ABSTRACT
This chapter explores interconnections of learning processes across the range of timescales. The fields primarily focused on learning and cognition have often recognized the many scales in which intellectual behaviors unfold. Forming and strengthening activation of synaptic connections that contribute to the retrieval of an associative memory is quite different than adopting norms and discourse practices among members of an enduring community of practice. Learning at sociocultural scale occurs as people change the ways they participate in groups as well as how people interact with other agents and with the resources in their environment. Teachers also showed how their practices and ways of thinking about and perceiving their students can change with their participation in communities of practice. The effectiveness of instruction is enhanced using gestures to direct learners’ attention, forge links to new ideas and representations, and manage common ground of learners by establishing and maintaining social and socio-disciplinary norms.
