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Education Theorists & Psychologists: Vygotsky

A research topic guide covering major education theorists and psychologists.

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Research & Reference

Perspectives

Vygotskian Perspectives on Literacy Research

The authors in this 2000 collection use Vygotsky's cultural-historical theory of human development to frame their analyses of schooling, with particular emphasis on the ways in which literacy practices are mediated by social interaction and cultural artifacts. This volume extends Vygotsky's cultural-historical theoretical framework to embrace nuances of learning and development that are influenced by culture as instantiated through the experiences of race, ethnicity, and language variation. Rather than seeking to provide definitive answers to social questions using Vygotsky's core principles, the authors wrestle with educational problems through the mediation of Vygotsky's theory. In doing so, they both sharpen their focus on the problems and speak back to Vygotsky, helping to extend the foundation of his work to address modern problems. This collection serves as a form of collaborative inquiry that itself will stimulate further consideration of these topics.

The Cambridge Companion to Vygotsky

L. S. Vygotsky was an early-twentieth-century Russian social theorist whose writing exerts a significant influence on the development of social theory in the early-twenty-first century. His non-deterministic, non-reductionist account of the formation of mind provides current theoretical developments with a broadly drawn yet very powerful sketch of the ways in which humans shape and are shaped by social, cultural, and historical conditions. This dialectical conception of development insists on the importance of genetic or developmental analysis at several levels. The Cambridge Companion to Vygotsky is a comprehensive text that provides students, academics, and practitioners with a critical perspective on Vygotsky and his work.

Vygotsky's Educational Theory in Cultural Context

This 2003 book comprehensively covers all major topics of Vygotskian educational theory and its classroom applications. Particular attention is paid to the Vygotskian idea of child development as a consequence rather than premise of learning experiences. Such a reversal allows for new interpretations of the relationships between cognitive development and education at different junctions of the human life span. It also opens new perspectives on atypical development, learning disabilities, and assessment of children's learning potential. Classroom applications of Vygotskian theory are discussed in the book. Teacher training and the changing role of a teacher in a sociocultural classroom is discussed in addition to the issues of teaching and learning activities and peer interactions. Relevant research findings from the US, Western Europe, and Russia are brought together to clarify the possible new applications of Vygotskian ideas in different disciplinary areas.

The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky

Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist and one of the most influential psychologists in the world during the 20th century. This volume, the first of six, examines Vygotsky's works involving problems of general psychology, including thinking and speech.

Lev Vygotsky: Revolutionary Scientist

Lev Vygotsky was one of the most talented and brilliant of Soviet psychologists. Despite his tragically early death at the age of 38 his accomplishments are enormously impressive: he played a key role in restructuring the Psychological Institute of Moscow; set up two research laboratories in the major cities of the USSR; founded what we call special education; and authored some 180 works. His innovative theories of thought and speech are important not just for psychology but for other disciplines also. Yet even though his ideas have increasingly won popularity there remains a strong need for an accessible introduction to the man and his work. In Lev Vygotsky: Revolutionary Scientist Lois Holzman and Fred Newman have written a clear introductory text suitable for undergraduate students. In so doing they have taken the opportunity to set straight the misunderstandings and misuses of Vygotsky's ideas. and his work