Distributing Cognition Over Humans and Machines
2012
Thesocioculturalapproachtohumancognitionhasrecentlygainedinfluencein thefieldofeducationaltechnology.Thisemergencecanbeexplainedbythe renewedinterestinAmericaforVygotsky&s;stheoriessincethetranslationofhis book(Vygotsky,1978)andbytheattacksagainsttheindividualisticviewof cognitionthatdominatedcognitivescience(Lave,1988).Moreover,theactual useofcomputersinclassroomsleadsscientiststopaymoreattentiontosocial factors:teachersoftenhavetoputtwoormorestudentsinfrontofeachcomputer becauseschoolsgenerallyhavemorestudentsthancomputers!Thissituationwas originallyviewedasarestrictiontothepotentialofcomputer-assistedinstruction,sinceitwascontradictorytotheprincipleofindividualization.Today,itis perceivedasapromisingwayofusingcomputers(Blaye,Light,Joiner,& Sheldon,1991).