Abstract
In this paper I attempt to clarify how the relationship between macro and micro social contexts has been addressed in the Vygotskian and Neo-Piagetian approaches to learning. For each approach I look at how key scholars (Cole, 1977; Perret-Clermont, Perret and Bell, 1991) come to view context as central to their theories of cognitive development. In order to illustrate my review of the dominant strands of empirical research I refer to studies that focus on the uses, learning and understanding of mathematics. I start the paper with the socio-cultural Vygotskian approach. This is closely associated with my own research into the relationship between culture and learning. Not surprisingly, I find biases in this body of research in terms of the macro and micro features of contexts which were analysed. In an attempt to gain insights into alternative ways of conceptualising these relationships I explore work which has adopted a socio-psychological approach. In the final part of the paper I discuss how these insights can be used to broaden our basis for studying interactions in the mathematics classroom and conclude by relating my ideas to new developments in socio-cultural theory.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Abreu, G. de: 1993, The Relationship between Home and School Mathematics in a Farming Community in Rural Brazil, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Cambridge University, Cambridge, U.K.
Abreu, G. de: 1995a, ‘A matematica na vida versus na escola: uma questao de cognicao situada ou de identidades sociais’ [Mathematics in everyday life versus school: a question of situated cognition or of social identities], Psicologia: Teoria e Pesquisa 11(2), 85-93.
Abreu, G. de: 1995b, ‘Understanding how children experience the relationship between home and school mathematics’, Mind, Culture and Activity: An International Journal 2(2), 119-242.
Abreu, G. de: 1998a, ‘The mathematics learning in sociocultural contexts: the mediating role of social valorisation’, Learning and Instruction 8(6), 567-572.
Abreu, G. de: 1998b, Reflecting on Mathematics in and out of School from a Cultural Psychology Perspective, Paper presented at the PME-The International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Stellenbosh, South Africa.
Abreu, G. de: in press, ‘Learning mathematics in and outside school: two views on situated learning’, in J. Bliss, P. Light and R. Säljö (eds.), Learning Sites: Social and Technological Contexts for Learning, Elsevier Science.
Abreu, G. de and Cline, T.: 1998, ‘Studying social representations of mathematics learning in multiethnic primary schools: work in progress’, Papers on social representations 7(1-2), 1-20.
Atweth, B., Bleicher, R.E. and Cooper, T.J.: 1998, ‘The construction of the social context of mathematics classrooms: a sociolinguistic analysis’, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education 29(1), 63-82.
Bartolini-Bussi, M.: 1991, Social Interaction and Mathematical Knowledge, Paper presented at the XV Conference of PME (International group for the psychology of mathematics education), Assisi, Italy.
Bishop, A.: 1988, Mathematical Enculturation: A Cultural Perspective on Mathematics Education, Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Bronfenbrenner, U.: 1979, The Ecology of Human Development, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Cazden, C.B.: 1993, ‘Vygotsky, Hymes, and Baktin: from word to utterance and voice,’ in E. Forman, N. Minick and C.A. Stone (eds.), Contexts for Learning, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 197-212.
Cesar, M.: 1994, Factores Psico-sociais e Equacoes, Paper presented at the ProfMat 94, Lisboa.
Cesar, M. and Perret-Clermont, A.-N.: 1996, Resolution Individuelle ou Collective de Taches Equationelles par des Eleves de 7eme Annee, Paper presented at the IInd Conference for Socio-Cultural Research-Piaget and Vygotsky, Geneve, Swiss.
Chaiklin, S. and Lave, J.: 1993, Understanding Practice: Perspectives on Activity and Context, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Cobb, P.: 1995, ‘Mathematical learning and small group interaction: four case studies’, in P. Cobb and H. Bauersfeld (eds.), The Emergence of Mathematical Meaning, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, pp. 25-129.
Cole, M.: 1977, ‘An ethnographic psychology of cognition’, in P.N. Johnson-Laird and P.C. Wason (eds.), Thinking, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 468-482.
Cole, M.: 1995, ‘Culture and cognitive development: from cross-cultural research to creating systems of cultural mediation’, Culture and Psychology 1, 25-54.
Cole, M.: 1996, Cultural Psychology, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Cole, M. and Wertsch, J.: 1996, Beyond Individual-Social Antinomy in Discussions of Piaget and Vygotsky, online: http: //www. massey.ac.nz/~Alock/virutal/cole-vyg.htm.
Corsaro, W.: 1996, ‘Transitions in early childhood: the promise of comparative, longitudinal ethnography’, in R. Jessor, A. Colby and R.A. Shweder (eds.), Ethnography and Human Development, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 419-457.
