... Vygotsky All knowledge is a borrowing and every fact a debt. –Cormac McCarthy, Cities of the Plain. It is a great pleasure to present this special issue on constructivism, which represents the culmination of the 50th anniversary conference of the Jean Piaget Society. We proposed...

... to the works of Piaget and Vygotsky. Second, I present the principles of a sociocultural psychology and indicate the methodological strategies that I have adopted, together with a large group of colleagues over the years. The main part of the paper constitutes in responding to the three questions I raised...

... conflicting claims by Piaget that lead to the question of how the postnatal environment fundamentally differs from the intrauterine environment and how this difference changes the process of development. Vygotsky’s focus on the cultural/historical mediation of social relations helps us understand the dynamic...

...(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content or advertisements. Vygotsky Worldview Transformation Ontology Ethics In this approach, the ethical dimension is rendered central...

... activist stance Vygotsky Abstract This paper addresses the relationship between identity and learning and how their integration in adolescence is an important part of short- and long-term developmental dynamics. We discuss how social practice theories can be expanded from a position termed...

...Jerome Bruner Contrasting Piaget’s emphasis on the invariant logic of growth with Vygotsky’s emphasis upon the centrality of culturally patterned dialogue in the enablement of growth, one is led to conclude that their two approaches were incommensurate. This incommensurateness may expresss a deep...

...Anne L. Dean This article focuses on the role of instinctual/affective forces in internalization, a process that both Piaget and Vygotsky identified as the primary mechanism underlying the development of higher mental structures and functions. Although important differences exist in these two...

...Michael Glassman The Soviet psychologist Leontiev worked closely with Vygotsky in an attempt to develop a Marxist psychology. Near the end of Vygotsky’s life Leontiev and other members of the Vygotsky group split (or were split away) to form a group in Kharkov. There was also a split...

...Ian Moll Contemporary writings on Vygotsky have not given adequate attention to his particular recognition of natural constraints in cognitive development. This article examines his notion of two main lines of psychological development – the natural and the cultural – in the light of contemporary...

...Paul van Geert The main thesis of this article is that Vygotsky’s ‘zone of proximal development’ (ZPD) can be redefined in the form of a nonlinear dynamic model. Following a short introduction to the conceptual components of the model, a mathematical reformulation is presented. The mathematical...

...Jack Meacham Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective on the development of mind and Piaget’s constructivist perspective are compared and contrasted within the framework of questions regarding how societies reproduce themselves within the next generation and how cultures are adaptively transformed...

...Michael Cole; James V. Wertsch Many discussions of the difference between Vygotsky and Piaget focus on the proximal locus of development. For Piaget it is said to be in individual children, who construct knowledge through their actions on the world; for Vygotsky it is said to be in social processes...

...Richard F. Kitchener According to the standard interpretation concerning the role of the social in the theories of Vygotsky and Piaget, Piaget is a biological individualist whereas Vygotsky is a sociocultural collectivist. The mental is internal and private for Piaget but external and public...

...Leslie Smith The starting point of this article is a thought experiment devised independently by Vygotsky and Piaget: From a developmental point of view, what would it be like to live in a society of exact contemporaries, such as children of the same age? Vygotsky’s negative answer contrasts...

...Harry Beilin Piaget’s theory has more than once been characterized as descriptive and not explanatory. It has also been said not to qualify as causal explanation. Piaget’s theory underwent constant revision, but he was consistent in showing how the theory was both explanatory and causal. Vygotsky...

...Rene van der Veer This article presents a first and incomplete chronology of publications by Piaget and Vygotsky in which they criticize each other’s ideas. It is shown that a genuine critical dialogue between the two failed to develop because Piaget did not reply to Vygotsky’s lengthy criticisms...

... the evolutionarily evolved human capacity for society and culture. Vygotsky’s idea of a natural line of development refers to the general human competence that is always presupposed in any study of the specific cultural line of development. 20 1 2010 © 1996 S. Karger AG, Basel 1996 Copyright / Drug...

...Michael Tomasello Both Piaget and Vygotsky were centrally concerned with the ontogenetic relationships between language, cognition, and social life. Recently, researchers have drawn on their observations and hypotheses to establish much closer links between these phenomena than either theorist ever...

... Semiotic practices Understanding Vygotsky H um an D ev elo p m en t 1996:39:287-294 Human Development Explaining the Interpretive Mind Jens Brockmeier Universität Innsbruck. Austria: Linacre College. Oxford. UK Key Words Culture Discursive practices Explanation Interpretation Mind Piaget...

...James V Wertsch; Richard Sohmer The theoretical framework of Vygotsky entails specific understandings of learning, development, and the goal(s) of development. In Vygotsky’s usage, the term obuchenie , frequently translated as ‘learning’, more accurately indicates the interaction of teacher...