Vygotsky theorized that instruction plays a key part in cognitive development by providing culturally evolved cognitive tools which, once internalized by the child, mediate and advance the child’s cognitive functioning. Gal’perin further elaborated this approach arguing that it is the quality (specific character) of cognitive tools (such as concepts, criteria, schemas) acquired by the child that to a large extent defines the specifics of cognitive development. He theoretically explicated and empirically tested an alternative type of instruction which, unlike traditional instruction, directly generated cognitive development by providing cognitive tools of a higher quality (based on theoretical concepts as opposed to empirical concepts). The often overlooked yet important implications of Gal’perinian perspective are: 1) that there is a need for the theory of development to conceptualize and integrate the processes related to learning, and 2) that most existing theories of development capture just one possible version of development – the version that is bound to deficient cognitive tools employed in the currently dominating type of instruction.
Learning and instruction have always been important topics in the sociocultural school of thought founded by Vygotsky and further developed by his followers. Taking sociocultural ideas as a starting point, Piotr Galperin developed an original conceptual system and a new method of investigation that made teaching and learning a central part of psychological research. We analyze Galperin's theory and discuss its direct relevance for educational practice. The analysis is based on a spiral model which, we suggest, most adequately represents Galperin's procedure of the formation of mental actions. This model helps to clarify the relevance of Galperin's approach to current issues in psychology and education.Galperin's approach 3 Connecting Sociocultural Theory and Educational Practice:Galperin's ApproachIn this article, we discuss how teaching and learning have been integrated in psychological theory and research by Piotr Galperin , one of the major figures (along with Leontiev, Luria, Elkonin, Davydov, and others) in the sociocultural school of thought that originated in the work of Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky's theory emerged out of the social and political context of the first decades of the 20 th century and represented a new approach to psychology with tremendous promise. However, it remained unfinished and in need of reexamination and elaboration. The present analysis of Galperin's approach can be considered as a step in this direction. We argue that Galperin's original synthesis of theoretical ideas about the development of mental actions and teaching strategies for efficient formation of new actions in the laboratory and classroom contexts was a novel and necessary extension of Vygotsky's ideas. Galperin's approach is that he creatively elaborated these ideas and used a method of systematic construction of mental actions in specially organized teaching and learning activities to reveal the necessary steps that mental actions undergo in their genesis, as they originate from material actions. We discuss the foundational core in Galperin's procedures, presenting it as a spiral model, and drawing attention to the reciprocal links and regularities in the processes of teaching, learning, and cognitive development. Galperin's approach 4In line with this general contribution, Galperin's contemporary relevance is noteworthy.As we discuss in the concluding section of this article, Galperin's approach resonates with the recent revival of interest in overcoming the limitations of theories that ignore the fundamental role of learning in children's development. For researchers in educational psychology who turn to direct study of the impact of learning on development, Galperin's approach can serve as a useful source of ideas and methodology.In addition, Galperin's perspective opens up ways to address links between today's sociocultural theories that take root in Vygotsky's works, and cognitively oriented studies on learning and development. Linking sociocultural and cognitive theories is a necessary prerequisite for deve...
Abstract. This paper suggests a framework in which the importance of the individual dimension and agency can be reclaimed within a profoundly social and relational view of the self. Juxtaposed with recent research on the self, cultural-historical activity theory is discussed, including its foundational premises formulated by Vygotsky and its conception of the self articulated by Leontiev. Expanded in a number of ways proposed in this paper, this theory helps to theorize the self (a) in its practical relevance, as a lawful and necessary moment in human collective practices, (b) as endowed with the capacity to generate new cycles of practice, and (c) as immanent in activities that position individuals to contribute to meaningfully changing the world. The concept of 'self as a leading activity' is discussed as a way to capture what the self is, where it is located, and what its purpose and relation to society are.Key Words: agency, cultural-historical activity theory, development, dialectical, Leontiev, personality, self, social-individual dichotomy, Vygotsky Although much of psychology today remains devoted to the cognitivist agenda of studying human functioning as context-free information processing in individual minds, there is a powerful current of ideas, both in psychology and in neighboring disciplines, that contests the most cherished individualist assumptions of cognitivism. Perhaps more clearly than in any other field, the research on the self has witnessed a move away from the essentialist and context-independent notions of individual possessions (e.g. personality traits, attributes) toward viewing the self as being embedded within sociocultural contexts and intrinsically interwoven with them. The recent approaches to the self, although united in their quest to overcome the extreme individualism of traditional accounts by capitalizing on sociocultural contexts, vary greatly in how the very notions of the self, contextTheory & Psychology
In this article we examine the contribution to the analysis of the problem of internalization made by the Russian psychologist Gal’perin. The concept of internalization has been criticized recently for restricting researchers to an old paradigm of Cartesian dualism, with the suggestion made that clearer concepts such as mastery or appropriation be substituted. In our view, the concept of internalization has the advantage of pointing to a specifically human type of appropriation. We propose an alternative solution. Rather than replacing one term with another, the very notions of internal and external in the realm of mental activity should be reconceptualized. In the framework of Gal’perin’s ideas, the processes underlying the internalization concept can be construed without creating dualistic confusion. The result is a better understanding of the specificity of human mental development.
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