Duveen, G.: 1997, ‘Psychological development as a social process’, in L. Smith, P. Tomlinson and J. Dockerel (eds.), Piaget, Vygotsky and Beyond. Routledge, London.
Engestrom, Y. and Cole, M.: 1997, ‘Situated cognition in search of an agenda’, in D. Kirshner and J.A. Whitson (eds.), Situated Cognition: Social, Semiotic, and Psychological Perspectives, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, London, pp. 301-309.
Forman, E., Larreamendy-Joerns, J., Stein, M.K. and Brown, C.: 1998, ‘“You're going to want to find out which and prove it”: collective argumentation in a mathematics classroom’, Learning and Instruction 8(6), 527-548.
Forman, E.A., Minick, N. and Stone, C.A. (eds.): 1993, Contexts for Learning, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Gay, J. and Cole, M.: 1967, The New Mathematics and an Old Culture: A Study of Learning Among the Kpelle of Liberia, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.
Goodnow, J.J.: 1990, ‘The socialisation of cognition: what's involved?’ in J.W. Stiegler, R.A. Shweder and G. Herdt (eds.), Cultural Psychology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 259-286.
Goodnow, J.J.: 1993, ‘Direction of post-Vygotskian research’, in E. Forman, N. Minick and C.A. Stone (eds.), Contexts for Learning, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 369-381.
Grossen, M.: 1988, La Construction Sociale de l'Intersubjectivitie entre Adulte et Enfant en Situation de Test, Delval, Cousset, CH-Fribourg.
Grossen, M.: 1994, ‘Theoretical and methodological consequences of a change in the unit of analysis for the study of peer interactions in a problem solving situation’, European Journal of Psychology of Education 1, 159-273.
Grossen, M.: 1997, Intersubjectivity in teaching and learning: institutional framings and identities management, Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society Developmental Section, Loughborough.
Grossen, M. and Bell, N.: 1988, ‘Definition de la situation de test et elaboration d'une logique', in A.-N. Perret-Clermont and M. Nicolet (eds.), Interagir et Connaitre. Enjeux et Regulations Sociales dans le Development Cognitif, Delval, Cousset / Fribourg, pp. 233-249.
Grossen, M., Innaccone, A., Bessire, M.-J. and Perret-Clermont, A.-N.: 1996, ‘Actual and perceived expertise: the role of social comparison in the mastery of right and left recognition in novice-expert dyads’, Swiss Journal of Psychology 55(2/3), 176-187.
Grossen, M. and Nicolet, M.: 1988, ‘Origine sociale et performances cognitives contribution psycho-sociologique a une redefinition de la problematique’, in A.-N. Perret-Clermont and M. Nicolet (eds.), Interagir et Connaitre. Enjeux et Regulations Sociales dans le Development Cognitif, Delval, Cousset/ Fribourg, pp. 217-230.
Hermans, H.J. and Kempen, H.J.G.: 1995, ‘Body, mind and culture: the dialogical nature of mediated action’, Culture and Psychology 1, 103-214.
Kirshner, D. and Whitson, J.A. (eds.).: 1997, Situated Cognition: Social, Semiotic, and Psychological Perspectives, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, London.
Lancy, D.F.: 1978, ‘The indigenous mathematics project’, Papua New Guinea Journal of Education, 14 (special issue).
Lave, J.: 1993, ‘The practice of learning’, in S. Chaiklin and J. Lave (eds.), Understanding Practice Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 3-32.
Levine, H. G.: 1993, ‘Context and scaffolding in developmental studies of mother-child problem solving dyads’, in S. Chaiklin and J. Lave (eds.), Understanding Practice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 306-326.
Light, P. and Littleton, K.: 1997, ‘Situational effects in computer-based problem solving’, in L.B. Resnick, C. Pontecorvo, R. Säljö and B. Burge (eds.), Discourse, Tools and Reasoning, Springer, New York, pp. 224-239.
Light, P. and Perret-Clermont, A.-N.: 1989, ‘social context effects in learning and testing’, in A. Gellatly, D. Rogers and J.A. Sloboda (eds.), Cognition and Social Worlds, pp. 99-112.
Litowitz, B.E.: 1993, ‘Deconstruction in the Zone of Proximal Development’, in E. Forman, N. Minick and C.A. Stone (eds.), Contexts for Learning, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 184-185.
Minick, N.: 1985, L.S. Vygotsky and Society Activity Theory: New Perspectives on the Relationship between Mind and Society, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Northwestern University.
