Cultural-historical Methodology Research Articles

The program for introduction of basic mathematical knowledge: the effects in six years old Mexican children.

The process of teaching and learning mathematics in primary school represents an obstacle for both teachers and pupils. According to the historical-cultural conception of development and education, the way how intellectual concepts are initially introduced may radically affect a student's success in learning. The historical-cultural conception of development, together with activity theory, may serve as the basis for creating a novel methodology for pedagogical work on mathematical concepts with pre-school and school children. The goal of the present study was to show the effects of work with an original program for the initial introduction of mathematical concepts to young school children. The program included reflexive symbolic and logical actions on the materialized and perceptual level, which were introduced and performed collectively by six-year-old children under the guidance and assistance of a teacher. The pupils were tested before and after their work with the program. The results showed important qualitative and quantitative progress by the children in solving the tasks of the assessment, together with an increment of reflection on their intellectual actions. The study points to the necessity for more intensive and extensive research, involving specialists in psychology and pedagogy trained in cultural-historical methodology.

Cultural-historical research methodology for studying of child’s development

This paper summarises a series of studies on the cultural-historical research methodology for studying child development, which was created by the author in developing Vygotsky’s experimental-genetic method. This article presents the main traits of Vygotsky’s experimental-genetic method and main principles of cultural-historical genetic research methodology. The article provides with several examples of experimental studies of the process of child development in contemporary research which show the cultural-historical research methodology in action. The article argues that this methodology is a genetic as it is focused on the process of development, it is a research methodology as it allows to formulate new types of research questions and finally, this is a cultural-historical methodology as it includes the system of concepts (theoretical analytical tools) and principles of research method (experimental method) which create a coherent unity.

The Use of Symbols by Elementary Schoolchildren and Adolescents with Learning Disabilities as Tools of Awareness of Subjective Reality

Schoolchildren with learning disabilities have difficulties in communication and interaction with other people and this is related to their awareness of other’s subjective reality. A symbol is a “mental tool” for awareness of subjective reality. The symbol is a cultural presentation of subjective reality, mediating the relationship and interaction of two or more agents. The purpose of this study, based on cultural-historical methodology, is to identify and experimentally verify the use of symbols to understand this agent’s subjective reality by younger schoolchildren and adolescents with learning disabilities. The experimental method is based on identifying the dominant attitudes to the awareness of the agent’s subjective reality, as well as how it is interpreted and evaluated by the child. The study involved 80 students of secondary schools: 40 with normal development and 40 with learning disabilities (9-12 and 14-16 years old). It showed difficulties in understanding agent’s subjective reality and the predominance of a stable objective attitude to symbols and other people, with significant differences in the Mann-Whitney U test for the experimental group of participants of both ages. This feature is considered as an obstacle in the construction of interpersonal relationships and cooperation by children and adolescents and can serve as a target for psychological assistance.

Ways of Development of the Russian Methodology: Answers and Questions of the Psychology of Thinking

The article refers the formation and development of the Russian methodology in the frame of which the theory of thinking has been built. The exposition of the theory developed in the Twenties-Nineties of the 20th century becomes topical because of two factors. The first factor of the demand from the intensively developing neuroscience. Various directions in this field aiming to studying thinking disorders, particularly in schizophrenia, are lacking theoretical concordance. That is why the specialists come to the conclusion on necessity of a common scientifically justified platform: the development of the theory of thinking. We would like to mention that the attention for an impaired function is typical for a physician, whereas for a psychologist the problem of revealing unusual strength of thinking is schizophrenia is significant. Solving this problem is important for the theory of thinking itself. The second factor of the demand for designing the theory of thinking is the change of paradigm in the science and education during the Nineties of the 20th century, which has stimulated the variety of theoretically unjustified approaches to interpretation of nature of thinking. That is why when reviewing the theory of thinking we consider the significant events which defined the vector of its development beginning with Rubinstein’s article of 1922 “The Principle of Creative Self-Activity (To the Philosophical Foundations of Modern Pedagogy),” where methodological justification of the conception of subject is given. In 1930 he formulates the principle of thinking as the “unity of consciousness and activity.” At the same period Luria explains the positions which are in tune with the future cultural-historical methodology of Vygotsky. The research of thinking as a process is given in the Soviet psychology by the school of Rubinstein in the Fifties-Sixties and after his death in 1969. The works with description of meaning, sense and nature of the word became Luria’s contribution in the analysis of the structure of thinking process when solving problems. We consider the common idea of solving problematic situations as the result of creative thinking to be its lowest stage, immature form, as in the frame of solving the given tasks, i.e. stimulus-projective model in which the whole psyche had been studied, it is impossible to come to analysis of the phenomenon of creativity. That succeeds only in designing a new method. In the course of the experiment, the Creative Field method allows revealing the ability of a person to develop the accepted ability by his initiative. The levels of cognition to be reached by the testee are described. They correspond to the level of displays of creativity or to its absence. This approach finds its theoretical basis in the cultural-historical psychology (Vygotsky). We have revealed the highest mature form of creativity as development of the activity by one’s initiative which is the unit of analysis where, according to Vygotsky, “the meeting of affect and intellect occurs” (Vygotsky, 2016, p. 8). The examples of children who have shown the highest level of creativity are described. Among them there is a nine-year boy with the diagnosis of schizophrenia, who spontaneously formulated very precise and capacious definition of creativity.

