RE: [xmca] double-stimulation method - the Vaughan and the Tuomi documents

From: Paula Towsey <paulat who-is-at johnwtowsey.co.za>
Date: Sat Oct 11 2008 - 08:41:47 PDT

Dear Mike

I've attached the documents and I hope you enjoy reading through them.
Take care

Paula

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
Behalf Of Mike Cole
Sent: 10 October 2008 02:18 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: Re: [xmca] double-stimulation method

Very interesting refs.connections, Paula. How do we get access to the Tuomi
piece??
mike

On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 4:38 AM, Paula Towsey
<paulat@johnwtowsey.co.za>wrote:

> I came across several studies dealing with adult cognition and 'Vygotsky's
> complex framework', as you so aptly term it, Eric, when I was compiling my
> literature survey. Of these three, I found Vaughan's and Tuomi's to be
the
> most fascinating.
>
> The 1980 studies include a remarkable paper entitled "Saussure and
Vygotsky
> via Marx", where Genevieve Vaughan (1980/81) draws comparisons between the
> langue and the parole of a linguistic system with that of an economic one.
> She brings together meaning, money, labour, and culture, and provides an
> insightful discourse of Vygotsky's framework on conceptual development
> which
> covers the langue of four 'mutually exclusive signifiers' and the parole
of
> coming to understand what certain culturally significant and relevant
> concepts mean. She also is of the opinion that two processes of
> polarisation are required for concept formation, where the first is
between
> the sample as an equivalent and the other blocks as relative, and where
the
> second is between the relevant and the non-relevant characteristics of the
> sample as well as those of the other blocks.
>
> Vaughan, G., (1980/81), Saussure and Vygotsky via Marx. First published in
> Ars Semeiotica 4:1 57-83. Amsterdam: C John Benjamins B.V. (My copy
> downloaded 2006/02/21 11:25 AM.)
>
> In the 1990s, several studies - Bacalarski (1996) and Tuomi (1998) -
> analyse
> or adapt the method of double stimulation to computer environments.
> Bacalarksi's tentative analysis looks at how novice users become more
adept
> at using and understanding computers and she uses Vygotsky's findings on
> the
> paths to conceptual thinking for this analysis. She maintains that most
> users, compared to experts, are at the pseudoconceptual level, and that
> time
> and further developments are required before users achieve 'adulthood' as
> computer-literate users. Tuomi's paper is about an adaptation of the
> method
> of double stimulation in collaborative environments in the setting of a
> large mobile telephone manufacturer, and concludes that Vygotsky's
> theoretical framework provides better explanations for both individual and
> collaborative learning in corporate enterprises than do other kinds of
> models.
>
> Tuomi, I., (1998), Vygotsky in a TeamRoom: An exploratory study on
> collective concept formation in electronic environments, Nokia Group,
> Finland: Nokia Research Center.
>
> Bacalarski, M., (1996), Vygotsky's Developmental Theories and the
Adulthood
> of Computer-mediated Communication: A Comparison and an Illumination,
> Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 34:1 57-63. Armonk, NY:
M.
> E. Sharpe.
>
> Let me know if you need more info to track these down, okay?
>
> Bye for now
> Paula
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
> Behalf Of ERIC.RAMBERG@spps.org
> Sent: 08 October 2008 09:03 PM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: Re: [xmca] double-stimulation method
>
>
> Hello Steve, welcome to the discussion. My best answer to that question
> would be to look at Sylvia Scribner's work study research that is
available
> on the LCHS website. I believe you will find it imbedded in the LCHC
> newsletter. It is fascinating stuff. Of course the brilliant
> cross-cultural research of Dr. Michael Cole could also illicit quite a
> boatload of info. The rub is that neither Scribner or Cole used
Vygotsky's
> complex framework for summarizing their work. Perhaps that makes it a
> nonfactor?
>
> eric
>
>
>
>
> Steve Gabosch
>
> <stevegabosch@me To: "eXtended Mind,
> Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> .com> cc:
>
> Sent by: Subject: Re: [xmca]
> double-stimulation method
> xmca-bounces@web
>
> er.ucsd.edu
>
>
>
>
>
> 10/08/2008 01:24
>
> PM
>
> Please respond
>
> to "eXtended
>
> Mind, Culture,
>
> Activity"
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Eric, Paula, others,
>
> Vygotsky's idea of complexive thinking in adults greatly interests
> me. What has been done so far with this in theory and research?
>
> - Steve
>
>
>
>
> On Oct 8, 2008, at 11:06 AM, ERIC.RAMBERG@spps.org wrote:
>
> >
> > Hello Paula:
> >
> > This is the aspect of your post that I would like to focus on:
> >
> >
> > 4. providing a snapshot of a 'complex'
> > Yes, they - the blocks - do. What is sometimes a bit difficult for
> > me to
> > impart to colleagues who haven't worked with the blocks is that
> > reading
> > about them, and then conducting an exercise with them, are very (very)
> > different experiences. I suspect this to be true of most research
> > instruments - the thing about the blocks, though, is that the
> > solution is
> > deceptively simple - especially when you have found out what it is by
> > reading about it. In fact, this element - trying to keep the actual
> > solution a secret - got me into trouble in one of my first
> > submissions to a
> > major publication - precisely because I was hoping there would be some
> > readers out there who wouldn't want to be told the whodunit - but
> > would
> > prefer to work it out for themselves.
> > But, to return to the 'snapshot', as you can see from my comments in
> > point
> > number three, a snapshot of complexes is gained - sometimes there are
> > combinations of them and what makes lots of the analysis really
> > challenging
> > is working out what is developmental, what is complexive in adults,
> > and
> > what
> > is idiosyncratic in everyone. Does this make sense, Eric?
> >
> > Once again the idea of complexive thinking provides a structure that
> > is
> > flexible. Problem solving at any age can bounce from syncretic to
> > diffuse
> > to statistical to matching to chains and finally to conceptual. The
> > measure of what constitutes conceptual thinking, in my humble
> > opinion, lies
> > with the word being the unit of analysis. The beauty of Vygotsky's
> > complexes is that he states them as methods of achieving activities
> > and not
> > as stages of development that build upon each other. A person at
> > any age
> > may illicit any of the complexes by themselves or in unison with
> > another
> > complex. I believe what needs to be sorted out is what cultural
> > structures
> > illicit what complexes and what cultural and historical methods best
> > contribute to conceptual thinking. David Kellogg was correct when he
> > stated that the Japanese powerhouse of elementary education should
> > certainly be studied in depth to hopefully answer these questions.
> >
> > eric
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > xmca mailing list
> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>
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Received on Sat Oct 11 08:47 PDT 2008

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