ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author focuses on capturing the flavour of a cultural psychology. He presents a general outline that stresses the central concept of mediational means and considers how it relates to cognitive development through the problematic metaphor of 'amplification'. The author introduces three implications of a cultural psychological approach: cognition as functional systems, as situated and as social. The cultural approach converges upon a socially grounded conception of cognition. The author identifies central ideas flowing from the application of cultural thinking to education. He aims to consider how we may best conceptualise cognitive change as it might occur within the contexts of education. The author develops the discussion around the example of literacy. He recommends research that clarifies the manner in which this technology mediates new forms of social interactions among its users. The author believes that the findings of any such research can remain informative whether or not the theory generating it is judged to be persuasive.
