Sociocultural Approach

I. As a unique approach

A. stresses the social situations (social transmission) involved in cognition
B. in comparison/contrast with Piaget
1. in common
a. child as active
b. biology and experience are both important (equal & reciprocal)


2. in contrast

 
a. the potential for domain-specific knowledge & processes

b. the active contribution of other people in the child’s community

c. the "cultural designs" accumulated over the history of the culture


C. in comparison/contrast with the IP approach

 
1. in common  
a. the potential for domain-specific knowledge & processes

b. stress on quantitative development

 1. microgenetic method


2. in contrast
 

a. less focus on the child’s possession of a capacity
  1. emphasizes events over conditions   b. cognitive development is always goal-oriented   1. emphasis on problem-solving   c. the active contribution of others over time   1. observation over experimentation II. Basic ideas
A. levels of analysis
1. microgenetic development (learning)

2. ontogenetic development (within the individual)

3. phylogenetic development (within the species)

4. sociohistorical development (within the culture)

a. culture as "the organized and common practices of particular communities in which a child lives (which may differ from those of children’s nations)"
B. unit of analysis: child-in-activity-in-context

C. the zone of proximal development

1. lower limit = what the child can achieve on his/her own
2. upper limit = the maximum that the child can reach with the aid of a learned other

3. dynamic — changes over the course of an event
4. individual differences
D. examples: Mayan girls learning to weave, remembering


III. Some examples of research

A. functions of speech
1. Vygotsky reading
B. memory for disconnected bits of information
1. Rogoff & Waddell (1982)
C. literacy and schooling
1. Scribner & Cole (1981)
D. syllogistic reasoning
1. Luria (1976) and others