Cultural studies of science education |
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| Authors: | Joanna Higgins Geraldine McDonald |
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| Institution: | (1) Faculty of Education, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand |
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| Abstract: | In response to Stetsenko’s 2008, Cultural Studies of Science Education, 3] call for a more unified approach in sociocultural
perspectives, this paper traces the origins of the use of sociocultural ideas in New Zealand from the 1970s to the present.
Of those New Zealanders working from a sociocultural perspective who responded to our query most had encountered these ideas
while overseas. More recently activity theory has been of interest and used in reports of work in early childhood, workplace
change in the apple industry, and in-service teacher education. In all these projects the use of activity theory has been
useful for understanding how the elements of a system can transform the activity. We end by agreeing with Stetsenko that there
needs to be a more concerted approach by those working from a sociocultural perspective to recognise the contribution of others
in the field.
Joanna Higgins
is Associate Director of the Jessie Hetherington Centre for Educational Research and Director of the Mathematics Education
Unit at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. The primary focus of her research has been the teaching of elementary
school mathematics incorporating four interrelated areas: children’s learning; teachers’ understanding and practice; the process
of facilitation; and the links to policy. Studies from a sociocultural perspective include: teachers’ pedagogical content
knowledge; models of facilitation for improving teacher knowledge and practices, representing mathematical ideas in teaching
tasks, and classroom processes for mathematics teaching. She is particularly interested in exploring transformative practices
that foster equitable outcomes for all learners. The investigations have had an impact on government policy in mathematics
teacher education. In 2006 she won a contract to be the National Research Co-ordinator for the In-service Teacher Education
Practice (INSTEP) Project. She gained her doctorate from Victoria University of Wellington in 1999.
Geraldine McDonald
is Research Associate in the School of Education Studies Victoria University of Wellington. Formerly she was Assistant Director
of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research where she established the first program of research in early childhood
education. She encountered exciting uses of Vygotskyan ideas when she was at Teachers College Columbia University in 1981.
Her own first use of sociocultural theory was a study of early writing as a cultural artifact and this expanded to the study
of classrooms. She is interested in the demographic characteristics of school populations and has for a long time argued against
the use of psychometric tests standardized for age to compare population groups which differ in age at grade level. The results
are unfair to disadvantaged groups which tend to be older for grade level than advantaged groups. She gained her doctorate
from Victoria University of Wellington in 1976 and in 1993 the university awarded her an honorary DLit. She was the foundation
president of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education. |
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| Keywords: | Vygotsky Activity theory Sociocultural |
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