zopeds are great!

Susan Leigh Star (s-star1 who-is-at uiuc.edu)
Mon, 20 Oct 1997 17:00:28 -0600

Hi Pedro, Yes, after some reflection, I think the construction works on the
same grounds. At first I resisted it I think because I had a fairly
limited view of construction (in spite of Mike and Peg's great book). But
when I think about it in terms of a construction process familiar to me
(writing poems or cooking), I think the elements we've been teasing out are
definitely there. To summarize a little from the recent visualization
posts, I am hearing the ZPD as being:

-- fully embodied
-- fully of voices, conflicting(?) at least often conflicting
-- juice, flow, zone, cellular, shimmering, constructing
-- "made of" or made visible by subtle analysis of patterns, as with
StarLogo (or some of the good kinds of statistics in the right hands?) or
with the T'ai Chi teacher's reading of Diane's body or ith strange
attractors (and Katherine's point about not being able to see fractals)
--vulnerable (I add this last one after thinking about Diane's comments on
red tape surrounding her experience)
-- linguistically impoverished

Thanks all for helping me flesh this out and see more.

L*

>At 09:45 AM 10/11/97 -0500, you wrote: gestures, words) that point
>> back to that limnal zone.
>>A couple of questions: how do people visualize the zone? Are there other
>> "between" concepts that we
>>could compare to zoped?
>>
>>
>>L*
>>
>>Here are a couple of thoughts, Leigh,
>1. I visualize the zone as a place that is situated between the actual and
>the distal zones of development.
>It is a place where a process occurs, dialectically in which the inter and
>intra levels are crossed, where agency is expressed in constructing models
>of the world in the head. A place where the activity unit of analysis can
>be deployed .
> So is it the construction zone, where competence is developed to be
>manifested later?
>A place like short term memory in IPS models where the metaphor is that of
>a blackboard where/in-between new inputs and LTM(consciousness?) traces
>meet....?
>
> But I also think it was also a way to debunk the then 3 mighty analyses of
>the Learning/Dev relation and say, hey look at this aspect of development
>that is not addressed by the Piaget, Beh. and Gestalt positions. The
>context in which this zone was originally envisioned was The issue of the
>3 competing models about the relationship between learning and development.
>The less obvious zone where both learning and development are in embryonic
>states that cannot be observed directly or measured with performance in
>mind. So the metaphor is created instrumentally to make a decisive point of
>contention that captured the analytic approach by CHAT.
>It invited teaching experiments at the psychol(indiv. level). Then it
>became a "distance" between two operational levels in the example provided
>by LSV.
>
>I see therapy as a place where the role of the effective counselor is to
>tap into the problem related ZPD of the client, where the client
>agentically may choose to take some neutral stimuli and convert it into a
>solution that solves the problem, (whether intended or not by the
>therapist). The therapist tries to lend her consciousness, place tools,
>beliefs, skills at the disposal of the learner/client, experiences are
>re-mediated so that hopefully the learner can come out and act with
>new/better means. The CH zpd spin has been most applied to special ed., (I
>am drafting an approximation to a CH approach as a theory of counseling,
>which is leading to a lot of relabeling, reconceptualizing.)
>
>Finally, I see the metaphor not just as a place that comes and goes between
>indiv. and social/expert consciousness. At the sociogenetic level, I see
>groups having and "agentically " developing ZPD's. The use mediational
>means to change the status quo (unions, civil right and other marches, a
>courtcase).
>
>&, The metaphor as a useful analytical tool (not a place), a mediational
>means in its own right.
>
>Well, I'm getting beyond the point which may be just the place/tool thing,
>so stop.
>
>2. Second question? perhaps cog. environment.
>
>pedro
>P. R. Portes
>Professor
>Educational & Counseling
>Psychology Dept. 310
>University of Louisville
>KY 40292
>Fax- 502-852-0629
>Of. Tel. 502-852-0630