Re: [xmca] Leading activities and central lines of development

[Larry Purss <lpscholar2@gmail.com>]

Andy and Mike

Thanks for your clarifications. I have been reading David K's and Martin's
correspondence on this topic and am struggling to grasp the core concepts.
When reading Mike and Natalia's article it raised the questions I posted.
Your answers indicate it is a complex issue that I will continue to struggle
with. There will be times as I think out loud that my thoughts will be murky
and fumbling but I appreciate your patience as I walk the maze
Mike, I will read the article attached

Larry

Larry

On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 8:57 PM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:

> Larry-- Both David and Martin have been working over some time to get
> straight and communicable the role of the idea of "central line of
> development" a la LSV. The set of leading activities in the article you
> site, is i believe, Elkonin's reworking of Vygotsky ideas from late in
> LSV's
> life. Maybe its all in LSV, others in the discussion will know.
>
> For the ways in which we at LCHC got into this discussion, see
> http://lchc.ucsd.edu/People/MCole/childrens.pdf
>
> There are other relevant papers at lchc.ucsd. edu.
>
> I believe that the intense work on these issue by XMCA members of the past
> couple of years holds a lot of potential for sorting out the cluster of
> concepts involved in this discussion.
>
> mike
> PS-- In so far as the sequence of activities serves as an "external"
> version
> of Piaget's stage theory,
> which in some presentations one could suspect was the case, the leading
> activities will be age linked.
> The errors into which that view leads you have been expounded in some
> detail
> by, for example,
> Artin Goncu and Suzanne Gaskins.
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 8:33 PM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net> wrote:
>
> > Larry, I am not familiar with Mike and Natalia's paper, and they
> obviously
> > will speak for themselves. But I think that the central or leading
> activity,
> > and certainly a central or leading *motive* is not the same thing as
> > "central line of development," which refers to that activity which
> promotes
> > development towards a structural change in the psyche of the developing
> > person. This may or may not be present in any given situation, for a
> child
> > playing a game or a grad student participating.
> >
> > Andy
> >
> >
> > Larry Purss wrote:
> >
> >> Help with a question
> >> Recently Andy asked a question about clarification of the concept of
> >> "central lines of development.
> >> I  have been reading the article by Mike Cole and Natalia Gajdamaschko
> and
> >> there is a section with the heading
> >> "Heterogeneity of 'Leading' Activity in the Course of a Single Game
> >> Episode"
> >>
> >> Tmike and Natalia suggest there were several "leading" activities
> >> POTENTIALLY present, each associated with differentage periods.  Leading
> >> activities such as:
> >> - need to be loved and accepted
> >> - play
> >> - learning
> >> - peer interaction
> >> - work
> >>
> >> My question is if these leading activities may not be age specific.
>  Each
> >> of
> >> us may be centrally motivated by a particular leading activity which
> >> fluctuates from moment to moment in activity.  In the example in the
> >> article
> >> an undergraduate, Jill Silverstein, was writing field notes of the fifth
> >> dimension activity.  Mike and Natalia when interpreting the fieldnotes
> >> suggest Jill initially had a central motive of affiliation while play
> was
> >> the leading activity for the children.  There was a confusion about the
> >> rules of the game and the adult entered into the game and learning at
> that
> >> moment became a central motive.
> >>
> >> There were many  transitions in motives during the game  and Mike and
> >> Natalia summed up this section by stating,
> >>
> >> "As this example makes clear, not only are the girls able to be a "head
> >> taller" but a "head shorter" in the course of a single stretch of a
> joint
> >> game play mediated by the computer game and each other" [p.275]
> >>
> >> This statement points to notions of volition [agency] which are fluid
> and
> >> interchangeable when contained within supportive contexts [interweaving]
> >>
> >> How does this observation fit with the notion of a CENTRAL line of
> >> development? Is it possible that there is more heterogeneity in the
> lines
> >> of
> >> development than implied in the concept "central"?  Could the concept of
> >> central lines of development be describing historical forms of
> >> development which develop in particular settings when 5 year olds enter
> >> school environments?
> >>
> >> I may still be confused and misinterpreting Mike and Natalia's position
> >> but
> >> I am trying to understand if some of the more basic leading activities
> >> [such
> >> as affiliation] remain central WHEN THREATENED but become implicit and
> >> taken
> >> for granted when the person is secure and contained.  If there is some
> >> merit
> >> to this position then issues of security and attachment needs may recede
> >> into the background and other leading activities come to the foreground
> >> when
> >> basic attachment needs are met.  However when there is a perceived
> threat
> >> to  basic security needs then earlier leading activities or motives also
> >> return at any age.
> >>
> >> Larry
> >> __________________________________________
> >> _____
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> >> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> >> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> > --
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > *Andy Blunden*
> > Joint Editor MCA: http://lchc.ucsd.edu/MCA/Journal/
> > Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/ <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy/<http://home.mira.net/~andy/>
> >
> > Videos: http://vimeo.com/user3478333/videos
> > Book: http://www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=227&pid=34857
> > MIA: http://www.marxists.org
> >
> >
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