LEARNING BY EXPANDING:
AN ACTIVITY-THEORETICAL APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH

1. INTRODUCTION

Problem one: The futility of learning1
Problem two: The elusiveness of expansion4
Theoretical research as empirical research8
How to select the data10
How to process categories out of the data15
How to make the categories reach reality20

2. THE EMERGENCE OF LEARNING ACTIVITY AS A HISTORICAL FORM OF HUMAN LEARNING

At the limits of cognitivism23
Zinchenko's contribution27
The triangles of activity29
    The first lineage: From Peirce to Popper32
    The second lineage: From Mead to Trevarthen40
    The third lineage: From Vygotsky to Leont'ev 47
The evolution of activity59
Inner contradictions of human activity67
On the cultural evolution of human learning75
    The first lineage: Learning within school-going77
    The second lineage: Learning within work activity85
    The third lineage: Learning within science and art94
The structure of learning activity100
Metacognition and the subject of learning activity103
The emergence of learning activity in the ontogenesis106
The first intermediate balance111

3. THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT AS THE BASIC CATEGORY OF EXPANSIVE RESEARCH

Two classic dilemmas of developmental psychology113
Levels of learning115
Learning and development118
Individual and societal development129
How the new is generated134
The zone of proximal development139
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a voyage through
the zone of proximal development144
Theoretical lessons152
The analysis of the zone extended: The case of Seven Brothers160
The second intermediate balance173

4. THE INSTRUMENTS OF EXPANSION

The first dichotomy: 'primitive' versus 'advanced' thought174
The second dichotomy: experience versus analysis178
The third dichotomy: narrative versus paradigmatic thought182
Reaching beyond the dichotomies: Dewey, Wertheimer and Bartlett184
The complementarity of instruments191
Cognitive theories of concepts - once again at the limits
of cognitivism193
Vygotsky and the problem of concepts197
Dialectical logic and concepts199
Davydov and the problem of concepts203
Models as instruments of expansive thinking206
The functioning of models in theoretical thinking
    presented and questioned209
The discovery of the periodic law as an instance of
expansive transition213
Another instance: from nuclear fission to Manhattan Project221
Historical types of activity and expansive transition230
Secondary instruments systematized237
    Springboards237
    Models238
    Microcosms245
In search for a tertiary instrument of expansion246
Formal dialectics as a candidate249
Dialectics of substance252
Sociality and expansion: From apprenticeship
to polyphony257
The third intermediate balance262

5. TOWARDS AN EXPANSIVE METHODOLOGY

The cycle of cultural-historical methodology: Vygotsky, Scribner, and Cole264
The cycle of expansive methodology266
Phenomenology and delineation of the activity system269
Analysis of activity269
Formation of new instruments272
Practical application of new instruments277
Reporting278
The terminal balance279
REFERENCES280