Commentary: Vygotsky, activity theory and art in education.
J. David Betts, Ph.D.
29 November 1997
Journal of Arts and Learning, 1997-'98
I've been investigating a new window on research that has strong ties to the world of art and art education. It is based on activity theory and is rooted in L. S. Vygotsky's socio-historical concept of psychological development which holds that each instance of human behavior is to be considered in light of its history and socio-cultural context. This theory opposes "snap-shot" testing and evaluation of performance. Activity theory may prove helpful in describing a nd understanding the role of art in education. It may also provide insight into the development of Vygotsky's influential later ideas.

Activity theory differs from other social science lenses in that it uses activity as the primary unit of analysis. Activity includes actions and goals, the environment that is manipulated, the semiotic systems used, and the cultural context. "Activity theory holds that the integral units of human life -- humans interacting with each other and the world -- can be conceptualized as activities (italics in original) which serve to fulfill distinctive motives" (Scribner, in Tobach, 1996, p. 231).

Activities, actions, and operations. The theory holds these to be the structural units of human behavior, and, accordingly, appropriate units of analysis for the behavioral sciences.

For example, using activity theory as a lens for an on-going study of the Arts Integration Program (AIP), a program of professional development for elementary teachers, has allowed us to look at a group of teachers and their students as agents-in-a-context, engaged in tool-mediated, goal-directed action. Cultural tools as mediational means connect th e individual or group to institutions or cultures (Wertsch, 1995). The cultural tools in this case have been theatre arts techniques, such as mime and story theatre, which rely on movement and language.

The hypothesis, that the arts mediate learning, is based on the concept of mediation put forward by Vygotsky (1978). The fundamental basis for mediation is the interaction of the human with the environment through the use of tools or signs. Study of such mediational means helps us to understand human activities. Art, it is suggested, provides mediating signs for the emotional aspects of life (Vygotsky, 1971). And, since young people tend to experience their surroundings through an emotional filter that adults find difficult to recall, providing this emotional connection to schooled learning may prove efficacious.

In the course of their activities as teachers and learners, individuals engage in goal-directed actions, (AIP training) carried out for particular purposes (improved practice, expression of understanding) under particular conditions [in their classrooms] and with particular technical means (theatre arts techniques).

The operations (mime, role-playing), that compose actions may be, and typically are, both mental (semiotic transmediation) and behavioral (demonstration, performance), and vary with both subjective and objective conditions (attitudes, perceived self-efficacy, classroom interruptions) and means (expectations, space, experience/ability).

Teachers participated in the AIP activities motivated by a wish to learn new techniques for teaching. They actively engaged the new program in their classrooms. AIP also presented a unique opportunity to interact with their peers when they observed one another trying out new techniques and when they met for planning and reflection. Many were attracted by the arts-mediated collaborative environment that AIP afforded.

Vygotsky was an art critic before he became a psychologist. His book, The Psychology of Art (1971), was originally submitted as his dissertation in 1925 (Kozulin, 1990), and was not published in Russia until 1965. The book formed the basis for Soviet art scholarship at that time. More significantly to us perhaps, it formed the basis for Vygotsky's important contributions to social science. Art was a field that he meant to revisit. Although he did not, in his shortened life, return to the art scholarship, this earlier work, informed much of his important later work in psychology and education (Leontiev in Vygotksy, 1971).

Also useful to my research has been Barbara Rogoff's further development of these ideas (Wertsch, 1995). Rogoff suggests that there are three planes of analysis of sociocultural activity. The individual engages in learning: in community or institutional settings; in interpersonal situations with others; and in personal ways through participation and reflection. AIP can be viewed on similar planes.

In community or institutional settings, Rogoff sees apprenticeship as a metaphor for individuals' participation in a culturally organized activity -- the AIP lesson demonstrations.

Interpersonal interactions associated with AIP include guided participation, shared activity (which requires active communication and coordination), observation and agency. Shared motives support collaborat ive activities that mediate.

Rogoff's concept of participatory appropriation: ". . . how individuals change through their involvement in one or another activity in the process of becoming prepared for subsequent involvement in related activities" (in Wertsch, 1995. P.142), is an apt characterization of the process of change that many of these teachers and learners have undergone relative to their participation in AIP. Practice precedes competence in the creation of a collaborative, constructivist learning environment.

Activity theory embodies a broad perspective important to understanding the role of art in education. That the evolution of a great thinker such as Vygotsky is rooted in the arts is important for art educators and researchers in the field of art & learning.

References

Kozulin, Alex (1990) Vygotsky's Psychology: A biography of ideas. Harvard University Press:Cambridge, MA.

Lima, Marcelo Guimaraes (1995) From Aesthetics to Psychology: Notes on Vygotsky's Psychology of Art. Anthropology and Education Quarterly. 26(4):410-424.

Tobach, Ethel, et al (1997) Mind and Social Practice: Selected writing of Sylvia Scribner. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1971) The Psychology of Art. MIT Press: Cambr idge, MA.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) Mind in Society: The development of higher psychological processes. (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman, Eds.) Harvard University Press:Cambridge, MA.

Wertsch, James, V.; Del Rio, Pablo; & Alvarez, Amelia (1995) Sociocultural Studies of Mind. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK.


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