Learning Activity and Development

by Hedegaard, Mariane

• ISBN13: 9788772888156
• ISBN10: 8772888156
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-10-01
• Publisher: Aarhus Universitetsforlag

Summary

The idea that children's learning is influenced by economic, political, ecological, cultural and other influences is being focused upon by educators world-wide. The editors of this volume point out that there is a huge amount of scientific knowledge from different disciplines that could be a basis for the necessary changes in teaching and learning both in and out of school, on different educational levels and under different institutional conditions. The editors define learning activity as a special kind of activity directed towards the acquisition of societal knowledge and skills through their individual reproduction by means of special learning actions upon learning objects. Learners can acquire skill and knowledge, they add, only by actively acting with the material according to its substance and structure, and through the co-ordination, communication and co-operation between learners and other people since that is one of the most essential features of learning activity. The book explores how learning proceeds. "Societal forms of thinking and knowledge" considers the interdependency between the societal traditions of production, science, art an public life and personal thinking modes and knowledge. "Teaching, learning activity in theory and practice" explores the relation between content of knowledge, teaching and learning activity. "Social interaction, development of motives and self-evaluation" examines the core aspects of learning activity. "Play, spontaneous learning and teaching" looks into the transition from pre-school to school and the transformation of activities as preconditions for children's learning activity.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. 8
Contributors	p. 9
Introduction	p. 10
Societal Forms of Thinking and Knowledge
The Influence of Societal Knowledge Traditions on Children's Thinking and Conceptual Development	p. 22
Speech Genres and Rhetoric. The Development of Ways of Argumentation in a Program of Adult Literacy	p. 51
Activity Theory as Methodology - The Epistemological Revolution of the Computer and the Problem of its Societal Appropriation	p. 71
The Crisis of Knowledge	p. 93
Teaching/Learning Activity in Theory and Practice
What is Real Learning Activity?	p. 123
Learning Activity and its Formation: Ascending from the Abstract to the Concrete	p. 139
Psychological Mechanisms of Generalization	p. 167
Social Interaction and Development of Motivation
Developmental Teaching in Upper-Secondary School	p. 187
From Piaget and Vygotsky to Learning Activities: A Long Journey and an Inescapable Issue	p. 211
Diagnosing Learning Initiative	p. 235
Development of Evaluation at the Initial Stage of Learning Activities	p. 249
Play and Spontaneous Learning
Teaching Opportunities in Play	p. 268
Preconditions for Developmental Learning Activity at Pre-School Age	p. 290
The Education of Pre-School Children	p. 311
Index	p. 327
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