Восприятие COVID-19 населением России в условиях пандемии 2020 года

In order to study the perception of the COVID-19 pandemic and its relationship with the emotional state of the population, an online study in all regions of Russia conducted from April 27 to May 27, 2020, The study involved 1192 people, of whom 981 were women (82%) and 211 men (18%) aged 18 to 81 years (M=36.5, SD=11.0). The methodological complex consisted of a socio-demographic questionnaire, the state scale from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Russian Version of the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, Mermelstein, 1983; Ababkov, et al., 2016); as well as the Russian Version of the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (Broadbent, et al., 2006; Yaltonsky, et al., 2017), modified specifically for this study. Significant differences were found in experiencing stress, anxiety, and perceptions of the pandemic by gender, while anxiety and stress were found to be related to income. A significant correlation found between the attitude to coronavirus “as an exaggerated threat” with greater calm, greater understandability of the pandemic, and less control. However, if the respondent has relatives who have got sick COVID-19, then the perception of the pandemic becomes more threatening, less understandable, and more controlled. It was revealed that the assessment of the threat from a pandemic plays a mediating role between the fear of an unknown disease and the possibility of its control. The probability of cultural differences in the perception of the pandemic and its control is discussed, and the possibility of using the cultural-historical methodology and the concept of “subjective pattern of disease” to assess the public perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic is formulated.

Transformative pedagogy: Dinka playgroups as spaces for cultural knowledge productions of Western science

As increasing numbers of families migrate from a range of countries into communities where Western science is viewed as valued curriculum content, a need for understanding the cultural nature of teaching Western science has become more urgent. The study reported in this paper sought to investigate pedagogical responses to everyday and scientific learning of pre-school children from a group of Dinka (South Sudanese) families now living in a large Australian city. Adopting a cultural-historical methodology, we analyzed 42 h of digital video observations of 34 children, one teacher and 22 parents during their participation in a regular play group in their community. We identified four pedagogical approaches being used to support children’s learning. The videos capture how the use of observational pedagogy, physically helping pedagogy [in the spirit of Barbra Rogoff’s (Hum Dev 57:69–81, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1159/000356757) “pitching in”], verbally helping pedagogy, and embedded scientific narratives, supported new forms of cultural knowledge production by the children. The study suggests that together these relational dimensions of the pedagogy in the playgroup are “transformative” because they support genuine access and participation to other forms of cultural knowledge, such as Western science.

Концепция Л.И. Божович о строении и формировании личности (культурно-исторический подход)

The paper is devoted to analysis of the scientific work of Lydia Ilyinichna Bozhovich, a renowned Soviet academic psychologist who belonged to the cultural-historical school of thought and began a student of Lev Semenovich Vygotsky. Bozhovich’s research implemented cultural-historical methodology for study of the human mind and was focused on the problems of the structure and formation of child’s personality in ontogeny. The present paper links together theoretical statements that were proposed by Bozhovich in different periods of her work but nevertheless form an integral understanding of the personality formation in the childhood. The paper includes analyses of several Bozhovich’s concepts: the concept of personality; the hypothesis of the new personality formations in ontogenesis; her understanding of the affective (based on needs) sphere as the foundation of the personality development; the developmental phases of personality formation; and central newly formed personality structures at each developmental phase. The review outlines the large scale character of the research conducted in Bozovich’s laboratory

Проблема саморазвития личности в парадигме культурно-исторической психологии

We discuss the possibilities of solving the key problems of psychology of self-identity (its psychological nature and mechanisms) by the means of cultural-historical methodology. Through the category of "culture", the essence of self-development as a process of culture adequate self-transformation is revealed, carried out with the help of specifically human higher mental functions and having the attributes of arbitrariness, sociality, mediation, and awareness. We denoted the line of personal development as a process of cultural production of the means by which a person will change, create, cultivate environment: external and internal. We reveal the mechanism of ontogenetic transition from development to self-development as the history of the transition from the position of culture agent to the creativity and self-creation of the personality. We show the role of the personality as an organizing, managing, directing functional center, providing self-determined nature of self-development.

