Vocabulary

Activity Theory Vocabulary:
Actions: the processes of an individual, in which the object and motive do not coincide with each other
Ex. Beater’s activity is the hunt (get food, clothing), but his actions of scaring game do not directly result in getting food and clothing
Activity:“the function of the individual in his interactions with the surroundings” (Tolman, 1988)

Aim: “the object of the action” (goal) (Tolman, 1988)

Appropriation: instead of  adapting to the world surrounding us we make it our own

Conditions: the object of an operation

Consciousness: “the sum total of mental processes which actively participates in man’s understanding of the objective world and of his personal being.”  “Thinking involves not a mere processing of information; it is an active, sensuous, purposeful transformation of reality in conformity with reality’s own essence” (Tolman, 1988).

Instinct: behaviour based on evolution and adaptation to the environment.  Characteristic to animals.  Part of man, but “do not play a decisive role” because humans are prompted by social rather than biological motives.

Interiorisation: “gradual conversion of external actions into internal, mental ones” (Tolman, 1988).

Meaning: how an individual “generalize[s] and reflect[s] human experience” (Tolman, 1988)

Need: “the prerequisite for an activity” (Tolman, 1988)

Psyche: an interaction between a living thing with the environment to create sensations, thoughts, perceptions, etc

Sense: “a relation between the subject and the world that is created by the subject’s activity” (Tolman, 1988)

Situated Cognition Vocabulary:

Affordance: How one lives in his/her environment, or how the environment affects how one acts.

Boundary Trajectory:  the path that one is on when he/she is a member of several similar communities of practice. It helps to bridge the relationships between them.

Community of Practice:  a group that we belong to with mutual engagement, a joint enterprise and a shared repertoire that affects how we learn.

Inbound Trajectory: the path of a newcomer who is engaged in becoming a full participant in the community of practice.

Insider Trajectory:  the path of one who has been engaged in a community of practice for a period of time, but who is still fully engaged in learning.

Legitimate Peripheral Participation:  the ways to describe how one belongs and participates in a community of practice.

Outbound Trajectory:  the path that one is on when he/she is leaving a community of practice.

Peripheral Trajectory: a path that one can be on where he/she never fully engages in the community of practice.

Distributed Cognition Vocabulary:

Cognitive system: systems that incorporate psychological data, similar to the ways  humans think and process information.

Internal representation: representational formats, including propositions, mental images and mental models.

External representation: artifacts that exist in the environment.

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