Lev Vygotskij, figura e opera da (ri)scoprire. Un contributo alle teorie dell’educazione

Dopo un’introduzione alla figura e al pensiero di Lev Vygotskij, se ne esaminano gli aspetti relativi alle influenze storico-culturali sulle modalità di funzionamento cognitivo umano, con attinenza alla psicologia dello sviluppo e dell’educazione, nonché alla didattica. Mentre, infatti, alcune delle sue osservazioni sono state inglobate all’interno di moderne teorie dell’apprendimento, nelle discipline più diverse, dall’insegnamento della lettura e della scrittura a quello della matematica, altre sono state utilizzate solo in modo parziale o inconsapevole; altre ancora restano da analizzare e mettere a frutto. Il contributo si pone l’obiettivo di delineare tali aspetti, e quindi di (ri)scoprire l’opera di Vygotskij, sempre attuale per quanto riguarda sia la comprensione delle dinamiche implicate nei processi di apprendimento sia lo sviluppo delle abilità cognitive umane, in un clima di cooperazione docente-discente, dove il ruolo del primo è fondamentale al fine della riuscita, nel compito, del secondo.After an introduction to the figure and thought of Lev Vygotskij, some features concerning historical and cultural influences on human cognitive functioning will be analysed, especially in relation to developmental and educational psychology and teaching. Among Vygotskij’s ideas, some have been incorporated into modern theories of learning in various disciplines, ranging from teaching reading and writing skills to mathematics; others have been only partially or casually employed; others still remain to be analysed and used. This contribution aims to outline these issues in order to (re)discover Vygotskij’s work. In fact, his thought remains central to both the understanding of the dynamics of the learning process and to the development of human cognitive abilities, especially in relation to teacher-learner cooperation. In fact, teachers have a fundamental role in order to make their students’activities successful

Research and learning environment: the role of the teacher

In this paper, starting from a didactical proposal about the introduction of the concept of natural number, already experienced in some primary school classes, we report about the subsequent reorganization of it in a new experience, quite different from the previous one. This transformation arises from the necessity of taking into account both: the pupils as they are, namely as members of a community with certain characteristics and not others; and the teacher herself, if she wants to actively take part in the learning project that she is going to realise

What is "Cultural-Historical Psychology"? Or: Activity Theory as Methodology

Abstract: Referring to the ongoing discussion about the meaning of Cultural-historical Psychology I will defend two theses: (1) Activity Theory is a methodology; (2) The core of what is called the Cultural Historical School is its specific methodology. Because in English speaking countries the term “methodology” commonly covers the sum of scientific methods, techniques, and procedures, I will try to explain his understanding of methodology – following E.G. Judin – as a historically developed complex comprising four different levels of knowledge, of which the fundamental basis and principal level is philosophical knowledge, although these philosophical principles may never be directly applied or transferred to the level of concrete scientific disciplines.Keywords: 4 Levels of Methodological Knowledge; Philosophy of Psychology; Activity Theory; Cultural-historical Psychology; Vygotsky; Leontiev Che cos'è la "psicologia storico-culturale"? Ovvero: la teoria dell'Attività come metodologiaRiassunto: In relazione alle continue discussioni sul significato della Psicologia Storico-culturale propongo due tesi: (1) la Teoria dell’Attività è una metodologia; (2) la metodologia specifica della Psicologia Storico-culturale è il nucleo principale di quanto si definisce Scuola Storico-culturale. Dal momento che nei Paesi anglofoni il temine “metodologia” di copre solitamente il complesso delle tecniche, delle procedure e dei metodi scientifici, cerchero di illustrare il proprio modo di intendere la metodologia – seguendo E.G. Judin – come complesso storicamente emergente di quattro diversi livelli di conoscenza, la cui base fondamentale e il cui livello principale per ogni sistema metodologico è la conoscenza filosofica, per quanto i principi filosofici non possano mai essere direttamente applicati o trasposti sul piano della concreta prassi delle discipline scientifiche. Parole chiave: 4 Livelli di conoscenza metodologica; Filosofia della Psicologia; Teoria dell’attività; Psicologia storico-culturale; Vygotsky; Leontie