Moscovici, S. and Paicheler, G.: 1978, ‘Social comparison and social recognition: two complementary processes of identification’, in H. Tajfel (ed.), Differentiation between Social Groups: Studies in Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, Academic Press, London, pp. 251-266.
Muller, N. and Perret-Clermont,A.-N.: in press, ‘Negotiating identities and meanings in the transition of Knowledge: analysis of interactions in the specific context of a “Knowledge Exchange Network”,’ in J. Bliss, P. Light and R. Säljö (eds.), Learning Sites: Social and Technological Contexts for Learning, Elsevier Science.
Newman, D., Griffin, P. and Cole, M.: 1989, The Construction Zone:Working for Cognitive Change in School, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Nicolet, M.: 1984, Marquage Social, Caracteristiques de la Situation et Origine des Sujets, Seminaire de Psychologie, Universite de Neuchatel.
Nunes, T.: 1992a, ‘Cognitive invariants and cultural variation in mathematical concepts’, International Journal of Behavioral Development 15(4), 433-453.
Nunes, T.: 1992b, ‘Ethnomathematics and everyday cognition’, in D.A. Grouws (ed.), Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning, MacMillan, New York, pp. 557-574.
Nunes, T.: 1995, ‘Sistema de signos e aprendizagem conceptual’, Quadrante 4(1), 7-24.
Nunes, T. and Bryant, P.: 1996, Children doing mathematics, Blackwell, Oxford.
Nunes, T., Light, P. and Mason, J.: 1993a, ‘Tools for thought: the measurement of length and area’, Learning and Instruction 3, 39-54.
Nunes, T., Schliemann, A. and Carraher, D.: 1993b, Street mathematics and school mathematics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Perret-Clermont, A.-N.: 1980, Social interaction and cognitive development in children, Academic Press, New York.
Perret-Clermont, A.-N. and Brossard, A.: 1985, ‘On the interdigitation of social and cognitive processes’, in R.A. Hinde, A.-N. Perret-Clermont and J. Stevenson-Hinde (eds.), Social Relationships and Cognitive Development, Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 309-327.
Perret-Clermont, A.-N., Perret, J.-F. and Bell, N.: 1991, ‘The social construction of meaning and the cognitive activity in elementary school children’, in L.B. Resnick, J.M. Levine and S.D. Teasley (eds.), Perspectives on Socially Shared Cognition, American Psychological Society, Washington, pp. 41-62.
Perret-Clermont, A.-N. and Pontecorvo, C.: 1989, Social interactions and transmission of knowledge, (Dossier de Psychologie 37). Neuchatel: Seminaire the psychologie, Universite de Neuchatel.
Perret-Clermont, A.-N. and Schubauer-Leoni, M.-L.: 1981, ‘Conflict and cooperation as opportunities for learning’, in W.P. Robinson (ed.), Communication in Development, Academic Press, London, pp. 203-233.
Piaget, J.: 1947, Le Langage e la Pensee chez l'Enfant, Delachaus and Niestle, Neuchatel and Paris.
Poncioni, R.: 1989, Il Bambino e la Matematica: un Approcio Psicosociologica del Numero nell' Ambito della Scuaola Materna e della Scuola Elementare, Unpublished Memoire de licence en Sciences de L'education, University of Geneva.
Resnick, L.B., Pontecorvo, C. and Säljö, R.: 1997a, ‘Discourse, tools and reasoning’, in L.B. Resnick, C. Pontecorvo, R. Säljö and B. Burge (eds.), Discourse, Tools and Reasoning: Essays on Situated Cognition, Springer and Nato Scientific Affairs Division, New York, pp. 1-20.
Resnick, L.B., Säljö, R., Pontecorvo, C. and Burge, B. (eds.): 1997b, Discourse, Tools and Reasoning: Essays on Situated Cognition, Springer, New York.
Rogoff, B.: 1990, Apprenticeship in Thinking: Cognitive Development in Social Context, Oxford University Press, New York.
Rogoff, B. and Lave, J. (eds.).: 1984, Everyday Cognition: Its Development in Social Context, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Säljö, R.: 1996a, Learning and Discourse: A Sociocultural Perspective, The British Psychological Society Education Section.
Säljö, R.: 1996b, ‘Mental and physical artifacts in cognitive practices’, in P. Reimann and H. Spada (eds.), Learning in Human and Machines, Pergamon, Oxford, pp. 83-96.
Säljö, R. and Wyndhamn, J.: 1993, ‘Solving everyday problems in the formal setting. An empirical study of the school as context for thought’, in S. Chaiklin and J. Lave (eds.), Understanding Practice: Perspectives on Activity and Context, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 327-342.
