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KEY WORDS: teaching, learning, context, collaboration
ABSTRACT
Social constructivist perspectives focus on the interdependence of social and individual processes in the co-construction of knowledge. After the impetus for understanding the influence of social and cultural factors on cognition is reviewed, mechanisms hypothesized to account for learning from this perspective are identified, drawing from Piagetian and Vygotskian accounts. The empirical research reviewed illustrates (a) the application of institutional analyses to investigate schooling as a cultural process, (b) the application of interpersonal analyses to examine how interactions promote cognition and learning, and (c) discursive analyses examining and manipulating the patterns and opportunities in instructional conversation. The review concludes with a discussion of the application of this perspective to selected contemporary issues, including: acquiring expertise across domains, assessment, educational equity, and educational reform.
INTRODUCTION
Recent chapters in the Annual Review of Psychology closely related to the general subject matter of teaching and learning (Glaser & Bassok 1989, Sandoval 1995, Snow & Swanson 1992, Voss et al 1995) have generally examined issues of cognition from an individualistic perspective. Voss et al (1995) indicated that the recent decade has witnessed the "sociocultural revolution," with its focus on learning in out-of-school contexts and on the acquisition of intellectual skills through social interaction (p. 174). In this review, I examine the nature and consequences of this revolution.
The review begins by intellectually situating social constructivist perspectives. Following an explication of the tenets of this approach, I explore issues of teaching and learning that are particularly salient from social constructivist perspectives. These issues are presented using institutional, interpersonal, and discursive levels of analysis. I then proceed to the application of social constructivist views to contemporary issues of importance to education; namely, the acquisition of expertise across subject matter, assessment practices, the education of linguistic and culturally diverse children, and school reform. The review concludes with a critique of this perspective and a discussion of future directions.
INTELLECTUALLY SITUATING THE SOCIOCULTURAL REVOLUTION IN INSTRUCTIONAL RESEARCH
Instructional research in the West was initially informed by behaviorist accounts of learning found in classic writings such as those of Thorndike (1906). Thorndike postulated that learning took place through the differential strengthening of bonds between situations and actions. Teaching, in turn, was a matter of...