From: Eugene Matusov
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Date: 13 Nov 1996
Time: 14:21:23
Week 8. 11/18. Readings due November 18
Topic 5. How can learning and development be conceptualized? What is relationship between learning and development? How does informal and everyday learning differ from traditional school learning?
Rationale for the topic: We expect you to be working on your final research papers these weeks, so we suggest you to read the following theoretical and conceptual papers on the relationship between learning and development, a sociocultural approach to studying development, the notions of ZPD and leading activities, and the concept of situated cognition.
Griffin, P. & Cole M. (1984). Current activity for the future: The Zo-ped. In B. Rogoff & J. Wertsch (Eds.), New Directions for Child Development, 23: 45-63. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Eugene's questions:
1) What is scaffolding? Give an example. How does the ZPD differ from scaffolding? Why do you think people confuse them? Give an example of the ZPD without scaffolding.
2) What is "top" and "down" of the ZPD? Give an example. How do you think they relate to the "top-down" and "bottom-up" instructional approaches?
3) What is leading activity and how does it relate to the ZPD? What is the BU kids leading activity? What is your leading activity?
4) What does it mean being "in the game"? Have the BU kids been ever "in the game"? Give an example?
5) Describe Kalani's play ZPD.
6) How does the ZPD relate to child's future and adult's past?
Rogoff, B. (1995). Observing sociocultural activity on three planes: Participatory appropriation, guided participation, apprenticeship. In J. V. Wertsch, P. del Rio, A. Alvarez (Eds.), Sociocultural studies of mind. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Eugene's questions:
1) What is "unit of analysis"?
2) What is apprenticeship plane of analysis of sociocultural activity (what involves in that plane)? How it is different from apprenticeship as an educational practice?
3) What is guided participation? How different is it from assisted performance?
4) What is participatory appropriation and how different is it from internalization?
5) How relevant are Rogoff's concepts for analysis of learning at Barrios Unidos?