Barbara Rogoff Flashcards
Who is Barbara Rogoff?
Barbara Rogoff is considered the gaurdian of Vygotsky’s Theories. Her work considers the cultural significance of learning. She built on Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal developing when she was developing her theory of guided participation
Describe Babara’s life and works briefly
Barbara is the Professor of Psychology at the University College of Santa Cruz Foundation. She holds the University of California presidential chair. Some of her works include:
Apprenticeship in Thinking; Cognitive Development in Social Context (1990)
Learning Together: Children and Adults in a school community (2002)
The Cultural Nature of Human Development (2003)
What is the first key aspect of Rogoff’s theory?
Guided Participation: A concept that builds on Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. Guided participation is fundamental to the thinking of all sociocultural theorists. Guided Participation refers to mutual bridging of meanings that occur among people as they interact. AS ideas are communicated understanding on both sies is enhanced
What is the second aspect of Rogoff’s theory?
Nature or Nurture? Advocates exploring human development by considering biological and cultural heritage. Suggests that human biological development works together with cultural practices. Again is quite similar to Vygotsky’s work
What 4 levels or types of learning and development, that involve nurture or nature, did Vygotsky suggest?
- Microgenetic: Which involves moment to moment learning
- Ontogenetic: Which occurs over the course of a lifetime
- Phylogenetic: Which involves slow developments through genetic changes
- Cultural/historical Development: Where in changes occur over centuries as new tools for thinking emerge
What is the third key aspect of Rogoff’s Theory?
Cultural Tools for Thinking: Rogoff identifies language as the key tool for thinking. The development of language relies on babies predisposition to notice variations in language therefore it is a cultural aspect of development. Social enculturation begins before birth as babies become familiar with the sound of their mothers voice and with the intonations of the language she speaks.
What are some tools for thinking other than language?
Literacy (a cultural development of oral language), Mathematics, Classifications of plants or animals which support scientific thinking, maps, diagrams and charts that support navigational systems, stories and schematic maps that aboriginal groups in Australia use to map routes and history, folk psychology that supports the organisation of our understanding of others
What is the 4th key aspect of Rogoff’s Theory?
Communities of Learners: People of different cultures may think and solve problems differently. Rogoff points out that most education systems work on the following set of assumptions
- schooling is compulsory
- it involves segregating children from adults within the community
- large groups of children are isolated with a single adult
- children are grouped according to their date of birth and subjected with a standard mode of instruction that is delivered in a step-by-step form
- children are to be motivated by grading their performance
Such assumptions do not lead to effective education and education should be more firmly rooted in cultural systems
What are the 5 cultural aspects Rogoff is interested in?
Collaboration, Learning through Observation, Children’s interest and keen attention to ongoing events, Roles of adults as guides or as instructors, children’s opportunities to participate in cultural activities as well as in age-specific child-focused settings
