Vygotsky Podcast

(Originally posted Jan 30, 2020) Interesting clip from a 2010 Natalia Gajdamaschko talk

". . . development comes out of resolving some sort of contradiction . . . some type of crisis . . . a good crisis"

Full video: http://tiny.cc/5fjejz "Part 5 - Natalia Gajdamaschko on Vygotsky"

(Originally posted September 14, 2020) Nikolai Veresov argues that Vygotsky's zone of proximal development  (ZPD) was created as a research tool, specifically as a means of helping  researchers "find the buds" of development, i.e., to determine which  psychological functions are in their earliest stage of development.  

The ZPD, therefore, is the conceptual tool that aligns with research principle #1: 'the principle of buds of development' (more here:  http://tiny.cc/gvxusz)

Excerpted from "Cultural-historical genetic research methodology-Part 1  by Nikolai Veresov" http://tiny.cc/9g2usz

(Originally posted September 1, 2020) Excerpts from George Hillocks, Jr.'s (1995) book, Teaching Writing as Reflective Practice 

0:23 - Three Modes of Teaching: Environmental, Presentational, and Natural Process

2:40 - Features of Environments for Active Learning

4:27 - Goals and Objectives of Environmental Teaching

8:27 - Selection of Materials and Problems

10:23 - Providing Support for Learning: Structural & Small peer-group support

13:50 - Student Ownership

15:42 - Environmental Teaching: a Vygotskian Perspective

Full text: http://tiny.cc/p09rsz

(Originally posted April 18, 2020) "HPFs are all different: thinking is not the same as memory; memory is not the same as imagination; imagination is not the same as will; and will is not the same as attention. 'But my task,' Vygotsky said, 'my task is not to find what separates them; my task is to find what is similar . . . "  

*excerpted from a chat w/ Nikolai Veresov on "the Principle of Developmental Tools" http://tiny.cc/mnpmsz

(Originally posted Apr 25, 2020) "The general advice is: when the child has a problem, don't think it it because of genetics; don't think it's because of brain disorder. Think about: maybe the child was not supported . . . think about how to introduce the tools he or she probably doesn't have" 

Full video w/ Nikolai Veresov: http://tiny.cc/1qpmsz

(Originally posted Jan 23, 2020) Should Conservatives be wary of this theory? 

Full video w/ Nikolai Veresov: http://tiny.cc/2983iz

(Originally posted Jan 10, 2020 at Chats about CHT http://tiny.cc/kmylsz) Chat 2 with Vygotskian psychologist, Nikolai Veresov. 

Highlights include:

1:52 - The great puzzle of Vygotsky's time (The "Crisis of Psychology")

6:30 - Even Kant thought the crisis was unsolvable

9:22 - How to see the invisible (W. Wundt's experimental research challenge & discussion of Lower and Higher Psychological Functions, e.g., logical memory, voluntary attention, imagination)

19:50 - Why did Wundt separate LPF and HPF, and how did he study HPF?

22:43 - Vygotsky's main contribution (not just theory but *new method*)

Key point: when something is currently invisible, or inaccessible, (e.g., HPFs), see if you can go back to its infancy and track its development before it "disappears underground"

http://nveresov.narod.ru/KIP.pdf - see Nikolai's paper, "Introducing cultural historical theory: main concepts and principles of genetic research methodology"

(Originally posted Feb 10, 2020) I asked Andy Blunden for his explanation of Vygotsky's concept of the social situation of development, and here it is. Thanks, Andy. 

Highlights include:

0:07 - How do we get from dependent newborn to independent adult?

1:16 - development takes place through a series of 'unique' stages

2:38 - resolved 'predicaments' fuel the transition between stages

4:54 - to get new needs met, the child overthrows the former situation to establish a new role

5:54 - mutual reinforcement between development and the social situation of development

8:05 - the social situation of development, concisely defined

8:38 - a preview of perezhivanie and adult development

More from Andy here: https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/wits/vygotsky-development.pdf

 (Originally posted Feb 12, 2020) Andy Blunden weighs in.

 (Originally posted Jun 25, 2020) What do you think is the most powerful threshold concept in Vygotsky's work?  Andy Blunden weighs in, followed by responses from three other Vygotskian researchers.

From Meyer and Land (2003): "Threshold Concepts’ may be considered to be “akin to passing through a portal” or “conceptual gateway” that opens up “previously inaccessible way[s] of thinking about something”

Meyer and Land, 2003: "Our discussions with practitioners in a range of disciplinary areas have led us to conclude that a threshold concept, across a range of subject contexts, is likely to be:

Transformative, in that, once understood, its potential effect on student learning and behaviour is to occasion a significant shift in the perception of a subject, or part thereof.

Probably irreversible, in that the change of perspective occasioned by acquisition of a threshold concept is unlikely to be forgotten, or will be unlearned only by considerable effort.

Integrative; that is, it exposes the previously hidden interrelatedness of something."

Flanagan, 2020: "Examples of the threshold concept must be transformative and involve a traverse through a liminal space. They are likely to be characterised by many of, but not necessarily all of, the other features listed below:

Transformative: Once understood, a threshold concept changes the way in which the student views the discipline. - Troublesome: Threshold concepts are likely to be troublesome for the student. Perkins [1999, 2006] has suggested that knowledge can be troublesome e.g. when it is counter-intuitive, alien or seemingly incoherent.

Irreversible: Given their transformative potential, threshold concepts are also likely to be irreversible, i.e. they are difficult to unlearn.

Integrative: Threshold concepts, once learned, are likely to bring together different aspects of the subject that previously did not appear, to the student, to be related.

Bounded: A threshold concept will probably delineate a particular conceptual space, serving a specific and limited purpose.

Discursive: Meyer and Land [2] suggest that the crossing of a threshold will incorporate an enhanced and extended use of language.

Reconstitutive: "Understanding a threshold concept may entail a shift in learner subjectivity, which is implied through the transformative and discursive aspects already noted. Such reconstitution is, perhaps, more likely to be recognised initially by others, and also to take place over time (Smith)".

Liminality: Meyer and Land [4] have likened the crossing of the pedagogic threshold to a ‘rite of passage’ (drawing on the ethnographical studies of Gennep and of Turner in which a transitional or liminal space has to be traversed; “in short, there is no simple passage in learning from ‘easy’ to ‘difficult’; mastery of a threshold concept often involves messy journeys back, forth and across conceptual terrain. (Cousin [2006])”.