Vygotsky’s Educational Theory in Cultural Context

Innovative ideas in educational psychology, learning, and instruction, originally formulated by Russian psychologist and educator Lev Vygotsky, are currently enjoying unprecedented popularity in the U.S., Latin America, Europe, and Russia. An international team of scholarly contributors provides comprehensive coverage of all the main concepts of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. They emphasize its importance for the understanding of child development, and propose specific classroom applications.

List of contributors; Series Foreword; Introduction: sociocultural theory and education: students, teachers and knowledge Alex Kozulin, Boris Gindis, Vladimir S. Ageyev, and Suzanne M. Miller; Part I. Concepts and Paradigms: 1. Psychological tools and mediated learning Alex Kozulin; 2. The zone of proximal development in Vygotsky's analysis of learning and instruction Seth Chaiklin; 3. Vygotsky's doctrine of scientific concepts: its role for contemporary education Yuriy V. Karpov; 4. Some cognitive tools of literacy Kieran Egan and Natalia Gajdamaschko; 5. Dynamic assessment of the evolving cognitive functions in children Carol S. Lidz and Boris Gindis; Part II. Development and Learning: 6. Periods in child development: Vygotsky's perspective Holbrook Mahn; 7. Development through the lifespan: a neo-Vygotskian approach Yuriy V. Karpov; 8. Learning and development of preschool children from the Vygotskian perspective Elena Bodrova and Deborah J. Leong; 9. The learning activity in the first years of schooling: the developmental path towards reflection Galina Zuckerman; 10. Remediation though education: socio/cultural theory and children with special needs Boris Gindis; Part III. Sociocultural Theory Application in the Classroom: 11. Cultural-historical theory and mathematics education Jean Schmittau; 12. Socio/cultural theory and the practice of teaching historical concepts Jacques Haenen, Hubert Schrijuemakers, and Job Stufkens; 13. Formation of learning activity and theoretical thinking in science teaching Hartmut Giest and Joaclum Lompscher; 14. How literature discussion shapes thinking: ZPDs for teaching/learning habits of the heart and mind Suzanne M. Miller; 15. Beyond cognition: a Vygotskian perspective on emotionality and teachers' professional lives Anne DiPardo and Christine Potter; Part IV. Diverse Learners and Contexts of Education: 16. Interpersonal communication and internalization in the second language classroom James P. Lantolf; 17. Mediation in cognitive socialization: the influence of socioeconomic status Pedro R. Portes and Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur; 18. Cultural modeling: CHAT as a lens for understanding instructional discourse based on African-American English discourse patterns Carol D. Lee; 19. The relations of learning and student social class: toward re-'socializing' sociocultural learning theory Carolyn P. Panofsky; 20. Vygotsky in the mirror of cultural interpretations Vladimir S. Agayev; Indexes.