Re: [xmca] Constructivism/Constructionism

From: Mike Cole (lchcmike@gmail.com)
Date: Wed Dec 06 2006 - 09:00:19 PST


Thanks! I wonder why Ana did not herself point to this!!
mike

On 12/6/06, Hendranus Vermeulen <hendranus@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Mike
>
> In my search for clarity regarding the many sects of constructivism and
> their relations to CHAT, I came across an interesting article yesterday:
> "Embracing History through Transforming It: Contrasting Piagetian versus
> Vygotskian (Activity) Theories of Learning and Development to Expand
> Constructivism within a Dialectical View of History" by Eduardo Vianna and
> Anna Stetsenko (
> http://web.gc.cuny.edu/Psychology/developmental/Anna/Vianna&Stetsenko.pdf).
> Have you come across it?
>
> In it the authors develops distinctions between the general and more
> specifics of constructivism on the theoretical grounds of Piaget, Vygotsky
> and CHAT.
>
> The authors imply that constructionism does not emphasize either Piaget
> either Vygotsky's contributions: "Representatives of social constructionism,
> for example, rarely engage in dialogues with Piagetian cognitive
> constructivism, and Vygotsky's cultural-historical theory is typically
> perceived as a frame-work that emphasizes the social origins of mind and has
> little to do with constructivism" (Vianna and Stetsenko 2006).
>
> Constructionism consequently emphasizes the social mechanisms of
> development and largely ignores the cognitive aspects: "One prominent line
> of constructivist approaches is based on the centrality of human action in
> the emergence of social reality and can be termed psychological
> constructivism. This line of theories focuses on the centrality of
> psychological processes and human subjectivity in the production of both
> human development and social processes—in contradistinction to social
> constructionism, which focuses on societal-level transactions as the
> ultimate level of analysis and regards human subjectivity as fleeting
> products of powerful social forces, especially discourse" (Vianna and
> Stetsenko 2006).
>
> Vianna, E. and A. Stetsenko (2006). "Embracing History through
> Transforming It: Contrasting Piagetian versus Vygotskian (Activity) Theories
> of Learning and Development to Expand Constructivism within a Dialectical
> View of History." Theory & Psychology 16(1): 81-108.
>
> Hope that you find this useful
> Hendranus
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