LEARNING BY EXPANDING AN ACTIVITY-THEORETICAL APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH (1987). Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit. Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................23 PROBLEM ONE: THE FUTILITY OF LEARNING.....................................23 PROBLEM TWO: THE ELUSIVENESS OF EXPANSION..........................26 THEORETICAL RESEARCH AS EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ........................30 HOW TO PROCESS CATEGORIES OUT OF DATA ...............................40 HOW TO MAKE THE CATEGORIES REACH REALITY...........................47 SUMMING UP THE INTENTIONS .........................................................50 2. THE EMERGENCE OF LEARNING ACTIVITY AS A HISTORICAL FORM OF HUMAN LEARNING................................................................................52 AT THE LIMITS OF COGNITIVISM ......................................................52 ZINCHENKO'S CONTRIBUTION...........................................................56 THE TRIANGLES OF ACTIVITY ..........................................................59 The First Lineage: From Peirce to Popper........................................62 The Second Lineage: From Mead to Trevarthen ..............................70 The Third Lineage: From Vygotsky to Leont'ev ..............................77 THE EVOLUTION OF ACTIVITY..........................................................91 INNER CONTRADICTIONS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY................................98 ON THE CULTURAL EVOLUTION OF HUMAN LEARNING..................106 The first lineage: Learning within school-going..............................109 The second lineage: Learning within work activity.........................117 The third lineage: Learning within science and art.........................126 THE STRUCTURE OF LEARNING ACTIVITY ......................................133 METACOGNITION AND THE SUBJECT OF LEARNING ACTIVITY .......136 THE EMERGENCE OF LEARNING ACTIVITY IN THE ONTOGENESIS ...139 THE FIRST INTERMEDIATE BALANCE ..............................................144 3. THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT AS THE BASIC CATEGORY OF EXPANSIVE RESEARCH ..................................................................146 TWO CLASSIC DILEMMAS OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY .....146 1 LEVELS OF LEARNING ....................................................................147 LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT......................................................149 INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETAL DEVELOPMENT.................................156 HOW THE NEW IS GENERATED .......................................................159 Figure 3.1: The emergence of activity according to Bratus & Lishin (1983, 44)................................................................................................161 THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT .......................................162 THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN AS A VOYAGE THROUGH THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT .......................................165 Figure 3.2: The primary contradiction of Huckleberry Finn's life activity166 THEORETICAL LESSONS .................................................................171 Figure 3.3: The phase-structure of the zone of proximal development ..173 THE ANALYSIS OF THE ZONE EXTENDED: THE CASE OF SEVEN BROTHERS ......................................................................................176 Figure 3.4: The primary contradiction of the seven brothers' life activity177 THE SECOND INTERMEDIATE BALANCE..........................................186 4. THE INSTRUMENTS OF EXPANSION ................................................188 THE FIRST DICHOTOMY: 'PRIMITIVE' VERSUS 'ADVANCED' THOUGHT188 THE SECOND DICHOTOMY: EXPERIENCE VERSUS ANALYSIS...........190 THE THIRD DICHOTOMY: NARRATIVE VERSUS PARADIGMATIC THOUGHT .......................................................................................193 REACHING BEYOND THE DICHOTOMIES: DEWEY, WERTHEIMER AND BARTLETT ......................................................................................194 THE COMPLEMENTARITY OF INSTRUMENTS ...................................199 COGNITIVE THEORIES OF CONCEPTS - ONCE AGAIN AT THE LIMITS OF COGNITIVISM.............................................................................200 VYGOTSKY AND THE PROBLEM OF CONCEPTS ..................................202 DIALECTICAL LOGIC AND CONCEPTS ...................................................203 MODELS AS INSTRUMENTS OF EXPANSIVE THINKING.....................209 THE FUNCTIONING OF MODELS IN THEORETICAL THINKING - PRESENTED AND QUESTIONED ...............................................................211 Figure 4.1: Object constitution as the first step of theoretical thinking..211 Figure 4.2: Model construction as the second step of theoretical thinking212 Figure 4.3: Ascending to the concrete as the third step of theoretical thinking ...................................................................................................212 Figure 4.4: Transition from individual actions to collective activity .....213 Figure 4.5: The primary contradiction of Mendeleev's chemical research activity.....................................................................................................215 Figure 4.6: Polanyi's conception of science (adapted from Miettinen 1986) .......................................................................................................219 2 ANOTHER INSTANCE: FROM NUCLEAR FISSION TO MANHATTAN PROJECT.........................................................................................219 Figure 4.7: The primary contradiction of the activity of atomic-physical research at the end of its innocence ........................................................221 Figure 4.8: The idealized structure of the new activity of nuclear arms research and development.......................................................................225 HISTORICAL TYPES OF ACTIVITY AND EXPANSIVE TRANSITION ....225 Figure 4.9: Four historical types of activity and expansive transition ...228 SECONDARY INSTRUMENTS SYSTEMATIZED..................................229 Springboards................................................................................................229 Models .........................................................................................................230 IN SEARCH FOR A TERTIARY INSTRUMENT OF EXPANSION ............235 FORMAL DIALECTICS AS A CANDIDATE .........................................237 DIALECTICS OF SUBSTANCE...........................................................239 SOCIALITY AND EXPANSION: FROM APPRENTICESHIP TO POLYPHONY242 THE THIRD INTERMEDIATE BALANCE .............................................246 5. TOWARDS AN EXPANSIVE METHODOLOGY....................................247 THE CYCLE OF CULTURAL-HISTORICAL METHODOLOGY: VYGOTSKY, SCRIBNER, AND COLE .................................................247 Figure 5.1: The four moments of Vygotsky's methodology (adapted after Scribner 1985) ......................................................................................248 THE CYCLE OF EXPANSIVE METHODOLOGY.......................................249 Figure 5.2: The cycle of expansive transition.........................................249 Figure 5.3 The methodological cycle of expansive developmental research ...................................................................................................250 PHENOMENOLOGY AND DELINEATION OF THE ACTIVITY SYSTEM .250 ANALYSIS OF ACTIVITY..................................................................251 FORMATION OF NEW INSTRUMENTS .....................................................252 PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF NEW INSTRUMENTS .........................256 REPORTING .....................................................................................256 THE TERMINAL BALANCE ..............................................................257 6. EPILOGUE .......................................................................................257 REFERENCES ......................................................................................259 3 Introduction to the German edition of Learning by Expanding, published in 1999 under the title Lernen durch Expansion (Marburg: BdWi-Verlag; translated by Falk Seeger); also in the Japanese edition, published in 1999 under the title Kakucho ni yoru Gakushu (Tokyo: Shin-yo-sha; translated by a group led by Katsuhiro Yamazumi). LEARNING BY EXPANDING: TEN YEARS AFTER Yrjö Engeström AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Learning by Expanding was published in Helsinki in 1987. A few months later, I began to work as a visiting professor of communication at the University of California, San Diego. I was appointed to that job on a permanent basis in 1989. In San Diego, the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, founded by Michael Cole, became the home base of my research. However, during these years, I have continued to lead a research group at the University of Helsinki, too. In 1995, I was appointed Academy Professor by the Academy of Finland, a position that allows me to conduct a research program in Finland until the year 2000. The moves between Finland and California have exerted considerable influence on my thinking and research. In California, I had to learn about multiculturalism and to appreciate ethnic, religious, and other differences between people. I also had to learn to ground my theoretical ideas in concrete cases and carefully documented ethnographic detail. I also learned to appreciate certain things in Finland. These include