Outlines what the terms "learning" and "development" meant in the theoretical framework on one important developmental psychologist--Vygotsky. Discusses his concepts of decontextualization and contextualization, which have implications for a possible developmental account of heterogeneity in human mental functioning. (ET)

Explains the place of learning in human development from the perspective developmental contextualism, where development involves changing relations between the developing person and his or her changing context. Demonstrates that learning is no more nor less important than other focal functions at a given level; any impact is through being part of…

Notes contemporary models of human development have expanded to address a wider set of issues underlying personal change. Discusses the social cognitive model of self-regulatory development. Emphasizes the crucial development of self-regulatory competence: the point at which the processes of development become fully and reciprocally interactive…

Comments on Lucariello's analysis, in this issue, of the development of cultural psychology, arguing that each of the "new approaches" that Lucariello identifies can be seen as an "old approach" that offered slightly different solutions to how psychology might deal more adequately with the cultural constitution of human nature. (MDM)

Calls for a coalition of different research methods and strategies to better understand learning and development. Describes two such strategies: (1) testing-the-limits decomposing age-graded differences in upper limits of plasticity; and (2) experimental simulation of development, a coordinated sequence of theory-guided research steps. Both…

Several different conceptions of the relationship between learning and development are considered in this article. It is argued that dialectical and ecological developmental orientations might provide a useful basis for synthesizing the contrasting frameworks of the operant, information processing, learning theory, and knowledge acquisition…

Comments on the articles presented in this issue devoted to the Japanese perspectives on conceptual change. Discusses the overall conveyed message: The human cognitive system is a thematically organized knowledge base with agentive causality as the main mechanism for explain phenomena and analogy as the main mechanism for promoting conceptual…

Comments on the articles presented in this issue devoted to the Japanese perspectives on conceptual change. Suggests that different approaches to knowledge acquisition and conceptual change should be carefully examined in light of their implications for the teaching of science. Discusses critically the issues advanced from the Japanese…

Comments on Gauvain's discussion, in this issue, of the development of thinking from a sociocultural perspective, expanding her analysis by comparing research on apes who have developed in natural habitats with apes raised by humans in something resembling a human culture. Argues that the study of nonhuman primates can contribute to the emerging…

Delineates the continuing controversy between development and learning, and notes the evidence accumulating for some type of continuum in the processes. Introduces 10 research papers on reconceptualizing the intersection of the two processes and states the arguments for debate and presentation. (ET)

Suggests that the study of microdevelopment offers a potentially powerful way to relate learning and development where similar changes occur but in differing time frames. Microdevelopment analyzes short-term changes as developmental functions. Individuals and groups function at widely different developmental levels and grow in diverse nonlinear…

Nonuniversal theory can be used to reframe the learning-development dichotomy into a spectrum of important changes, ranging from small-scale learning events to large-scale developmental shifts. Using the universal-to-unique continuum as an organizing framework, several change mechanisms can be identified as necessary for movement through…

Sees learning as a component of development. Explains how cognitive growth can result from dialectical interactions among modes of learning and attentional mental capacity, and that these modes and components of attention relate to contextual function areas which, being neuropsychological units, can be clarified as to function by connectionist…

Draws on recent work leading to new conceptions of learning, induction, transfer, and strategy acquisition. Contends learning is no longer simply the acquisition of behaviors, but also includes storing knowledge about relations in the world, and acquiring structural representations and mental models. Sees learning and the growth of processing…

Argues that what matters is not the difference between learning and development, but the dynamic relationships that form the key to understanding. Examined two models of these relationships: (1) a semantic approach, distinguishing five dimensions along which learning and development can be compared; and (2) a mathematical nonlinear growth model…