ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to describe and explain the style and function of the interventions made by teachers when children are doing computer-based activities in their classrooms. We believe that achieving a better understanding of such aspects of teaching is necessary for the most effective use of the new technology in schools and could also contribute to the development of better “classroom-based” methods for the initial and in-service training of teachers. This chapter also reflects our concern with the adequacy of available theoretical models of learning and instruction, and specifically with the relationship between those theoretical accounts and the practice of teaching and learning as it is actually carried out in schools and elsewhere. We will argue that the “neo-Vygotskian” approach offers the best available basis for the development of a conceptual framework for understanding teaching and learning in classroom settings. We will then use that approach in an analysis of specific examples of teachers’ interventions in children’s computer-based activity using observational data from a current research project. By doing so we hope to shed light on the nature of the teaching and learning process and relate theoretical concepts to the realities of classroom education.
