Introduction

A quiet revolution has taken place in developmental psychology in the last decade. It is not only that we have begun to think again of the child as a social being-one who plays and talks with others, learns through interactions with parents and teachers-but because we have come once more to appreciate that through such social life, the child acquires a framework for interpreting experience, and learns how to negotiate meaning in a manner congruent with the requirements of the culture. ‘Making sense’ is a social process; it is an activity that is always situated within a cultural and historical context.