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The Possible in the Life and Work of Lev Vygotsky

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Abstract

The possible, in educational terms, suggests the pedagogical potential of schooling to help children and young persons to change their perceptions about their imagined worlds of the future. It also highlights the possibilities for learning and development for all. Yet international evidence suggests that the potentials of many young people from economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds and/or with a special educational need or disability are not currently met by many school systems. In addressing these issues, there is a considerable body of educational research in the fields of inclusion, social justice, and child and adolescent development that draws on the theoretical body of work developed by the Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky. Most of these studies draw on either sociocultural or cultural historical activity theory, both of which can be traced back to Vygotsky’s work on learning and development with a respective focus on semiotic mediation and speech as a cultural tool or human activity systems. Both theories attempt to provide a nondualist account of the social, cultural, and historical factors that influence human development. This has important pedagogic implications for considerations of the processes and possibilities of teaching and learning.

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Thompson, I. (2022). The Possible in the Life and Work of Lev Vygotsky. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_144-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_144-2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-98390-5

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    The Possible in the Life and Work of Lev Vygotsky
    Published:
    02 June 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_144-2

  2. Original

    Vygotsky
    Published:
    01 August 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_144-1