Vera John-Steiner

Sociocultural approaches to learning and development: A Vygotskian framework

Sociocultural approaches emphasize the interdependence of social and individual processes in the coconstruction of knowledge. This article uses three central tenets of a Vygotskian framework to examine the relation between learning and development: (a) social sources of individual development, (b) semiotic (signs and symbols, including language) mediation in human development, and (c) genetic (developmental) analysis. The role played by culture and language in human development is an essential aspect of the Vygotskian framework and provides an overarching theme for this article. The methodological foundation of this framework is examined, particularly as it contrasts with other perspectives on the process of internalization of social interaction in the construction of knowledge. The article concludes by surveying sociocultural research on and applications to classroom learning and teaching, particularly that which examines the role of collaboration.

Creativity and development

1. Emergence in Creativity and Development 2. Creativity in the Making: Vygotskys Contemporary Contribution to the Dialectic of Development and Creativity 3. The Development of Creativity as a Decision-Making Process 4. The Creation of Multiple-Intelligences Theory: A Study in High-Level Thinking 5. Creativity in Later Life 6. Key Issues in Creativity and Development

The Challenge of Studying Collaboration

This is a response to “Collaboration as Dialogue: Teachers and Researchers Engaged in Conversation and Professional Development” (Clark et al., 1996), a narrative account of teacher-researcher collaborative research presented in Readers Theater format. The authors identified a powerful value tension in collaborative research—the unequal benefits that accrue to classroom teachers and academics engaged in research and publication—and suggested that this inequity could be surmounted by collaboration in the form of dialogue. Although the authors argued against generalizing from their experience or constructing an integrative theory, their observations are concordant with other collaborative situations where inequality exists. Our response proposes ways to address the issues they have identified without losing the power of a theoretical analysis. We contend that, by looking for commonalities and differences across settings, tasks, working methods, goals, and values, a framework for understanding collaboration can be constructed that preserves the benefits of rich descriptive accounts.

Vygotsky and education: The development of scientific concepts and discourse

Vygotskys writings on the development of scientific concepts have important implications for both psychology and education. Although his writing on scientific concepts has not been followed by as much research as some of his other ideas, it constitutes an important part of a central theme in his overall theory. For Vygotsky, the study of cognitive development included investigating the effect of formal school instruction on the development of thinking; he saw instruction as fundamentally different from spontaneous learning in everyday contexts, and he theorized that such experience would have a distinctive and transforming impact on the school childs mental development. In Vygotskys view, the structure of school learning provides the kind of cultural experience in which the higher psychological processes, such as voluntary attention and logical memory, are formed. Thus the distinction between spontaneous or everyday concepts and scientific concepts is central to a Vygotskian analysis. A spontaneous concept is purely denotative in the sense of being defined in terms of perceptual or functional or contextual properties of its referent. In contrast, “the relationship [of a scientific concept] to an object is mediated from the start by some other concept. … the very notion of scientific concept implies a certain position in relation to other concepts, i.e., a place within a system of concepts ” (1962, p. 93, italics added). The development of a system of concepts and the mediation of these concepts are seen as involving a kind of learning from which higher psychological functions develop.

Creative lives, creative tensions

Abstract There has been a shift in recent studies of creativity from a person‐centered approach to one emphasizing social processes. This occurrence is linked to broader shifts of investigative interest in the role of collaboration and thought communities as having a central role in scientific research. In this article these changes in theoretical and research orientations are analyzed from a Vygotskian point of view.

Cognitive pluralism: A sociocultural approach

In this paper, I refer to two notions which are basic to the theory of Cognitive Pluralism. First, there are multiple semiotic means. Language is a primary one, but it is not the only one. Second, semiotic means are based on cultural practices. In the theory of Cognitive Pluralism, as in other pluralistic theories, musical and mathematical notation systems, diagrams, maps, and other semiotic means are examined. The use of diverse cognitive approaches is illustrated by the accounts of experienced thinkers. I discuss analytical and analogue cognitive styles in mathematics in relation to historically shifting emphases in the discipline. The developmental and cultural implications of this theory are illustrated with analyses of narratives as they are retold by children. In closing, a contrast between Howard Gardners theory of Multiple Intelligences and the theory of Cognitive Pluralism is presented.

An Interactionist Model of Language Development

Few domains within the social and behavioral sciences can match the study of language development in theoretical richness, in breadth and inventiveness of research approaches, and in the liveliness of debates among its students. However, these characteristics of a flourishing interdisciplinary field have arisen only recently.

A Study of Children’s Writings in Non-Instructional Settings

An interactionist theory provides the framework for this study of the acquisition of literacy: major premises are drawn from the writings of Vygotsky, Bruner and Halliday. Early development - including the development of language - is viewed as an apprenticeship, where children actively seek and respond to the teaching of their kin. The lengthy period of dependence that characterizes human childhood provides the necessary context for the social embeddedness of learning. During these years, the intense, exploratory activities of children are linked to the scaffolding of adult attention: this interaction enables young learners to develop a mastery of basic cognitive and linguistic processes.

A Study of Story Retelling Among Young Bilingual Indian Children

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses about study of story retelling among young bilingual Indian children. The exploration of childrens stories is of increasing interest to psychologists and linguists. All children are exposed to the thematic discourses of their elders. In tribal communities, traditional tales are an integral part of community life and the socialization of children. The kindergarten aide in the Keresan Pueblo classroom administered the task in the native language. There are both language and age differences in the retelling of the story, and that different groups exhibit different profiles. The story retelling procedure is a promising language evaluation method with bilingual children, especially when some measure of sequential speech is desired. The method allows the comparison of the same story in two languages to identify the dominant language and the degree of knowledge of the weaker language.

The Origin of Insight in Mathematics

This paper has four objectives: (1) to address some psychological sources that motivate creative mathematicians to do sustained research, (2) to use case studies and self-reports to identify cognitive and mathematical strategies, (3) to give inspiring examples of creative breakthroughs in the teaching of mathematics, (4) to report on a startling recent discovery in artificial intelligence, with thought-provoking implications for the management of human intelligence: the pursuit of novelty, unrestricted by any other prescribed goal or objective, radically speeds up evolutionary adaptation.