Towards a Cultural Psychology Perspective on Transitions between Contexts of Mathematical Practices

Abstract

The empirical studies described in the previous chapters have illustrated the complexity of the experience of learners moving between contexts of mathematical practices. Instead of treating that movement as secondary we have turned it into the primary object of our analysis –thus unifying the focus on the experience of transition. The need for the development of conceptual and methodological tools to expand the understanding of this phenomenon is apparent. This chapter will explore links between key issues currently debated in cultural psychology and issues specific to understanding the experience of transitions in mathematics learning, as illustrated by the evidence in the previous chapters. It is now acknowledged that a network of several approaches towards a cultural psychology has been emerging during the last century (Cole, 1996; Ratner, 1999). Valsiner (2000) opted for the plural form and suggested that ‘Cultural psychologies are new directions in the psychology of the 1990s that attempt to make sense of the ways in which culture assists the person in the construction of his or her psychological world’ (p. 1). Three predominant ‘approaches’ of cultural psychology were identified by Ratner (1999) differing in the notion of culture used to guide the research. The symbolic approach, which is associated with scholars such as Shweder and Geertz, emphasises culture as ‘shared symbols, concepts, meanings, and linguistic terms’ (Ratner, 1999, p. 7). The activity theory approach, exemplified through the work of Cole, Rogoff, and other followers of Vygotsky and the Russian tradition, seeks to understand culture as practical cultural activities. The individual approach ‘emphasises individual construction of psychological functions from collective symbols and artifacts’ (Ratner, 1999, p. 7). This last approach associated with the work of Valsiner shares a notion of culture with the symbolic approach, but emphasises individual agency in psychological development.