Description

This volume is based on three years of teaching experiments with a group of primary school students as they progressed from the 3rd to the 5th grade (ages 9 to 12). Whereas traditional pedagogical approaches focus on the nature of the subject matter being taught, Hedegaard assumes that any teaching program ought to incorporate childrenAes everyday concepts and motivations. She relates this Aedouble moveAe in teaching to situated learning and teaching and subsequently presents principles for putting the approach into practice. A second and more subtle aim of the experiments is to promote developmental learning, rather than mere subject mastery. Special attention is paid to the ways children transform and develop concepts, learn modes of thinking and adopt motivations. This study will be a valuable resource for anyone trying to optimize childrenAes learning, including primary teachers, school administrators, child psychologists and parents. Mariane Hedegaard is associate professor in Educational Psychology at the University of Aarhus and president of the International Society for Cultural Research and Activity Theory, ISCRAT.