Toward a Theory of Experience

Science Education, Vol. 98, No. 1, pp. 106–126Experience is one of the most used terms in (science) education, and it is recognized as being related to learning (education). Yet what experience is and how it is related to learning and change remains untheorized. In this paper, we mainly draw on the work of J. Dewey and L. S. Vygotsky but also on M. Bakhtin and more recent advances on the topic of experience from French philosophy to contribute to a theory of this important category. Accordingly, experience is not something that belongs to or is had by individuals but rather denotes transactions in and across space and time within irreducible person-in-setting units; and it is perfused with an affect that is not (only) the result of mental constructions. An episode from an Australian physics classroom is used to exemplify what such a theory and its method-related implications have to accomplish in the analysis of concrete science lessons

An Integrated Theory of Thinking and Speaking that Draws on Vygotsky and Bakhtin/Vološinov

Vygotsky’s social-psychological theory of human development and Bakhtin/Vološinov’s theory of language and the dialogical nature of thought have received increasing interest in the educational research literature but tend to remain unrelated even where co-citation occurs. In this article, I first present a model that integrates the fundamentally common features in the two approaches and present a table with the correspondences of the theoretical terms across four European languages; the model thereby integrates the psychological and sociological dimensions at the heart of the two approaches. I then articulate and elaborate on six main issues that are relevant to and have implications for research: (a) sensual life as integrative unit, (b) self-movement and development, (c) the nested relations between activity and living utterance, (d) signification, (e) vernacular as the origin and locus of development, and (f) unit analysis

Heeding Wittgenstein on “Understanding” and “Meaning”: A Pragmatist and Concrete Human Psychological Approach in/for Education

Over 60 years ago, the influential language philosopher L. Wittgenstein suggested that there is no need to use "understanding" and "meaning" to understand how language works and, in fact, that the two theoretical terms are part of a primitive idea. Today, both remain two of the most frequently used terms in education. The purpose of this paper is to stimulate a discussion about abandoning these terms from the theoretical discourse of education in the way these are commonly used. Case materials from the research literature chosen from a large database on knowing and learning in science are used to exemplify the approach that does not require either concept. Implications are drawn for education research and practice

Justification Of Conditioning Volitional Development Of Children\u27s Mastering Their Language Skills And Functions

The article analyzes the scientific approaches of domestic scientists to understanding the problem of will and the interrelated aspects of its development in ontogenesis. When studying ways of forming volitional behavior at its first stages, special attention is drawn to the fact that the child\u27s volitional behavior arises with the emergence of the skills to build speech utterances, with which he begins to plan his activities and regulate the process of its implementation, that is, the mastering of planning and regulating functions of speech takes place. By analyzing the ways of forming language skills in preschool and early school age, structures for creation a speech utterance, the author clarified the term "expression speech" (stages of its construction) and language skills, provided for the implementation of each stage of verbal expression. Also it is justified the condition of volitional development of children mastering their language skills and functions; relationship stages of planning and regulatory functions of broadcasting in preschool and early school age. The paper presents the author\u27s functional-structural model of the optimization process of development of the planning and regulatory functions in the formation of children\u27s speech in their language skills

“I Am a Pibidiana”: Societal Relations As The Locus Of Sustained Development In A Teacher Education Program In Brazil

Many teachers point to the theory-practice gap between university training and their school-based work. Coteaching in conjunction with cogenerative dialoguing as a means of teacher induction has been shown to overcome this gap. In this paper, we articulate teacher development in the praxis-centered {coteaching | cogenerative dialoguing} setting of one Brazilian teacher education program in terms of changing societal relations. We draw on Vygotsky, Leont\u27ev, and Dewey\u27s ideas on development. The results exhibit the experience of teaching generally and the extant societal relations specifically as the condition for teacher development. Implications for teaching education programs are discussed