RE: [xmca] zpd zbr zedpd and zoped

["Denise Newnham" <dsnewnham@bluewin.ch>]

Thanks Andy cool responses to this and ur

Denise

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
Behalf Of Andy Blunden
Sent: jeudi 6 janvier 2011 10:16
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: Re: [xmca] zpd zbr zedpd and zoped

And ZBR:

        "in Russian the ZPD is called /zona blizhaishego razvitia/,
        which has also been translated into English by Simon & Simon (J.
        Valsiner & R. Van der Veer, 1993) as the zone of potential
        development by. For example: The earliest documented mention of
        ZBR [ZPD] can be found in a lecture given in Moscow at Epshtein
        Institute of Experimental Defectology on March 17, 1933... "

from 
http://lchc.ucsd.edu/mca/Mail/xmcamail.2008_03.dir/att-0141/ZPD_2001.doc

Andy
Steve Gabosch wrote:
> So I have a few questions prompted from recent threads on zpd and 
> Mike's video on zoped.
>
> First, what does ZBR mean?
>
> Wondering this got me to try to do some catching up of some xmca posts 
> in recent weeks, figuring I'd missed something obvious.  It may be 
> more of a case of subtle humor.  ZBR seems connected to a Nov 16 post 
> by David Kel where he said: "PS: I think we should refer to the Zoped 
> as a Zebra Raising, or maybe just a Zebra Crossing. But what we really 
> need is a new name for the functional method of dual stimulation. The 
> Fumedvastym? Fume Distillation?"  Some of this had come up in some 
> joking between David Kel and Mike a few days earlier about Mike's use 
> of the term "zoped" instead of "zpd" ... but it gets lost for me 
> beyond that.
>
> So ZBR seems to mean ... ZeBra Raising or ZeBra cRossing ... and has 
> become a joking substitute for zpd and zoped.  But I seem to be 
> missing something.  It sort of spoils jokes when you have to explain 
> them, but you know how e-mail text can be ...
>
> On the use of the term 'zoped' (as opposed to 'zpd,') which David had 
> asked Mike about, there is some subtle humor in that term, too.  Mike 
> explains his preference for the term zoped in the post copied below, 
> where he adds a reason I hadn't heard - or more likely, recalled.  
> "Zo" is a term used in Liberia for a village shaman, who among other 
> things, is highly respected as a teacher.  Thinking about this, and 
> knowing Mike's penchant for playing, "ped" derives from Greek for 
> "child," so the pronunciation of "ZPD" as "zo-ped" has some word play 
> going on - "teacher + child" (a combination of meanings to which one 
> might further ask, who is teaching who?).  But this playful 
> pronunciation of an acronym seems to have taken on some seriousness, 
> in the form of the connection between 1) Vygotsky's proposition that 
> learning leads development - which is at the heart of the concept of 
> the zone of proximal development, and 2) Vygotsky's theoretical 
> approach to play, both of which are emphasized in Mind In Society.  
> And this resonates not just theoretically, but also pedagogically.  As 
> Mike says, "when I organize obrazovanie [education -sg], I like to mix 
> serious stuff with play ..."  And so, among some Vygotskian scholars 
> and teachers, these plays on words from other languages have entered 
> English as a technical term, a two-syllable **word** - zoped - with 
> its subtle reference to playfulness (if you know the playful 
> etymology), in place of the flat, three-syllable **acronym** - zpd, or 
> worse, ZPD.  Besides, as Mike points out, 'zoped' IS easier to say ... 
> :-))  As has been pointed out on xmca before, the concept deserves a 
> word.  Just when the concept and a word for it winds up in Merriam's, 
> of course, remains to be seen.  It is still both a concept and a word 
> in the making.
>
> What provoked some of that joking about zebras and ZBR, ZPD and zoped 
> seems to have been Mike's video "Mike Cole On Zoped"  at
> http://vimeo.com/groups/39473/videos/16714151
> which Andy posted Nov 10.
>
> This is a talk with slides that Mike recently gave in a live feed to 
> the Nov 2010 Vygotsky Memorial conference in Moscow, which I just 
> listened to.
>
> Some highlights:
>
> Mike suggests that Vygotsky's concept of zoped is different from the 
> "scaffolding" concept, a term first initiated, to Mike's knowledge, by 
> Robert Wood in 1966.  Mike asks how is the scaffolding metaphor 
> different from the usual 'N, N+1' approach to understanding teaching 
> situations.  Mike suggests that this and some of the other varieties 
> of Western learning theory that limit the zpd concept to this 
> "construction" perspective do not sufficiently take into account the 
> **dynamics of change**.
>
> Mike then distinguishes Vygotsky's concept of **learning leads 
> development** from
> 1) Piaget's concept that **development must precede learning**, and
> 2) the views of many American learning theorists that take the 
> position **development equals the amount of learning**.
>
> Another question Mike addresses is can zpd's or zopeds appear outside 
> the classroom, for example, in children's play - or does this process 
> **only** apply to school, to instruction.  Connected to this question 
