Vygotsky
Seminar
Spring
2001
Instructors: Vera John-Steiner & Holbrook Mahn
Credit Hours: 3
Place: EDOF 225
Vera John-Steiner
Office: EDOF 210
Office Hours: x
Phone 277-4324
e-mail: vygotsky@unm.edu
Homepage: http://www.unm.edu/~vygotsky/
Holbrook Mahn
Office: Hokona 212
Office Hours: Tues. & Thurs. 1:00 - 2:00 & TBA
Phone 277-5887; home: 881-7981
e-mail: hmahn@unm.edu
Course Description and Rationale:
This course will give participants
the opportunity to study the work of Lev S. Vygotsky in depth. While Vygotsky
has received increased attention recently, much of his work has remained
inaccessible to the English speaking world. In the last few years, three
volumes of his collected works were published. This seminar will give participants
the opportunity to read these works as well as selections from his seminal
pieces that have been available for a longer period of time. While there
have been multiple interpretations of Vygotsky's work, this seminar will
emphasize reading his work. There will be occasional readings of other authors,
especially in the beginning when we examine Vygotsky's theoretical foundations,
but in general, we will be reading his writings and discussing them in class.
A focus for the seminar will be an examination of Vygotsky's seminal concepts
and their implications for education.
Course Assignments:
On-line discussion (20%)
-- Regular participation in an on-line discussion
set up for this course which is accessible by clicking Here.
This on-line discussion allows us to ask questions, make comments, respond
to questions, raise concerns, in essence to carry on a dialogue with our
peers and the instructors.
Class Presentation (30%) -- Students will be asked to choose a topic of interest
to them, do some additional reading on that topice and help lead a class
discussion on it.
Term Project (50%) -- This project will give students the opportunity
to explore an aspect of Vygotsky's work that is of particular interest to
them. It is hoped that the product in this project will be of use in the
classroom or in your research. This project will be open-ended and will
allow for considerable creativity on your part. We will discuss the project
at greater length in class.
Required Text: Mind in Society Vygotsky (1978) Harvard University
Press.
Other articles on-line or distributed in class.
Resources
Nate Schmolze's Homepage -- One of the best sites on the internet for information on Vygotsky
Dictionary of the Philosophy of the Mind -- (Scroll down to find the alphabetical index)
A Philosophical Dictionary of Terms and Names
Glossary of Psychological Terms
The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia
Microsoft's Encarta Encyclopedia and Dictionary
One Look Dictionary -- Searches 663 On-line dictionaries
Principia Cybernetica Web -- An interesting site with its own theory, but useful resources
Course Schedule
Week One -- 1/16 -- Introductions & quick write on expectations
and goals for the seminar.
1/18 -- Vygotsky's life and times
Reading -- "On Vygotsky's Research and Life" Ghita
Vygotskaya
"His Life" --
Ghita Vygotskaya (Scroll down at this site for the link to this article)
"The Historical Context of Vygotsky's Work: A Sociocultural Approach"
-- Rosa & Montero (especially pages 65-78)
Supplemental --
History
of Russia pre-1917
Week Two -- 1/23 -- Methodological Approach -- Dialectical
Materialism.
Reading -- Mind in Society (MIS) -- Introduction,
Chapter 5, Afterword,
The
Science of Dialectics -- Engels
Dialectical
Materialism -- a short overview
1/25 -- Historical Materialism
Reading -- "Vygotsky's
Use of History" -- Scribner
Historical
Materialism -- Engels
Historical
Materialiam -- a short overview
Week Three -- 1/30 & 2/1 -- Overview of Themes in
Vygotsky's work --Background to psychological work
Reading -- "Vygotsky: The Man and His Cause"--
Blanck
"Consciousness
as a Problem for the Psychology of Behaviour" -- Vygotsky
Week Four 2/6 -- The State of Psychology in Vygotsky's Time
--
Reading -- Vygotsky's "Crisis
in Psychology" Sections 1-4 & 12
2/8 -- The State of Psychology in Vygotsky's Time --
Reading -- Vygotsky's "Crisis
in Psychology" Section 13
Week Four --2/13--
Psychological Analysis of Learning and Development and Implications for
Teaching
Reading -- Mind in Society, Chapters 6 & 7.
