I'm curious how others would react to this list from a CHAT perspective.
They are (roughly summarized):
perspective (all meanings and events are relative to perspective),
constraints (imposed by our biological inheritance and by the symbolic
systems available--the symbolic however also functions to transcend
biological limitations),
constructivism (we construct realities, largely on the basis of tradition
and our culture's toolkit for ways of thinking),
interaction (development and learning happen in interactions where
intersubjectivity is fundamtental),
externalization (as a collective function of culture, as critical to
forming identity and community, and as a central resource in performing
actions--it seems here that Bruner's examples all focus on externalization
of symbolic activity in texts, laws, etc. as opposed to in machines and
instruments),
instrumentalism (education has consequences in the lives of individuals and
in institutions and culture--here he argues that education is always
political)
institution (that education is institutionalized and takes on distinctly
institutional characteristics--here he draws on Bourdieu's notion of
distinctions)
identity and self-esteem (education is about the formation of identities
and self-esteem--a combination of efficacy and evaluation--and education is
in competition with other cultural "markets" as a potential source of
self-esteem)
and finally and most importantly, narrative (the fundamental mode of
thought through which people make sense of their worlds, themselves, and
their communities)
________________
Paul Prior
U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
p-prior who-is-at uiuc.edu