Re: [xmca] FW: The functional method of double stimulation - and some photographs

Might some kind of collective, distributed effort at conducting a small
study using these materials
be of interest to XMCA folks?
mike

On 5/29/07, Carol Macdonald <carolmacdon@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> P
> Great to get this. I tried at the weekend to see how you were, but you
> were
> out.
>
> I am about to contact Nicoleen for the 2nd time, and will let you know
> directly I hear something.
>
> Jaki's results are back--with 16 pages of corrections. But at least they
> are finally back from the second examiner.
>
> I am now drowning in work on four projects.
>
> On Thursday I am to have a two hour meeting with the Kellogg Foundation
> about the bibliotherapy project proposal. Wish me luck.
>
> Rush, rush
> Love
> C
>
>
> On 29/05/07, Paula Towsey <paulat@johnwtowsey.co.za> wrote:
> >
> > Dear Ana
> >
> >
> >
> > Thank you for your suggestion that I forward this email to the
> group. The
> > blocks I used for my cross-sectional study were made by Stoelting Co.
> > (USA),
> > according to the specs. provided by Jacob Kasanin and Eugenia Hanfmann
> > (+/-1936/37).
> >
> >
> >
> > My research exercise, 'In Search of Vygotsky's Blocks: exploring cev,
> bik,
> > mur, and lag in South Africa', was conducted for my M. Ed. (Psychology
> in
> > Education) by course work and research report at Wits University.
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Paula Towsey [mailto:paulat@johnwtowsey.co.za]
> > Sent: 28 May 2007 04:47 PM
> > To: 'ana@zmajcenter.org'
> > Subject: The functional method of double stimulation - and some
> > photographs
> >
> >
> >
> > Dear Ana
> >
> >
> >
> > To introduce myself: my name is Paula Towsey and I followed, with a
> great
> > deal of interest, some of your conversation about the method of double
> > stimulation - Vygotsky's Blocks - on the XMCA in March. I conducted
> > research with this method last year but wasn't able to join in with your
> > conversation because I wasn't on the XMCA mailing list in March. I am
> now
> > -
> > but am writing to you separately because the topic is no longer current
> on
> > XMCA. I do hope that by writing to you directly I'm not breaking any
> XMCA
> > protocols!
> >
> >
> >
> > In reading between the lines, Ana, it seems to me that the pathway you
> > followed with the method of approach with the blocks at the University
> of
> > Belgrade was more directly linked - for historical and geographical
> > reasons,
> > perhaps - in source to Sakharov's approach. The sources I was most
> easily
> > able to find flowed mainly through Hanfmann and Kasanin via Kozulin's
> > translation of Thought and Language (1986): suffice it to say here
> (though
> > I
> > can send you more) that I noticed a difference between Sakharov's
> 'script'
> > (1994, Van der Veer & Valsiner, Eds.) and H&K's (1937,42) in giving
> > subjects
> > the option to find all the mur blocks and checking to see if they were
> > 'correct' at this stage, or in allowing them to continue to sort the
> > blocks
> > according to the given strategy (eg, colour, or shape, or oscillations
> > between the two!).
> >
> >
> >
> > It also seems that it was a lot more difficult for me to be in search of
> > Vygotsky's Blocks - for historical, political and geographical reasons
> > (I'm
> > in Sunny South Africa) - than it was for you and your lucky colleagues
> at
> > Belgrade, but the apparent elusiveness of the blocks added much intrigue
> > and
> > speculation for me! In many respects it was a singular journey for me,
> > working things out, tracing the provenance and the implications for
> > analysis, because there was no one in South Africa that I could find
> with
> > expertise or knowledge about the blocks. And so, there was nobody to
> talk
> > to!
> >
> >
> >
> > For a light-hearted entree, I've attached four photographs from my
> > cross-sectional study of 60 subjects.
> >
> >
> >
> > The 3-yr-old photograph depicts a three-year-old subject's 'house',
> which
> > she unhesitatingly described as belonging to the Big Bad Wolf (!). He
> > made
> > his re-appearance quite a number of times during her session!
> >
> >
> >
> > The S810M photograph depicts this eight-year-old subject's charmingly
> > exaggerated placement of the cev, bik, mur, and lag glasses, by
> > remembering
> > where the groups of blocks had been on the board. Lovely!
> >
> >
> >
> > In the S1505F photograph, the subject had noted that by stacking the
> > blocks
> > the way she had yielded different sizes - small, medium, and
> large. What
> > she had been looking for, though, was a pattern of two stacked blocks of
> > the
> > same diameter, coupled with two which were not. She said that this
> > pattern
> > worked for the squares and the trapezoids, but not with the circles, the
> > triangles or the irregular shapes. The 15-year-olds kept me on my toes!
> >
> >
> >
> > In the last photograph, this adult subject (SX09M) said "I've got an
> idea.
> > The common thing between these shapes is that the triangles come in four
> > different sizes" (this despite there being five triangles). He explored
> > this further, sorted the blocks correctly, and then explained: "How I
> > deduced this categorisation is that the common thing in the triangles is
> > that they are the ones which seem to differentiate on the height and the
> > size. And so there's this in the circular ones as well - they also have
> > that characteristic." He had then extrapolated this principle to the
> > other
> > blocks and solved the problem - statistically and mathematically - by
> > analysing the characteristics of groups of blocks to establish where the
> > areas of commonality lay, which would form the basis for sorting the
> > blocks.
> > Wow!!
> >
> >
> >
> > Ana, I did check out your Wiki, but I am sure you have made your
> additions
> > to it by now and that there is a new one. Please could you let me know
> > where I could find it, or if I just need to type in 'doubstim' into a
> > search
> > engine? Also, do you think Martin would be interested in seeing my
> > results?
> > Would you be? I'd be happy to send you any of my work or answer any
> > questions that you (or Martin, or any of the interested XMCAs) might
> have
> > -
> > just let me know!
> >
> >
> >
> > Thank you - and I do hope you have the time to drop me a line soon.
> >
> >
> >
> > Very sincerely
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Paula
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > xmca mailing list
> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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Received on Wed May 30 00:05 PDT 2007