Problem articulation and the processes of assistance: An activity theoretic view of mediation in game play

Abstract

In this article, we study a local adaptation of the Fifth Dimension [Cole, M. (1996). Cultural psychology: A once and future discipline. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] known as Las Redes (i.e., Networks of Collaboration in the Fifth Dimension) to examine how the multiple activity systems of Las Redes, e.g. the undergraduate course and the school and university communities—all organized around cultural-historical activity theories of learning and development—promote learning among undergraduate and elementary school children. In particular, the article focuses on a particular social situation of development in which the social organization of learning and forms of mediation available inspire new forms of participation and assistance. Activity Theory, as a present-to-future model of development, is used to examine how these developmental processes were structured through problem articulation (finding, identifying, and representing problems) during computer-mediated collaborative problem solving activities.