Thank you Nate,
I will have to print out all the 78 pages (in Word) of LBE Ch 2 and take
them with me. Just when the discussion is becoming interesting I am leaving
for Yugoslavia for about 2 weeks. I hope to have time to glimpse bits of
the discussion from a friend's Internet connection, but I doubt that I will
have time to sit and really read everything. So, like Gary, I will have to
make it up afterwards - although there is never time for a makeup, really.
The right time passes and we are left on some larger time scale but that
one moves so slowly that we don't think there is anything moving. At the
same time, some other time track jumps under our feet and we have to get
moving whether we like it or not. (these are some echoes of Lemke's article
in the new issue of MCA Journal).
I find LBE fascinating and thought provoking. I would like to discuss
almost any point there. The historic lineages leading to the present day
format of the activity theory; the actual elements of the activity system
and their relationships and time scales...
I have just barely started to read... One point seems to be the most
difficult: the coordination between Object orientation of an individual and
her/his orientation to Other People. Or - how to close the three sides
(Individual, Community, Object) into a triangle. Threvarten's schemes are
very telling but I still see the most of the struggle in closing this gap
and putting these two orientations into a unified and coordinated activity
system.
This is just the beginning of my questions.
Another question I have from my own line of studies is the position of play
and imagination in the activity theory of learning. Of course, Vygotsky had
a lot to say - but I have a feeling that this phenomenon has not been
adequately taken into account in the contemporary shape of this approach...
I am aware that this impression may be wrong since I haven't really read
the book carefully. I know of other places where Yrjo had discussed some of
this..
And the main reason I mention play is that I think it to be a crucial
activity - in many ways maybe even more important than labor and work (to
which it is often contrasted)...
If I don't have time to write anything any more before I return from my
trip - have great holidays all of you... and I'll be lurking for sure.
Ana
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue May 01 2001 - 01:01:45 PDT