Department of Education, Unit Catalogue 2011/12 |
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 Credits:
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| Level:
| Doctoral (FHEQ level 8) |
| Period: |
Modular (no specific semester) |
| Assessment:
| CW 100% |
| Supplementary Assessment: | Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations) |
| Requisites:
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| Description:
| Aims: Sociocultural and Activity Theory based research has risen to prominence in the last 10 years. Its influence is witnessed across the social sciences and in many other fields such as health, human computer interaction, architecture, sociotechnical systems design, and management and business administration. The aims are to: * Introduce students to the main current debates and key literature in Sociocultural and Activity Theory; * Debate the meaning and implications of the different interpretations of accounts of the social formation of mind for research; * Explore some of the main methodologies that have arisen and are being developed in the sociocultural activity theory; * Discuss examples of these approaches to research across a range of areas of policy and practice. Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course students are expected to achieve the following outcomes: Knowledge and Understanding of: * the key issues in current debates in the conceptual frameworks of Sociocultural and Activity Theory; * the key issues in current debates in Sociocultural and Activity Theory research methods and methodologies; * criticisms of Sociocultural and Activity Theory based research. Intellectual competence * critical awareness of the debates and dilemmas in the formulation of research design in Sociocultural and Activity Theory based empirical investigation. Professional and practical competence: * the ability to synthesise and interpret evidence for the development and design of research using Sociocultural and Activity Theory; * the ability to be critical consumers and users of research evidence. Transferable / Key Skills: * Competence in critical oral and written argument. Skills: During the unit students will be expected to develop their skills in the following areas: * Ability to select, summarise and synthesise written information from multiple sources (facilitated / assessed); * Ability to comprehensive and scholarly written communication (facilitated / assessed) * Ability to develop rigorous arguments through appropriate and precise use of concepts and models (facilitated); * Ability to work independently, without close supervision or guidance (facilitated). Content: The unit will be taught partly by lectures but mainly in a seminar/reading group format. There will be required reading for each session and practical exercises in evaluating evidence for policy purposes, hence the relatively high proportion of time devoted to private study. There will be a strong focus on the interpretation and use of research evidence for policy. This unit will include an exploration of the research practices which have arisen in fields which have developed on the basis of the original thesis: sociocultural studies with a focus on mediated action; Distributed Cognition, Situated Cognition and Activity Theory. It will be made clear that there is often a high degree of overlap between these categories and that this approach is being used as a device for ordering specific research principles. A session devoted to each area will provide accounts of specific studies which illustrate the underlying methodological principles and the specific methods which are being deployed. In each case assumptions and limitations will be discussed. The unit will close with some proposals for future developments at both methodological and conceptual levels. The content will include the following: 1. An overview of the implications for research of the theorectical work which acknowledges a debt to the writings of L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev and A.R. Luria. It will provide a concise introduction to the original work and discuss their own approaches to research methods. 2. An overview of the approach to research adopted and developed by Vygotsky and his colleagues in post revolutionary Russia. This account will involve a discussion of the research which utilised the method of dual stimulation and the so-called 'Vyggotsky blocks'. The expedition to Uzbekistan with Luria in which the culture/ cognition relationship was scrutinised will also be considered. 3. A brief overview of the assumptions of the sociocultural approach to research will be provided. Specific examples of research undertaken in this field will be used to explore assumptions and limitations. The work of the following researchers will be explored: James Wertsch, Pablo del Rio, Amelia Alvarez, Ana Smolka, Roger Säljö, Saxe, Hutchins and Holland. 4. The situated cognition and situated learning research approaches developed by Lave and Wenger as well as the work on participation devised by Rogoff will be the focus of this session. 5. This session will provide an illustration of the research that is being conducted under the rubric of distributed cognition. Here illustrations will be drawn from Salomon and Pea and others alongside recent research in the field of Human Computer Interaction and sociotechnical systems design. 6. Cultural Historical Activity Theory will provide the focus for the discussion of research which is inspired by the writing of Leontiev as well as Vygotsky. The interventionist research pioneered by Engeström under the title of Developmental Work Research will take a central position in this session. Illustrations will also be drawn from the Eastern European, Scandinavian and Russian researchers including the work of Davydov and those who have adapted his approach such as Hedegaard. The final sessions will provide an opportunity to reflect on and synthesise developments in the field. Through an engagement with the critiques of the theory and practice of post Vygotskian research, such as Hasan, it will seek to develop an agenda for methodological developments for the future. |
| Programme availability: |
ED60283 is Optional on the following programmes:Department of Education
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