2/15 -- Learning and Development -- (continued)
Reading -- Sociocultural
Approaches to Learning -- John-Steiner & Mahn (Scroll down the site
to find this article)
Week Five -- 2/20
-- Functional Systems Approach
Reading -- Selections
from Luria's The Making of Mind & The Working Brain
"Psychology and the Theory of the Localization of Mental Functions"
-- Vygotsky
2/22 -- Functional Systems and Complexity Theory
Reading -- "A Functional Systems Approach
to Concept Development" -- John-Steiner, Meehan & Mahn
Week Six -- 2/27--
Concept Formation
Reading --Thinking and Speech -- Chapter 6, Sections
1-3
3/1 -- Concept Formation
Reading -- Thinking and Speech -- Chapter 6, Sections
4-6
Week Seven -- 3/6-
Thought and Language
Reading -- Vygotsky -- Thinking and Speech -- Chapter
7, Thought and Word, Sections 1-3
3/8 -- Thought and Language (continued)
Reading -- Vygotsky -- Thinking and Speech -- Chapter
7, Thought and Word, Sections 4 & 5
SPRING BREAK -- 3/13 & 3/15 --Presentations
begin week after next
Week Eight -- 3/6
-- Development of Higher Psychological Processes
Reading -- MIS -- Chapters 1-4
3/8 -- Development of Higher Psychological Processes (continued)
Reading -- "The Problem of the Development of Higher
Mental Functions" -- Vygotsky
Topics for Class Presentations
Week Nine --3/20 --Michele Minnis -- Activity
Theory
3/22 -- Jay Anderson -- ESL Students, Computers, and the ZPD
Reading -- Guardians
of the No-Fly Zone
Week Ten -- 3/27 --Week Ten -- Ken Moore --
Music & Other Sign Systems in Dynamic Relationship
Readings -- Music and Movement and Infants and Toddlers: Naturally Wonder-Full:
Literacy Learning Processes; Peirce's
Sign and Mathematics Educatioon: An Introduction
3/29 Sara Otto-Diniz -- Psychology & Art
Readings -- Vygotsky's The Psychology of Art -- Preface
& Chapter
1 - On the Methodology of Art
Week Eleven -- 4/3 -- Sam Howarth -- Vygotsky, "Defectology"
& Possible Implications
Readings: Gindis, "Vygotsky's
Vision: Reshaping the Practice of Special Education for the 21st Century."
4/5 Robin Jones -- Dewey Meets Vygotsky
Week Twelve -- 4/10 Robin Jones -- Dewey Meets Vygotsky again
4/12 Literacy Randa Gamal -- Bilingualism &
Literacy
Reading: John-Steiner -- "The Road to Competence in an Alien Land:
A Vygotskian Perspective on Bilingualism."
Week Thirteen-- 4/17 Literacy -- Mind in Society, Ch. 8,
"The Pre-history of Written Language";
4/19 -- Review of Basic Concepts covered in course
thus far. Revisit Sociocultural
Approaches to Learning -- John-Steiner & Mahn (Scroll down the site
to find this article)
Week Fourteen -- 4/ 24 Rosemary Neely -- From Everyday to Scientific
Concepts
Reading -- Vygotsky, "The Development of Academic Concepts in School
Aged Children"
Brenda Nicodemus -- The Sociocultural Approach -- Beyond Education to Interpreting
4/26 Laurie Archer, Karen Higgins, Sandra Musanti
-- Affect
Readings -- Vygotsky, "The Problem of the Environment" and Mahn
& John-Steiner, "The
Gift of Confidence: A Vygotskian View of Emotions."
Week Fifteen -- 5/1 Matthew Magnuson -- The Computer as a Tool
5/3 Ivan Eagletail -- Indigenous Worldviews and
Vygotsky's Worldviews Meet
Final Papers Due
Week Sixteen -- 5/8 Potluck at Holbrook's
house.
| 