Hi again,
It seems that, given that one of the many things we want to
accomplish in education is individual learning/transformation/legitimate
participation, a focus on the tools by which action is mediated is critical.
Individuals in social context, both operating within and acting on those
contexts, has been a hallmark of CHAT research that has contributed to
understanding of change at multiple levels (individual, dyad, group,
'culture', societal). One of the things I find powerful in a focus on
mediating tools/artifacts is that individuals are not saddled with the full
responsibility for transformation, learning, and change. Another thing is,
as an educator, while I realize that we deal with individuals with their
particular identities, commitments, proclivities, histories, goals, etc., we
can, based on JW's focus on tools in social context, invite individuals into
a collective venture that involves collective as well as individual
learning.
Idealistic, yes, but also thinking grounded in the material,
Nancy
> Hi Nancy-- You quote jw as follows:
>
> A change in cultural tools may often be a more powerful force of
> development than the enhancement of individuals' skills" (Wertsch, 1998,
> p.
> 38, Mind and Action).
>
> I will check out the surrounding text, but screen-wise, your question
> evokes the following question:
>
> If mediated action, that is, action mediated by tools (in a social
> context) is a basic unit of analysis
> which it is for Jim, what does the reference to individual's skills mean?
>
> mike
>
> On 7/31/05, Ares, Nancy < nancy.ares@rochester.edu> wrote:
>
> Another tiny query,
>
> I wonder how considering change at the level Donna and Mike are
> having us
> think about could be informed by the following:
>
> "A change in cultural tools may often be a more powerful
> force of
> development than the enhancement of individuals' skills" (Wertsch,
> 1998, p.
> 38, Mind and Action).
>
> This speaks to units of analysis issue that seem to be important,
> and to
> interactions among levels or spheres of activity. Some hang their
> hats on
> educational, digital, networked, etc. technologies as ways to
> distribute
> knowledge, activity, and power differently in education. Though the
> politics
> of education continue to operate as they have for generations, what
> do
> others think about the possibilities of new technological
> capabilities
> fostering what Peg Griffin offered, "interactive activation among
> parallel
> distributed processes," being revolutionary? Can communication
> channels'
> being multiplied and diversified disrupt old-school politics?
>
> Nancy
>
>
> Nancy Ares
> Assistant Professor
> Teaching & Curriculum
> The Warner Graduate School of Education
> and Human Development
> University of Rochester
> P.O. Box 270425
> Rochester, NY 14627
> 585-273-5957
> fax 585-473-7598
>
> > ----------
> > From: Peg Griffin
> > Reply To: Peg.Griffin@worldnet.att.net;eXtended Mind, Culture,
> > Activity
> > Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 2:19 PM
> > To: mcole@weber.ucsd.edu; 'eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity'
> > Subject: RE: [xmca] change in education
> >
> > <<File: ATT844592.txt>>
> > Hi Mike and Donna and others,
> >
> > Just a tiny query: Instead of top-down or bottom-up, would either
> or both
> > of you go for what a lot of people use in various cognitive models
> > nowadays: interactive activation among parallel distributed
> processes?
> > It has always seemed to me to be a natural frame for models that
> address
> > the cultural-historical. Plus, it casts light on the variability
> all the
> > way down/up/and sideways that practice must face and might
> appropriate.
> >
> > Peg
> >
> > _____
> >
> > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:
> xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
> > Behalf Of Mike Cole
> > Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 10:07 AM
> > To: Donna Russell
> > Cc: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > Subject: Re: [xmca] change in education
> >
> >
> >
> > Dear Dr. Russell
> >
> >
> >
> > I hope it is clear that I, too believe that there are teachers out
> there
> > who care deeply about their student, will do anything they
> >
> > can (including working a lot of overtime and spending their own
> money) to
> > make their students lives potentially more
> >
> > productive........ Where, perhaps, we differ, is about whether the
> sorts
> > of changes we are discussing, changes that
> >
> > might be called "developmenal" in that they involve qualitative
> shifts in
> > the system of education, can be achieved entirely
> >
> > through bottom up processes operating in a part of the social
> order. With
> > respects to all sorts of developmental phenomena
> >
> > (I take learning to read to be one), it seems like a combination
> of top
> > down and bottom up processes (a dialectical process,
> >
> > perhaps)? are needed.
