Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2023
The introductory chapter provides a general overview of the five pivotal topics of the science of the cultural mind. The first topic is that of mediated learning. Human learning is rarely direct; it is often mediated by other human beings, by symbolic tools, and by socioculturally constructed activities. The second topic focuses on mediation provided by symbolic tools. These tools are specific for different cultures and subcultures and impact the development of cognitive and learning abilities. The third topic concerns the so-called leading activities. It is argued that child development can be viewed as a sequence of periods each of which is associated with a different socioculturally constructed predominant activity. The fourth topic is on learning potential. While the typical intelligence or achievement tests evaluate what children can do at a given moment, the learning potential tests help us to understand what children will be capable of doing tomorrow if the appropriate help is given to them. The last topic is cognitive education. For future-oriented education, it is essential to include the development of thinking skills in the regular school curriculum.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.