> of where can the zoped occur is the sometimes perplexing meaning of 
> the Russian word 'obuchenie', which Vygotsky uses in his explanation 
> of zoped.  Mike explains that 'obuchenie' can mean two different but 
> related concepts - 'instruction' or 'learning' - and that this term 
> has been translated from R to E both ways - and in reverse, the 
> English terms 'instruction' and 'learning' have both been translated 
> from E to R as 'obuchenie' - creating some confusion about Vygotsky's 
> original meaning over the years in both languages as Vygotsky has been 
> translated back and forth.
>
> Whatever meanings Vygotsky intended in his brief but influential 
> writings on the zone of proximal development, Mike, of course, has 
> strong suspicions that learning can indeed lead development in many 
> kinds of situations outside of
> formal instruction in school.
>
> Which leads me to my next question - which I am taking the long route 
> to get to.
>
> One of Mike's concluding points is the challenge of how to generalize 
> on Vygotsky's principle of dual stimulation, which Mike argues 
> underlies Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development.  
> Mike points out that he, Yrjo, and other researchers have been focused 
> on this aspect of zoped for some time.
>
> Mike's slide on this reads:
>
> "Generalizing Dual Stimulation.
> * The ur characteristic of higher psychologically (culturally 
> mediated) human action is that it operates indirectly, through the 
> environment.
> * DS method is the ur model of human action incorporates the 
> environment as tools for action.  But it must be generalized into 
> group as well as individual circumstances."
>
> Mike urges the non-Russians at the conference to ask their fellow 
> Russian attendees what 'ur' means.
>
> So - to our fellow Russian speakers - what does 'ur' mean in Mike's 
> slide?
>
> And, Mike, if you have a moment, could you spell out your statements 
> in that slide a little - such as what the referents "it" refer to in 
> the first and last sentences, what you mean by "operates indirectly, 
> through the environment," etc.?
>
> Finally, Mike, could you post up your whole ppt slide set?  You 
> mentioned in your talk there was a larger ppt set than could be 
> presented in the 20 minute talk.  Really good talk, by the way - thank 
> you much for putting it on Vimeo.
>
> - Steve
>
>
>
>
> On Nov 12, 2010, at 5:23 PM, mike cole wrote:
>
>> Subject:     zpd zbr zedpd and zoped
>
>> I am answering David's question about "why zoped." I did not include 
>> it in
>> my talk because I am uncertain of the audience's national
>> backgrounds and was assuming "mixed but mostly Russian speakers". The 
>> talk
>> was supposed to be about 20 minutes long and I was
>> uncertain of the time. And I was also mindful of the fact that on 
>> Tuesday
>> following its showing at the Vygotsky readings, I will be discussing the
>> issues raised, and whatever people feel like talk about via skype, 
>> sooooooo.
>>
>> As many know, when i organize obrazovanie, I like to mix serious 
>> stuff with
>> play. Also, I have a long term interest in the the enculturation
>> practices and processes of peoples for whom literacy has not been a 
>> central
>> part of enculturation until, perhaps, recent times. And, I enjoy
>> participating in the forms of activity that emerge when zopeds are 
>> created
>> as a part of our research and educational practices.
>>
>> With that context (add or subtract to taste) the notion of a zoped 
>> came from
>> two sources. First of all, it IS easier to say! :-)
>> Secondly, it involves forms of pedagogy -- arranging for the young to
>> acquire valued skills, knowledge, belief, behaviors, etc --
>> Third, when it works, it seems like "something happened," a qualitative
>> field that sometimes can be like flow, sometimes can be
>> triggered by timely juxtapositions, montage-like. And it seems to 
>> lead to a
>> more inclusive, more integrated way of relating to the world at least
>> in that setting. Whatever this "something" is, it has a magical 
>> quality to
>> it.
>>
>> In Liberia when and where I pretended to work once upon a time the most
>> respected, revered, and feared members of the community were
>> shamen, a concept referred to in Liberia at the time (across language
>> groups, so far as I could tell) as a Zo, what popular culture refers to
>> as "witch doctors." They were THE teachers. But they worked through 
>> magic.
>>
>> That about sums up my idea of the zone of proximal development. It 
>> requires
>> sage pedagogy and a touch of magic. When those are combined,
>> they, of course, constitute a zo-ped.
>>
>> I personally recommend spending time in such third spaces. :-))
>> mike
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-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Andy Blunden*
Joint Editor MCA: http://lchc.ucsd.edu/MCA/Journal/
Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
Videos: http://vimeo.com/user3478333/videos
Book: http://www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=227&pid=34857
MIA: http://www.marxists.org

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