> >
> >
> >
> > That said, might you consider having your article, "A paradigm
> shift: A
> > case study of innovation in an educational setting" be
> >
> > linked to the xma "papers for discussion" page for discussion
> when the
> > LCA discussion has run its course (we have still
> >
> > not fully incorporated Bernstein, whose work strikes me as very
> important
> > to the discussion). The paper is relevant in lots of
> >
> > ways to XMCA, I think. What do you think?
> >
> >
> >
> > On another matter, if you would not mind, I would find it easier
> to refer
> > to you as Donna since you sign your name that way. The
> >
> > use of honorific titles in this medium exacerbates the tendencies
> to
> > create hierarchies where they need not exist. There are certainly
> >
> > wide variations in expertise, but they are multi-dimensional in
> the
> > highest degree. For example, you have expertise as a classroom
> >
> > teacher while I have never been one and do not believe that I have
> any
> > right to give advice to teachers about how to teach under the
> >
> > conditions of their work, which I find far too difficult to deal
> with. So
> > let me consider you an expert from whom I can learn, especially
> >
> > when, as you have done, you make your voice heard to the benefit
> of this
> > community of learners.
> >
> > mike
> >
> >
> >
> > On 7/30/05, Donna Russell < donnar@yhti.net> wrote:
> >
> > hi dr cole
> >
> >
> >
> > i believe there are teachers out there- i was one and i work with
> them-
> > who care very deeply about their students- they will do anything
> that
> > works to make their students' lifes potentially more productive
> including
> > fighting against the political climate, understanding the changing
> > dynamics of their classrooms and the financial constraints- i work
> to help
> > them - change in education will happen- i believe- in classrooms-
> as a
> > bottom-up process- in the types and qualities of the interactions
> of
> > teachers and their students- that is the engine that drives a
> program of
> > change-
> >
> >
> >
> > i use chat to understand classrooms because when i became a doc
> student in
> > ed psych it was the only research methodology that made sense to
> me as a
> > teacher- i had an ephiphany when i read engestrom's book- i knew
> it would
> > allow me to make sense of the interactions of the dynamics of a
> classrooms
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > i have published several times-i did publish a short case study
> analysis
> > of a real change in beliefs an urban classroom- i have attached
> this
> > article to an email to you- i was published in the online
> internation
> > journal of instructional technology
> > http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Dec_04/index.htm
> >
> >
> >
> > i really do not feel qualified to post it to xmca i have only had
> my phd
> > for 2 years- i have presented many times (including computer
> supported
> > collaborative learning and i will present a paper at iscar) but i
> have
> > only published 5 times in the past 2 years since i started at
> umkc.
> >
> >
> >
> > if you feel that this article or another would be of interest
> please let
> > me know -i have sent a much more in-depth article in regards to
> my
> > research design to mca last september- but i am not sure of its
> status-
> > perhaps it would be of more interest -
> >
> >
> >
> > thanks so much for your response
> >
> >
> >
> > donna
> >
> >
> >
> > Donna L. Russell, Ph.D.
> > Assistant Professor
> > Instructional Technology
> > Curriculum and Instructional Leadership
> > Suite 309
> > School of Education
> > University of Missouri-Kansas City
> > Kansas City, MO 64110
> > (cell) 314.210.6996
> > (office) 816.235.5871
> > russelldl@umkc.edu
> > http://r.web.umkc.edu/russelldl/
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> >
> > From: Mike Cole
> >
> > To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> >
> >
> >
> > Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2005 10:23 AM
> >
> > Subject: Re: [xmca] change in education
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi Donna--
> >
> >
> >
> > I totally agree concerning the POTENTIAL of using CHAT for
> design of
> > educational
> >
> > activities, but its a hard look at the barriers that the
> Kozulin
> > (sorry for the mis-spelling of the file name)
> >
> > discussion of Davydov's curriculum made me think about in
> light of
> > the discussion about barriers to
> >
> > changes in adult behaviors needed to produce the kinds of
> > interactions that, theoretically, could be
> >
> > developmentally generative.
