ABSTRACT

A goal of this book is to present research about participatory learning with very young children in group care settings, as well as to understand, through that research, how participatory learning can be understood across cultures. The purpose of this particular chapter is to review key issues that inform this area of research. Across cultures, within the broad sociocultural tradition focused on children’s learning, there is no clear set of theoretical principles nor a related set of methodologies associated with such research. The chapters in this book provide a range of studies informed by different theoretical perspectives in the sociocultural tradition and different research methodologies. While the chapters represent diverse standpoints, there is a common view that individuals and their contexts are intricately linked and that children’s learning is a socially and culturally mediated process.