Igor Arievitch
Professor of Developmental and Educational Psychology,
Department of Education, The College of Staten Island,
The City University of New York
Recent publications:
Arievitch, I.M., & Stetsenko, A. (2000). The quality of cultural tools and cognitive development: Gal'perin's perspective and its implications. Human Development, 43 (3), 69-92.
Stetsenko A., & Arievitch, I.M. (2002, in press). Teaching, learning and
development: Contributions from post-Vygotskian research. In G. Wells & G.
Claxton (Eds.), Learning for life in the 21st century: Sociocultural
perspectives on the future of education. London: Blackwell.
Field of research:
The role of teaching-learning in cognitive development;
Psychological regularities of knowledge and skills acquisition;
Mediating tools of mental activity;
Instructional technologies.
Gal'perin's contribution to activity theory : A potential for an integrated view of development and learning?
Tuesday, 10.15
Gal'perin's version of activity theory, the theory of mental activity formation, incorporates the elements of cognitivist, Piagetian, and many sociocultural approaches to development and learning. Unlike those approaches though, his theory is grounded in a unique conceptualization of psychological aspects of human activity, distinct from physiological or logical aspects. This general conceptual basis combined with recent findings in sociocultural research and cognitive science creates a promise for a much-desired progress towards an integrated view of human mental development.