Luis C. Moll

The seminal work of Russian theorist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) has exerted a deep influence on psychology over the past 30 years. Vygotsky was an educator turned psychologist, and his writings clearly reflected his pedagogical concerns. For Vygotsky, schools and other informal educational situations represent the best cultural laboratories to study thinking. He emphasized the social organization of instruction, writing about the 'unique form of cooperation between the child and the adult that is the central element of the educational process'. Vygotsky's emphasis on the social context of thinking represents the reorganization of a key social system and associated modes of discourse, with potential consequences for developing new forms of thinking. This volume is devoted to analyzing Vygotsky's ideas as a means of bringing to light the relevance of his concepts to education. What does Vygotsky's approach have to offer education? Distinguished scholars from various countries and representing several disciplines discuss the essence and significance of Vygotsky's work, analyze the educational implications of his thoughts, and present applications in practice, addressing educational issues such as school organization, teacher training, educational achievement, literacy learning and development, uses of technology, community-based education, and special education.

Instructional Implications and Applications of Sociohistorical Psychology

Vygotsky and Education

Teresa Cremin

Kathy Hall

Barbara Comber

The "International Handbook of Research in Children's Literacy, Learning and Culture" presents a careful distillation of the current research in the field of primary years literacy studies. Well known contributors critically review and synthesize seminal studies on various themes, offer fresh perspectives and conceptualizations, and point to new directions for further investigation and study. Chapters vividly illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary educational thinking and research on literacy by offering perspectives from a wide range of disciplines--from aesthetics and anthropology to cultural psychology and curriculum theory. Literacy topics are addressed in three sections, namely 'society, culture, and community', 'school, culture, and pedagogy', and 'teachers, culture, and identity'. In presenting cutting-edge knowledge on all aspects of literacy learning in the primary/elementary school years, the "International Handbook of Research in Children's Literacy, Learning and Culture" provides an essential resource for scholars, educators, and researchers in charting the future of the increasingly important field of literacy in the 21st century.

International Handbook of Research on Children's Literacy, Learning and Culture

Analyzes the educational implications and applications of Soviet psychologist L.S. Vygotsky's ideas.

Norma Gonzalez

Cathy Amanti

The concept of "funds of knowledge" is based on a simple premise: people are competent and have knowledge, and their life experiences have given them that knowledge. The claim in this book is that first-hand research experiences with families allow one to document this competence and knowledge, and that such engagement provides many possibilities for positive pedagogical actions. Drawing from both Vygotskian and neo-sociocultural perspectives in designing a methodology that views the everyday practices of language and action as constructing knowledge, the funds of knowledge approach facilitates a systematic and powerful way to represent communities in terms of the resources they possess and how to harness them for classroom teaching. This book accomplishes three objectives: It gives readers the basic methodology and techniques followed in the contributors' funds of knowledge research; it extends the boundaries of what these researchers have done; and it explores the applications to classroom practice that can result from teachers knowing the communities in which they work. In a time when national educational discourses focus on system reform and wholesale replicability across school sites, this book offers a counter-perspective stating that instruction must be linked to students' lives, and that details of effective pedagogy should be linked to local histories and community contexts. This approach should not be confused with parent participation programs, although that is often a fortuitous consequence of the work described. It is also not an attempt to teach parents "how to do school" although that could certainly be an outcome if the parents so desired. Instead, the funds of knowledge approach attempts to accomplish something that may be even more challenging: to alter the perceptions of working-class or poor communities by viewing their households primarily in terms of their strengths and resources, their defining pedagogical characteristics. Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practices in Households, Communities, and Classrooms is a critically important volume for all teachers and teachers-to-be, and for researchers and graduate students of language, culture, and education.

Luis C. Moll

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