How can cultural–historical theory be used as a methodological dialectic?

How can we better understand childhood learning in its historical development? How do institutions (including family) influence and shape what is possible in early childhood? As part of a wider study in an Australian community pre‐school, this paper focuses on how cultural–historical methodology can be used to understand institutional influences over time. Returning to an original workplace pre‐school site as a field researcher challenged thinking about apparently invisible influences of historical development. Framing this study are Hedegaard's learning and development through participation in institutional practices model, and Vyqotsky's cultural–historical theory. This paper uses case study data from one family for building a methodological dialectic in order to theorize practices and thereby illustrate the concept of historical childhood development. RÉSUMÉ: Comment peut‐on mieux comprendre l'apprentissage des enfants, dans son développement historique? Comment les institutions (la famille, y compris) influencent‐elles et forment‐elles les potentialités au cours de la petite enfance ? Cet article, qui fait partie d'une étude plus large menée dans une structure préscolaire communautaire australienne, se centre sur la façon dont une méthodologie historico–culturelle peut être utilisée pour analyser les influences institutionnelles à travers le temps. Retourner sur un lieu de travail préscolaire original, en tant que chercheur de terrain m'a amenée à contester l'invisibilité apparente de l'influence de développement historique. Le cadre de cette étude repose sur le modèle d'apprentissage et de développement par la participation dans les pratiques institutionnelles de Hedegaard, et sur la théorie historico‐culturelle de Vyqotsky. Cet article utilise les données d'une étude de cas, concernant une famille, pour construire une méthodologie dialectique visant à théoriser les pratiques et illustrer de ce fait le concept du développement historique de l'enfance. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Wie können wir die historische Entwicklung kindlichen Lernens besser verstehen? Wie werden die Möglichkeiten in der frühen Kindheit von Institutionen (einschließlich Familie) beeinflusst und geformt? Als Teil einer breiteren Studie in einer Vorschule in einer australischen Gemeinde fokussiert dieser Beitrag darauf, wie die kulturhistorische Methodologie genutzt werden kann, um institutionelle Einflüsse über einen längeren Zeitraum zu verstehen. Die Rückkehr an einen früheren Arbeitsplatz an einer Vorschule als Feldforscher für ein Australian Research Council (ARC) Projekt forderte ein Nachdenken über scheinbar unsichtbare Einflüsse historischer Entwicklungen heraus. Diese Studie stützt sich auf Heedegaards Modell “Lernen und Entwicklung durch Teilnahme an institutionellen Praktiken” und auf Vygotskys Kulturhistorische Theorie. Diese Darstellung verwendet Fallstudiendaten von einer Familie zur Errichtung einer in methodologischen Dialektik, damit Praktiken theoretisiert werden können und so das Konzept der historischen kindlichen Entwicklung illustriert wird. RESUMEN: ¿Cómo podemos entender el aprendizaje del niño desde una perspectiva histórica? ¿Cómo instituciones (incluyendo la familia) influencian y forman parte de lo que es posible en la primera infancia? Como parte de una investigación de una institución de educación preescolar en una comunidad Australiana, este estudio se concentra en como la metodología cultural–histórica puede ser utilizada para estudiar influencias institucionales a través del tiempo. Como investigadora y regresando a una institución de trabajo esta investigación ha desafiado mi manera de pensar acerca de cuáles son las influencias no aparentes o invisibles en el desarrollo histórico del niño. Esta investigación utiliza el modelo de Hedegaard de aprendizaje y desarrollo de participación en prácticas institucionales, y la teoría cultural–histórica de Vygotsky. Esta investigación usa el caso de una familia en Australia para desarrollar una metodología dialéctica; con el fin de teorizar prácticas e ilustrar el concepto del desarrollo del niño desde una perspectiva histórica.