> >
> >
> >
> > For example: "To put it bluntly, if a student in the 1970's
> were to
> > take a strictly conceptual-theoretical
> >
> > attitude toward the study of Soviet history (history is one
> domain
> > that davydov's ideas were and are
> >
> > being applied to), he or she would most probably be purged
> from the
> > school as a dissident and if old
> >
> > enough could end up in Siberian exile."
> >
> >
> >
> > Now apply this statement to the CURRENT situation in the US.
> We do
> > not have the Russian tradition
> >
> > of sending people to far-off dangerous environments to rid
> society
> > of them, but we certainly have our
> >
> > ways of disciplining dissidents. That currently includes
> people who
> > believe in evolution in many parts
> >
> > of the country and very specifically, it applies to the
> writing of
> > textbooks about American history. At
> >
> > present the wife of the vice-president, who has a say in
> such
> > matters, amazingly, has decreed that
> >
> > only textbooks that teach the "traditonal history of the US"
> should
> > be allowed. That traditional history
> >
> > tells us that Davy Crockett was a hero, forgets that in WWII
> it was
> > the US and Britain who created a
> >
> > deliberate policy of targeting civilians as legitimate
> targets for
> > destruction, which our massive
> >
> > airforces carried out in places like Dresden and, famously,
> > Hiroshima and Nagasaki (anniversaries
> >
> > coming up).
> >
> >
> >
> > I am awaiting with great interest the insights of people in
> the
> > discussion who have, correctly, linked real
> >
> > changes in education to the need for teachers to change. But
> if the
> > effort stops there, history has some
> >
> > very clear lessons for us about how far the well intentioned
> changes
> > will go.
> >
> >
> >
> > Good luck in your work! If we want to understand history,
> trying to
> > change it is a pretty good heuristic. Where
> >
> > have you published resarch on developing AT models of
> innovation in
> > diverse settings? Perhaps we could
> >
> > post for discussion and all learn something from it.
> >
> > mike
> >
> >
> >
> > On 7/29/05, Russell, Donna L < russelldl@umkc.edu > wrote:
> >
> >
> > Hello Everyone
> >
> > In reference to the article sent my mike cole on kozlyn and
> davidoff
> > on change in education:
> >
> > I have previously taught for 14 years in a variety of
> classrooms
> > including St. Louis Public schools. I have a background in
> instructional
> > design and educational technology. I currently study how teachers
> > implement change in their classrooms- primarily their use of
> technology -
> > using activity theory. Here at UMKC I am implementing research of
> urban
> > classrooms in the Kansas City school districts..
> >
> > I sincerely believe that there is a potential for a paradigm
> shift
> > in education by developing constructivist-based learning
> environmnents
> > based on cog theory and embedding advanced learning technologies
> in a
> > meaningful and an authentic manner. It has been my experience
> that these
> > educational experiences are productive in suburban, rural, and
> urban
> > schools. However, there are many barriers for teachers who wish
> to
> > innovate in urban settings.
> >
> > I attempt through my SC research design to develop AT-based
> models
> > of effective innovation in diverse educational settings so these
> models
> > can be used to develop profesisonal development programs in varied
> > educational settings so educators can innovate successfully and
> serve
> > their increasingly diverse students productively.
> >
> > Donna
> >
> >
> > Donna L. Russell, Ph.D.
> > Assistant Professor
> > Instructional Technology
> > Curriculum and Instructional Leadership
> > 309 School of Education
> > University of Missouri-Kansas City
> > Kansas City, MO 64110
> > russelldl@umkc.edu
> > (office) 816.235.5871
> > (cell) 314.210.6996
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > xmca mailing list
> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _____
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > xmca mailing list
> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Aug 01 2005 - 01:01:11 PDT