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EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER-2001-Glassman-3-14
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John Dewey and L. S. Vygotsky share similar ideas concerning the re- tailed analyses of important similarities and differences. It is
lationship of activity and learning/development, especially the roles true that Dewey is not a developmentalist in the same way that
everyday activities and social environment play in the educational
Vygotsky is. But his educational theory comes close in spirit to
Vygotsky’s major questions concerning education, which were
process. However, the two theorists are far apart in their concep-
pursued with the greatest vigor by those who followed him (e.g.,
tion of the relationship between process and goals in education.
Davydov, 1997; Leontiev 1981). These questions include: How
Dewey concentrates on means in education, believing that it is the and why does natural human activity serve as the major impetus
ability of the individual to question through experience that is most for learning? And how, through understanding that activity, can
important for the human community. Vygotsky, while recognizing we promote and guide human learning? (It is important to sepa-
the importance of (especially cultural) process in education, sees so- rate the word activity from the Activity Theory of A. N. Leontiev,
1981, a student and colleague of Vygotsky. In this paper the term
cial and cultural goals as being integrated into social pedagogy. This
activity is used in its broadest possible sense, the state of being
paper compares Dewey and Vygotsky on three key points that re-
active rather than passive.)
late directly to educational processes and goals. First, the two the- The similarities between Dewey and Vygotsky, however, belie
orists are compared on the role of social history and the tools it pro- one difference of extraordinary import to educators in general,
duces. Dewey sees social history as creating a set of malleable tools but especially for those inclined towards the use of activity as a
that are of use in present circumstances. Vygotsky believes that tools major teaching strategy. The difference revolves around the ques-
developed through history have a far more lasting impact on the
tion of how educators view the process of activity in relation to
the consequences of activity. Are these consequences goals to be
social community. Second, the two theorists are compared in their
carefully planned and then brought about through active men-
conceptualizations of experience/culture. Dewey sees experience as toring on the part of the social interlocutor (i.e., a more seasoned
helping to form thinking, whereas Vygotsky, in his cultural historical member of the community who fosters social interaction with a
theory, posits culture as the raw material of thinking. Third, the two purpose)? Or are they temporary destinations of little educa-
theorists are compared on their perspectives on human inquiry. tional import in and of themselves?
Dewey sees the child as a free agent who achieves goals through her I believe that the issues that separate these two theorists, who
own interest in the activity. Vygotsky suggests there should be see activity as being of such vital importance, could not be more
profound. It raises the question of whether teachers should ap-
greater control by a mentor who creates activity that will lead the
proach students as mentors who guide or direct activity, or facil-
child towards mastery. These differences are then explored in terms
itators who are able to step back from children’s activity and let it
of how they might impact actual classroom strategies and curriculum. run its own course. It crosses into such areas as culturally and eco-
nomically heterogeneous classrooms, and well as cultural/social
historical attitudes towards education. A comparison of Dewey
The work of Soviet psychologist L. S. Vygotsky has had a and Vygotsky highlights strong reasons why education should be
growing impact on education in the United States. Many of an active and context specific process, but it also forces educators
Vygotsky’s ideas that have had the greatest resonance for educa- to think long and hard about how and why they use activity in
tors, such as bringing everyday activities into the classroom and the classroom.
focusing on the importance of social context in learning, bear a In this paper I compare Dewey and Vygotsky on three specific
striking resemblance to the work of John Dewey, especially his conceptual issues that relate directly to educational processes and
writings on education (e.g., 1912, 1916). It is something of a goals. These issues are the roles of social history, experience/
mystery, then, that there has been so little discussion comparing culture, and human inquiry in the educational process. Both of
the theories of Vygotsky and Dewey. There have been a few at- these theorists believe that, in the context of educational processes,
tempts to merge Dewey with Vygotsky (e.g., Rogoff, 1993) or to none of these issues can stand without the other two. The dif-
place Dewey within a larger sociocultural framework (Cole, ference between Dewey and Vygotsky involves the relationships
1996), but for the most part these works have not included de- among these three issues. For Vygotsky human inquiry is em-
bedded within culture, which is embedded within social history.
Educational Researcher, Vol. 30. No. 4, pp. 3–14
The educational process works, more or less, from the outside in.
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