For more than a quarter century, the polemics surrounding educational reform have centered on two points of view: those that favor a "progressive" child-centered form of education, and those that would prefer a return to a more structured, teacher-directed curriculum that emphasizes basic knowledge and skills. Vygotsky's social constructivist theory offers an alternative solution, placing stress on coconstruction of knowledge by more and less mature participants engaging in joint activity. This theory offers semiotic mediation as the primary means of obtaining knowledge, whereby the less...

Changing Classes tells the story of Willow Run, a small, poor, ethnically-mixed town in Michigan's rust belt, a community in turmoil over the announced closing of a nearby auto assembly plant. As teachers and administrators began to find ways to make schooling more relevant to working-class children, two large-scale school reform initiatives swept into town: the Governor's "market-place" reforms and the National Science Foundation's "state systemic initiative." Against the backdrop of a post-fordist economy, the author shows complex linkages at work as society structures the development of...

This study examines how learning and cognitive change are fostered by online communities. The chapters provide a basis for thinking about the dynamics of Internet community building. They consider the role of the self or individual as a participant in virtual community, and the design and refinement of technology as the conduit for extending and enhancing the possibilities of community building in cyberspace. The volume will interest educators, psychologists, sociologists, and researchers in human-computer interaction.

Contributed by authors who write from various disciplinary perspectives, the essays in this book clarify the learning theories of Mikhail Bakhtin and address the application of his concepts to contemporary issues. In addition, the authors are joined by other scholars in a Bakhtinian dialogue. Together, they address questions that readers may have about Bakhtinian theory and its application to everyday teaching practices.

Video Research in the Learning Sciences is a comprehensive exploration of key theoretical, methodological, and technological advances concerning uses of digital video-as-data in the learning sciences as a way of knowing about learning, teaching, and educational processes. The aim of the contributors, a community of scholars using video in their own work, is to help usher in video scholarship and supportive technologies, and to mentor video scholars, so that video research will meet its maximum potential to contribute to the growing knowledge base about teaching and learning.

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"Video Research in the Learning Sciences "is a comprehensive exploration of key theoretical, methodological, and technological advances concerning uses of digital video-as-data in the learning sciences as a way of knowing about learning, teaching, and educational processes. The aim of the contributors, a community of scholars using video in their own work, is to help usher in video scholarship and supportive technologies, and to mentor video scholars, so that video research will meet its maximum potential to contribute to the growing knowledge base about teaching and learning.
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