rey
    • Part II. Identity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Introduction to Part II. Identity, diversity, and inclusion Wim Wardekker
    • 9. Identity shifts in informal learning trajectories Anne Edwards and Lin Mackenzie
    • 10. No human being is illegal: counteridentities in a community of undocumented Mexican immigrants and children Jocelyn Solis
    • 11. Cultural identity and emigration: a study of the construction of discourse about identity from historical-cultural psychology Beatriz Macías Gómez Estern, Josué García Amián and José Antonio Sánchez Medina
    • 12. Diversity in the construction of modes of collaboration in multiethnic classrooms: continuity and discontinuity of cultural scripts Mariëtte de Haan and Ed Elbers
    • 13. 'Discourse' in cultural-historical perspective: critical discourse analysis, CHAT, and the study of social change Chik Collins
    • 14. Reason and dialogue in education Rupert Wegerif
    • Part III. Dynamics of Activity and the Variations of Learning: Introduction to Part III. Learning in social settings: challenges for sociocultural and activity theory Ed Elbers
    • 15. Children's learning through participation in institutional practice: a model from the perspective of cultural-historical psychology Mariane Hedegaard
    • 16. Dialogue for reasoning: promoting exploratory talk and problem solving in the primary classroom Sylvia Rojas-Drummond, Laura Gómez and Maricela Vélez
    • 17. What kinds of tools and resources are made available to students through effective guidance in a student-scientist partnership program? Jrène Rahm, Wendy Naughton and John C. Moore
    • 18. Girls on the sidelines: 'gendered' development in early childhood classrooms Sonja de Groot Kim
    • 19. Inscripting predicates: dealing with meanings in play Bert van Oers
    • 20. Pretend play and preschoolers Ricardo Ottoni Vaz Japiassu.
      Contributors
    • Bert van Oers, René van der Veer, Igor Arievich, Harry Daniels, Peter E. Jones, Hartmut Giest, Ronald Arendt, Fernando Luis González Rey, Wim Wardekker, Anne Edwards, Lin Mackenzie, Jocelyn Solis, Beatriz Macías Gómez Estern, Josué García Amián, José Antonio Sánchez Medina, Mariëtte de Haan, Ed Elbers, Chik Collins, Rupert Wegerif, Mariane Hedegaard, Sylvia Rojas-Drummond, Laura Gómez, Maricela Vélez, Jrène Rahm, Wendy Naughton, John C. Moore, Sonja de Groot Kim, Ricardo Ottoni Vaz Japiassu

    • Editors
    • Bert van Oers , Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam

      Bert van Oers is a Professor of the Cultural-Historical Theory of Education at VU University in Amsterdam. He is an honorary doctor at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland. He has published two books in English: Narratives of Childhood and Symbolizing and Modeling in Mathematics Education. His work has been published in many journals, including Learning and Instruction, the Journal of the Learning Sciences, the European Early Childhood Education Research Journal and Mind, Culture, and Activity.

    • Wim Wardekker , Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam

      Wim Wardekker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theory and Research in Education at VU University in Amsterdam, and he is a Professor of Quality of Education at Windesheim University of Professional Studies in Zwolle, The Netherlands. His work has been published in journals such as the Educational Review, Mind, Culture, and Activity and the Journal of Moral Education.

    • Ed Elbers , Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands

      Ed Elbers is Professor of Communication, Cognition, and Culture at Utrecht University. His research is on communication processes in the context of learning and instruction, particularly in multiethnic classrooms. He was guest editor of Learning and Instruction and the European Journal of Psychology of Education, and he is the author of many articles and book chapters.

    • René van der Veer , Universiteit Leiden

      René van der Veer is Casimir Professor of the History of Education at Leiden University. He has published widely on the history of developmental psychology and education. Among the books he has coauthored are Main Currents of Critical Psychology, Understanding Vygotsky, The Vygotsky Reader, Reconstructing the Mind, The Social Mind and Lev Vygotsky.