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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