Saxe, G.B.: 1982, ‘Culture and the development of numerical cognition: studies among the Oksapmin of Papua New Guinea’, in C.G. Brainerd (ed.), Children's Logical and Mathematical Cognition Springer Verlag, New York, pp. 157-176.
Saxe, G.B. and Posner, J.: 1983, ‘The development of numerical cognition: cross-cultural perspectives’, in H.P. Ginsburg (ed.), The Development of Mathematical Thinking, Academic Press, London, pp. 291-317.
Schubauer-Leoni, M.-L.: 1986, Maitres-Eleves-Savoirs: Analyse Psychosociale du Jeu des Enjeux de la Relation Didactique, Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of Geneva.
Schubauer-Leoni, M.-L.: 1990, ‘Ecritures additivies en classe ou en dehors de la classe: une affaire de contexte’, Resonances 6, 16-28.
Schubauer-Leoni, M.-L. and Grossen, M.: 1993, ‘Negotiating meaning of questions in didactic an experimental contracts’, European Journal of Psychology of Education 3(4), 451-471.
Schubauer-Leoni, M.-L., Perret-Clermont, A.-N. and Grossen, M.: 1992, ‘The construction of adult child intersubjectivity in psychological research an in school’, in M. v. Cranach, W. Doise and G. Mugny (eds.), Social Representations and the Social Bases of Knowledge, Hogrefe and Huber Publishers, Berne.
Scribner, S.: 1984, ‘Cognitive studies of work’, Special issue: The Quarterly Newsletter of the Laboratory of Human Cognition Vol. 6, University of California, San Diego, pp. 1-50.
Scribner, S. and Cole, M.: 1981, The Psychology of Literacy, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Shweder, R.A.: 1995, ‘The confessions of a methodological individualist’, Culture and Psychology 1, 115-222.
Tajfel, H.: 1978, ‘Social categorisation, social identity and social comparison’, in H. Tajfel (ed.), Differentiation between Social Groups: Studies in Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, Academic Press, London, pp. 61-76.
Tharp, R.G. and Gallimore, R.: 1988, Rousing Minds to Life, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Tudge, J.: 1990, ‘Vygotsky, the zone of proximal development, and peer collaboration: implications for classroom practice’, in L.C. Moll (ed.), Vygotsky and Education, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 155-172.
Tudge, J. and Putnam, S.: 1993, The Everyday Experiences of American Pre-Schoolers in Two Cultural Communities: A Cross-Disciplinary and Cross-Level Analysis, Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for the Study of Behavioural Development, Recife, Brazil.
Valsiner, J.: 1989, ‘From group comparisons to knowledge: a lesson from cross-cultural psychology’, in J.P. Forgas and J.M. Ines (eds.), Recent Advances in Social Psychology: An International Perspective, Vol. 501-510, Elsevier Science, North-Holland.
Van der Veer, R. and Valsiner, J.: 1991, Understanding Vygotsky: A Quest for Synthesis, Blackwell, Oxford.
Van Oers, B.: 1998a, ‘The fallacy of decontextualisation’, Mind, culture, and activity 5(2), 135-242.
Van Oers, B.: 1998b, ‘From context to contextualising’, Learning and Instruction 8(6), 473-488.
Van Oers, B. and Forman, E.: 1998, ‘Introduction to the special issue of learning and instruction’, Learning and Instruction 8(6), 469-472.
Vygotsky, L.: 1978, Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Wertsch, J.V.: 1991, Voices of the Mind, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Wertsch, J.V.: 1995, ‘Sociocultural research in the copyright age’, Culture and Psychology 1, 81-102.
Wertsch, J.V., Tulviste, P. and Hagstrom, F.: 1993, ‘A sociocultural approach to agency’, in E.A. Forman, N. Minick and C.A. Stone (eds.), Contexts for Learning: Sociocultural Dynamics in Children's Development, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 336-356.
Wood, D.J., Bruner, J.S. and Ross, G.: 1976, ‘The role of tutoring in problem solving’, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry 17, 89-100.
Wyndhamn, J. and Säljö, R.: in press, ‘Quantifying time as a discursive practice: arithmetic, calendars, fingers and group discussions as structuring processes’, in J. Bliss, P. Light and R. Säljö (eds.), Learning Sites: Social and Technological Contexts for Learning, Elsevier Science.
Zittoun, T.: 1996, ‘L’Envie devant Soi’, (Dossiers de Psychologie 46): Seminaire de Psychologie, Universite de Neuchatel.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
de Abreu, G. Relationships between macro and micro socio-cultural contexts: implications for the study of interactions in the mathematics classroom. Educational Studies in Mathematics 41, 1–29 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003875728720
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003875728720