Learning and Development as Cultural In this assignment you will draw on theories and concepts discussed so far in the course to explain the argument that learning and development are socio-cultural processes. The following are key points to consider: 1. Learning is not solely or even primarily the cognitive acquisition and processing of information by isolated individual minds. 2. The concept of learning above is precisely what supports socio-cultural practices in Western schooling, such as standardized tests. 3. In contradistinction of the conception of learning above, the situated learning theory posits that learning is always embedded as and a facet of participation in communities of practice 4. Accordingly, learning entails becoming a different person (a more knowledgeable other) and thus it changes one’s participation in socio-cultural activities. 5. Learning and Development are embedded and facets of projects of becoming grounded in social class, which involve differential access to resources and different senses of self (identities). 6. Comparing middle-class and working-class children’s developmental trajectories, as we read in Unequal Childhoods (e.g., comparing Garrett Tallinger and Tyrec Lutrec), how do they become different kinds of people? 7. Based on the theory of situated learning, which posits that learning is the process of moving from peripheral (on the margins) to central participation in community practices, critique mainstream schooling practices (e.g., transmission type of instruction, standardized test assessment) as lacking appreciation of how learning is a cultural process.
