>yet one spatial implication of zoped seems to me very important and I
>would hardly want to do away with it, and that is the reaching outwards
>into new experiences, domains, problems, challenges along with the
>orientations and tools and affects that enable that expansion.
>It is partly in this light that I see Eugene's insistence on the
>communicative, dyadic, interactive aspect of zoped--in that the impulse to
>relationship with others is one of the strongest forces for our reachiong
>outward, and conditions all our other forms of activity (consider Judy and
>Eugene's interest in transference issues in learning). While I am not
>sure whether I would put the same insistence on communications marking the
>boundary of zoped learning situations from others, I certainly thinki it
>is worth considering the force of human relationships in learning.
>
>Chuck
>
and Paul Prior wrote
>>
>> I guess my sense is that the questions people have raised in this thread
>> (and the descriptions of individual and social change) are outpacing and
>> struggling against a concept formed in a much narrower and more strategic
>> fashion (many educational testers today could be challenged by the
>> implications of zoped as Vygotsky formulated it and questions of
>> teachability are still important to teachers).
>>
I admit I have been followed the multiple (ad nauseum) postings on the zpd
with a degree of fascination, and a measure of concern which has been
articulated quite well
by Chuck Bazerman and Paul Prior, Eugene, and a few others...
it is, on the one hand, quite easy to wander into an area of utter abstraction,
such as Vygotsky's zpd, and plow forth like a Rocky Mtn spring melt, hauling
along the flotsam and jetsam that accumulates over a season in a flood
that cascades wildly down to the valley floor... that's the essense of
abstraction,
after all, the seduction of theory,
it's what we do, as academics, we blah-blah for a living (which is NOT to
dimish or trivialize the value of blah-blahing, but to emphasize its
exclusivity)
on the other hand, what Chuck and Paul and Eugene and others are saying, it
seems to me, is important with regards to that question which underwrites
all our work and all our questions and "raison d'etre" ...
(and I admit I am much cruder at phrasing it), but , ..."so what?"
I interjected into these streams a few days ago with a Jeopardy question
(what is called AGENCY?) to suggest this
(but maybe I've blacklisted for being too lippy and I don't realize it yet?)
but I would add here my voice to those who indicated likewise, that
these zones of interaction which Vyg wrote about are about human interactions
and the possibilities which linger in those spaces between our interactions...
it is about agency, about communication, interpersonal relations, about
listening - *really* listening - and not about hot radiators and dogs
and ice floes,
as fascinating as all that is, don't get me wrong (these were the most
interesting
posts in fact!) ;-),
but where's the flesh and skin in all of this? the fears of intimacy
amongst people in edcuative settings? those pedagogical moments when
something astonishing
and surprising takes place...or more importantly, doesn't?
people people people.... where are the people?
the utility of a knowledge of zpd is dubious without some sense of its
meaningfulness amongst and between the social relations upon which
is it contingent...
The question of transference is an excellent one -
or what about in situtations with
children who are severely disadvantaged, such as in cases of
child autism or child psychosis? children who are "diagnosed" as different
from "normal" chidlren and segregated accordingly? how can the zpd
be more usefully grasped as transactional...? AS Eva would say, do we have
any stories
within which to situate the interpretations of this "zone" which is,
after all, not specifically spatial, negative/positive (oiy those
dualisms!!) ... but more interpersonal...?
ach...my $0.02, for whatever they're worth these days.
diane
"Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right"
(Ani Difranco)
*********************************************
diane celia hodges
faculty of graduate studies
centre for the study of curriculum and instruction
university of british columbia,
vancouver, british columbia, canada V6T 1Z4
(604) 253-4807
dchodges who-is-at interchange.ubc.ca