Cultural-historical activity theory and the zone of proximal development in the study of idioculture design and implementation
Introduction
The absence of context and culture from the early history of the cognitive sciences was, according to Gardner (1987), the result of a general attempt by cognitive scientists to “factor out these elements to the maximum extent possible,” (p. 41). The traditional vision of cognition framed human thinking as the manipulation of inner mental representations of an external world (the central processing unit metaphor). Computational models were viewed as a key way to study cognitive phenomena thus interpreted. These models assume cognitive processes that are invariant across contexts, cultures, and history. This theoretical vision set the agenda of cognitive science as a project of explaining the mind from the inside out. From this perspective the external/internal distinction is clear: processing goes on inside the head.
Over the past several decades approaches challenging these foundational assumptions have emerged or been rediscovered within the cognitive and social sciences (Cole, 1996, Engeström, 1987, Hutchins, 1995). These alternatives approach the problem of cognition from the outside in, bringing us to reevaluate the importance of culture in our theories of cognition (Hutchins, 2001). In this paper we focus on one such approach: Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT). Rather than conceptualizing culture and cognition as two separate phenomena that interact in a manner akin to stimulus and response, CHAT argues for a view of culture and cognition as co-constituted in socially organized, culturally mediated, historically conditioned forms of activity. This move broadens the unit of analysis beyond the individual to include the development and deployment of the mediational means through which humans coordinate with one another and their multifaceted environments; it places particular focus on the dynamics of change over time.
In this article we seek to accomplish two goals. First, we present a brief overview of CHAT sufficient to permit analysis of a real-world example of change in joint mediated activity that reveals the dynamics of cognitive change in a theoretically fruitful manner. Second, we present the example and its analysis. The example is presented in two forms: as a printed transcript with interspersed interpretive comments and as a videotaped archival record available on the internet. We return at the end to examine the impact of this approach in relation to other efforts to understand cognition as a socio-culturally constituted process.
Section snippets
Cultural-historical activity theory
CHAT represents one of a broad family of theories that view the cultural mediation of behavior to be the central moment in the constitution of the human mind (Engeström, Miettinen, & Punamäki, 1999). It is rooted in the Russian psychological tradition initiated by the developmental psychologist Vygotsky, together with his colleagues Luria and Leont’ev (Leont’ev, 1978, Luria, 1971, Vygotsky, 1978). CHAT is an interdisciplinary enterprise, as it emphasizes the role of culture and society in
The zone of proximal development
As noted earlier in our discussion of Vygotsky’s genetic law of cultural development, the individual development of higher mental functions (i.e. the internalization/appropriation of the mediational means and their uses) occurs through social interaction. Vygotsky proposed that children’s internalization/appropriation of social processes takes place through participation with adults or peers in cultural activities that are slightly beyond their competence. It is from this perspective that
Creating an activity setting as a context for research
One strategy we have followed in seeking to understand the dynamics of cognitive change as culturally mediated joint activity is to create systems of activities which combine several sources of motivation for children including play, learning, and peer interaction. These systems (described in some detail in Cole, 1996, Cole & The Distributed Literacy Consortium, 2006), are implemented during the after-school hours in order to allow for the possibility of designing activities free from the
Learning and development in a ZOPED: A bilingual teaching/learning interaction
The following example takes place at La Clase Mágica (LCM), a site designed according to Fifth Dimension principles by Olga Vásquez (2003). Located in a Mexican–American enclave in a southern California suburb, activities at this site are structured to create a bilingual–bicultural socio-cultural environment. The bicultural character of the activity is promoted not just as a source of pride for the predominantly Hispanic children and adolescents who attend, but as a social and cognitive tool
Conclusion: Cognition as culturally mediated collaboration
Vygotsky liked to cite Peter Blonsky’s assertion that the behavior of man can be understood only as the history of behavior. As CHAT researchers we believe that it is by studying and participating in the creation and maintenance of activity systems like the Fifth Dimension that we gain special insight into this “history,” of the development and functioning of cognitive systems, from the individual level (e.g. in the problem solving that Sonia was able to engage in through collaboration) to the
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank the La Clase Mágica community; the Distributed Literacy Consortium for posting the example and transcript on the web; UCLINKS for their ongoing support to study processes of learning and development through the creation of after-school settings such as those described in this paper; Deborah Downing–Wilson, Peter Smagorinsky and one anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments and suggestions. Robert Lecusay would like thank the National Science Foundation Graduate
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