Researching teacher development in ICT:
can the vygotskian experimental-genetic
methodology do the trick?
Lada Smirnova, June 2015
Epigraph
Движенья
нет, сказал мудрец брадатый.
fessional
Development
Другой смолчал и стал пред ним ходить.
А.С. Пушкин (1825)
One bearded sage concluded: there's no motion.
Without a word, another walked before him.
Alexander Pushkin (1825)
(Translation by Andrey Kneller)
Outline
1.
Researching Development – aiming at a
moving target
2.
Experimental-genetic methodology
3.
3 principles of Vygotsky’s approach
4.
Engeström’s Change Laboratory cycle
5.
5 principles of research methodology
6.
Challenges to consider
Staff development lies at the heart of nearly every
educational effort to improve student achievement
(Supovitz &. Turner, 2000:963)
Teachers have ‘responsibility to develop professionally
throughout their careers’
(Johnson, 2006:250)
Teacher Development is ‘fundamentally a bottom-up, …
self-initiated, self-monitored development of skills,
knowledge and attitudes’
(Eldridge, 2005:6)
What is Exploratory Practice?
Similar phases of development
The Research Study
?
Two paths of development
galleryhip.com
Definitions
Intervention (latin)
Inter- between
venio - to come
‘to come between’
Formative intervention methods

Genetic-modeling experiment (Vygotsky; Davydov; Zuckerman, 2012)

French clinic of activity (Clot, 2009; Clot & Kostulski, 2011)

American Fifth Dimension (Cole, 2006)

Change Laboratory (Engeström,1996, 2014); Virkkunen & Newnham,
2013).
Change Laboratory
Engeström’s cycle
Virkkunen et al (2013:17)
5 principles of methodology
1. Buds of development
2. Dramatic event
3. Interaction of real (natural) and ideal
(cultural) forms
4. Developmental tools (web 2.0 in my case)
5. Sustainable qualitative changes as an outcome
of the experiment.
(Veresov, 2010:88-89)
Expected challenges
1. Extra burden on teachers
2. Need emotional involvement
and professional commitment
of each and every
Any questions?
Comments?
Suggestions?
[email protected]
References
References
Clot, Y. (2009). Clinic of activity: The dialogue as instrument. In A. Sannino, H. Daniels, & K. Gutierrez
(Eds.), Learning and expanding with activity theory (pp. 286–302). New York, NY: Cambridge University
Press.
Clot, Y., & Kostulski, K. (2011). Intervening for transforming: The horizon of action in the Clinic of Activity.
Theory and Psychology, 21:681–696.
Cole, M., & The Distributed Literacy Consortium. (Eds.). (2006). The Fifth Dimension: An after-school
program built on diversity. New York, NY: Russell Sage.
Davydov, V. V. (1990). Types of generalization in instruction: Logical and psychological problems in the
structuring of school curricula. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Davydov, V. V. (2008). Problems of developmental instruction: A theoretical and experimental
psychological study. New York, NY: Nova.
Eldridge, J. (2005). Rendering unto Caesar: the ambivalent case of in-service teacher training. TD SIG
Newsletter 1/05: 6-10
Engeström, Y. (1996). Developmental work research as educational research. Nordisk pedagogik 16/3:131–
143.
Engeström, Y. (2007). Putting Vygotsky to work: The Change Laboratory as an application of double
stimulation. In H. Daniels, M. Cole, & J. V. Wertsch (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to Vygotsky (pp.
363–382). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Engeström, Y., Sannino, A., & Virkkunen, J. (2014). On the methodological demands of formative
interventions. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 21/2:118-128.
References
Johnson, K. (2006). The sociocultural turn and its challenges for second language teacher education.
TESOL Quarterly, 40/1: 235-257.
Supovitz, J. A., & Turner, H. M. (2000). The effects of professional development on science teaching
practices and classroom culture. Journal of research in science teaching, 37/9:963-980.
Veresov, N. (2010) Introducing cultural historical theory: main concepts and principles of genetic research
methodology. Cultural-Historical Psychology, 4:83-90.
Veresov, N. (2014). Method, Methodology and Methodological Thinking. In Visual Methodologies and Digital
Tools for Researching with Young Children (pp. 215-228). Springer International Publishing.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky: Vol. 1. Problems of general psychology. New
York, NY: Plenum.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1997). The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky: Vol. 4. The history of the development of
higher mental functions. New York, NY: Plenum.
Virkkunen, J., & Newnham, D. S. (2013). The Change Laboratory: A tool for collaborative development of
work and
education. Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Sense Publishers
Virkkunen, J., Newnham, D. S., Nleya, P., & Engeström, R. (2012). Breaking the vicious circle of
categorizing students
in school. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 1, 183–192.
Zuckerman, G. A. (2012). Developmental education: A genetic modeling experiment. Journal of Russian
and East European Psychology, 49(6), 45–63.