A cultural-historical study of learning and development: The arithmetic practices of rural Nepali adolescents and adults in transition between school and work activities.
Item
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Title
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A cultural-historical study of learning and development: The arithmetic practices of rural Nepali adolescents and adults in transition between school and work activities.
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Identifier
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AAI9605571
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identifier
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9605571
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Creator
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Beach, King D., III.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Joseph Glick
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Date
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1995
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Developmental | Education, Educational Psychology | Anthropology, Cultural
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Abstract
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The dissertation develops and uses a methodology for examining individual learning and development in relation to societal change, building on cultural-historical theory and activity theory. The methodology has four core concepts: heterochronicity or the relative times of appearance and rates of change between society, activities, and individuals, critical periods which are times marked by societies undergoing rapid change relative to the individual's development, leading activity which refers to whether an activity is role defining for a particular individual, simulation or the modeling of selected aspects of societal change and inducing learning and development through participation in the simulation.;The relation of learning and development in school to that at work is a central concern for most societies today. School-work transition is also a promising arena for studying human learning and development in relation to societal change.;Three interrelated questions are addressed by the study. One, what are the relations between societal change, school and work activities, and paths taken by individuals in transition between the activities, and the implications of these relations for individual learning and development? Two, does transfer reconceptualized as transformation, continuity, and discontinuity adequately describe the epistemology of students becoming workers and workers becoming students? Three, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the methodology for studying individual learning and development in relation to societal change?;The study begins with a demographic survey of students, farmers, and shopkeepers in a rural Nepali village, and ethnographies of the related activities. Farmers and shopkeepers with no prior schooling enrolled in an adult education class. A second group of farmers and students with no prior shopkeeping experience apprenticed to shopkeepers. These transitions were simulations of changes in Nepali society. Tracking tasks appropriate to the new activities were used to follow changes in the participants' arithmetic over.;Findings indicate that students apprenticed to shopkeepers created a new arithmetic form during transition whereas shopkeepers attending adult education classes added to their repertoire of existing strategies. Findings are further interpreted in terms of the relative statuses of arithmetic forms, leading/non-leading activities, and the mediating role of shopkeeping.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
