ABSTRACT
At this conference celebrating the births of Piaget and Vygotsky, we want to explore a conception of intelligence that is founded in part on the cultural and developmental theories of Vygotsky but that can find full expression only through joining with the constructivist lines of epistemological theory, for which we are indebted to Piaget. We argue for a view of intelligence as social practice, a conception rooted at least as much in theories of social development and social competence as in theories of cognitive development. It is also grounded in our efforts to make sense of and actively contribute to educational programmes aimed at raising the overall cognitive competence and academic achievement of the least educationally advantaged populations of children in our formal educational systems.
