I agree Maria Judith with you AND with Barbara Rogoff:
>> Piaget's use of the isolated individual as the
>> unit of analysis, in my view, makes it impossible to develop
>> a sociocultural approach to cognition using his theory as
>> the basis;sociocultural aspects of cognition are not merely
>> the addition of individul changes in thinking resulting
>> from social interaction.(Rogoff, 1998, p. 686)
>>
Barbara's point is whether Piaget's theory, which centers on 'the
individual' can be used as the *basis* for a sociocultultural theory.
Piaget mostly focusses on development of the one, sometimes in the presence
of the many. This does indeed offers valuable insights into development,
but it is a partial view. The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
People come together in ways that are more than what you can add from their
individual contributions taken from a view on the individual. Similarly
however, sociocultural theories also offer partial views, but these
complement Piagets ideas.
There are intersections in the views:
"In simpler terms, the child does not at first succeed in reflecting in
words and concepts the procedures that he already knows how to carry out in
acts, and if he cannot reflect them it is because, in order to adapt
himself to the collective and conceptual plane on which his thought will
henceforth move, he is obliged to repeat the work of coordination between
assimilation and accomodation alread accomplished in his sensorimoter
adaptation anterior to the physical and practical universe"
Piaget, The construction of reality in the child, p 407
There are similar ideas here to what Vygosky describes, though Piaget
focusses more on what happens when a person interacts with a physical world
in which social interactions are secondary. Vygotsky impresses me as
accomplishing the complement. Situations outside the laboratory might
include either. I am reminded of one in which I recently walked up to a
boy code-named 'Pablo' who was sitting alone, playing a very challenging
game, at a computer. As I began to interact with him, Vygotsky entered the
conversation, and Piaget moved to the side. I realize that not only did I
have difficulty understanding the game, so also did the child. What was he
doing prior to my arrival? He seemed completely occupied as I approached.
I would have liked to debrief with both Piaget and Vygotsky.
Bill Barowy, Associate Professor
Technology in Education
Lesley College, 29 Everett Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-2790
Phone: 617-349-8168 / Fax: 617-349-8169
_______________________
"One of life's quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself
and watch yourself softly become the author of something beautiful."
[Norman Maclean in "A river runs through it."]