ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I first outline some basic principles of activity theory and then explore some ways it has proved valuable for analysing distributed learning, in both schooling and workplace training. Activity theory was developed out of the Russian developmental psychologist L.S. Vygotsky's (1994) cultural-historical approach to learning by one of his two main collaborators, A.N. Leont'ev (1981), beginning in the late 1930s. It has evolved into a major direction in psychology (called ‘cultural psychology’) and now has adherents worldwide.
