Activity Theory in Practice

Activity Theory in Practice
Author: Harry Daniels
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2013-05-13
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1136031669

This ground-breaking book brings together cutting-edge researchers who study the transformation of practice through the enhancement and transformation of expertise. This is an important moment for such a contribution because expertise is in transition - moving toward collaboration in inter-organizational fields and continuous shaping of transformations. To understand and master this transition, powerful new conceptual tools are needed and are provided here. The theoretical framework which has shaped these studies is Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). CHAT analyses how people and organisations learn to do something new, and how both individuals and organisations change. The theoretical and methodological tools used have their origins in the work of Lev Vygotsky and A.N. Leont’ev. In recent years this body of work has aroused significant interest across the social sciences, management and communication studies. Working as part of an integrated international team, the authors identify specific findings which are of direct interest to the academic community, such as: the analysis of vertical learning between operational and strategic levels within complex organizations; the refinement of notions of identity and subject position within CHAT; the introduction of the concept of ‘labour power’ into CHAT; the development of a method of analysing discourse which theoretically coheres with CHAT and the design of projects. Activity Theory in Practice will be highly useful to practitioners, researchers, students and policy-makers who are interested in conceptual and empirical issues in all aspects of ‘activity-based’ research.

Activity Theory in Education

Activity Theory in Education
Author: Dilani S. P. Gedera
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2015-12-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9463003878

Activity Theory in Education: Research and Practice brings together cutting-edge scholars from a number of continents. Through in-depth case studies the authors highlight how Activity Theory is used in education and discuss the theoretical as well as pragmatic use of Activity Theory frameworks in a range of contemporary learning contexts. The first section of the book focuses on empirical research on using Activity Theory in analysing students’ and teachers’ experiences of learning and teaching in face-to-face and online learning contexts. The second section contains insights in identifying historical and systemic tensions in educational contexts using Activity Theory. The third section discusses conceptual and contextual aspects of educational contexts through Activity Theory, and Section four discusses the application of Activity Theory in understanding teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge and curriculum development. In spite of the widespread and rapidly increasing use of Activity Theory in educational research, few collections of this work are available. Activity Theory in Education: Research and Practice is such a much needed collection of practical experiences, theoretical insights and empirical research findings on the use of Activity Theory in educational settings.” – Yrjö Engeström, Centre for Research on Activity, Development and Learning (CRADLE), The University of Helsinki.

Learning and Expanding with Activity Theory

Learning and Expanding with Activity Theory
Author: Anna Lisa Sannino
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 391
Release: 2009-08-17
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0521760755

This book is a collection about cultural-historical activity theory as it has been developed and applied by Yrjö Engeström. The work of Engeström is both rooted in the legacy of Vygotsky and Leont'ev and focuses on current research concerns that are related to learning and development in work practices. His publications cross various disciplines and develop intermediate theoretical tools to deal with empirical questions. In this volume, Engeström's work is used as a springboard to reflect on the question of the use, appropriation, and further development of the classic heritage within activity theory. The book is structured as a discussion among senior scholars, including Y. Engeström himself. The work of the authors pushes on classical activity theory to address pressing issues and critical contradictions in local practices and larger social systems.

Developmental Work Research

Developmental Work Research
Author: Yrjö Engeström
Publisher: Lehmanns Media
Total Pages: 492
Release: 2005-01-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3865410693

"Developmental work research is an innovative approach to the study and reshaping of work and learning. It expands cultural-historical activity theory by bringing it to the domains of work, technology and organizations. The world of work is in turmoil, increasingly dominated by 'runaway objects' generated by globalization and greed (global markets are such massive objects out of control). Yet it is the object that motivates work and generates visons of better future. The use values of objects have not vanished, although they are more difficult to grasp than perhaps ever before. Developmental work research rediscovers and expands use values in runaway objects. In workplace interventions it engages practitioners in expansive re-forging of the objects of their work."--Cover.

Activity Theory and Social Practice

Activity Theory and Social Practice
Author: International Society for Cultural Research and Activity Theory. Congress
Publisher:
Total Pages: 390
Release: 1999
Genre: Education
ISBN:

Through the contributions of anthropologists, philosophers, and psychologists, Activity Theory and Social Practice demonstrates the potential of a multidisciplinary approach towards the study of activity.

Context and Consciousness

Context and Consciousness
Author: Bonnie A. Nardi
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 428
Release: 1996
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9780262140584

This work brings together a collection of 13 contributions that apply activity theory - a psychological theory with a naturalistic emphasis - to problems of human-computer interaction. It presents activity theory as a means of structuring and guiding field studies of human-computer interaction.

Applying Cultural Historical Activity Theory in Educational Settings

Applying Cultural Historical Activity Theory in Educational Settings
Author: May Britt Postholm
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2019-11-20
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000721795

Applying Cultural Historical Activity Theory in Educational Settings harnesses research and development for educational improvement, bridging the gap between research and practice. Exploring how collaborations between researchers and practitioners can be used to co-construct solutions to real-world problems, this book considers key concepts in cultural historical activity theory (CHAT), including models as resources that can be used to build and facilitate collaboration between researchers and practitioners. The chapters of the book draw on research findings from the practices of learning communities in diverse educational settings: teacher education, the education of school leaders, early childhood education and driving teacher education. Applying Cultural Historical Activity Theory in Educational Settings is an excellent resource for researchers and practitioners seeking to construct new knowledge and develop practice, or wishing to expand their knowledge of CHAT.

Acting with Technology

Acting with Technology
Author: Victor Kaptelinin
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2009-08-07
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0262513315

A systematic presentation of activity theory, its application to interaction design, and an argument for the development of activity theory as a basis for understanding how people interact with technology. Activity theory holds that the human mind is the product of our interaction with people and artifacts in the context of everyday activity. Acting with Technology makes the case for activity theory as a basis for understanding our relationship with technology. Victor Kaptelinin and Bonnie Nardi describe activity theory's principles, history, relationship to other theoretical approaches, and application to the analysis and design of technologies. The book provides the first systematic entry-level introduction to the major principles of activity theory. It describes the accumulating body of work in interaction design informed by activity theory, drawing on work from an international community of scholars and designers. Kaptelinin and Nardi examine the notion of the object of activity, describe its use in an empirical study, and discuss key debates in the development of activity theory. Finally, they outline current and future issues in activity theory, providing a comparative analysis of the theory and its leading theoretical competitors within interaction design: distributed cognition, actor-network theory, and phenomenologically inspired approaches.