Cole, M., Gay, Glick, and Sharp 1971

Cole, Michael, John Gay, Joseph A. Glick, and Donald W. Sharp. 1971.The cultural context of learning and thinking: An exploration in experimental anthropology. London: Tavistock; Methuen . 304 pages. 416755100 (hardcover); 422756504 (paperback). Location: Dallas SIL Library 155.8 C689c.

Study began with an interest in Liberian Kpelle children's experience of difficulty with Western-style mathematics. Authors inquired about the kinds of mathematical knowledge children took to school. This included ways local people

• count and measure
• use mathematics in every day activities, and
• apply geometrical knowledge for house building activities.

Authors found people do best at what they consider important and do often. Traditional cultures differ from technologically advanced cultures in the kinds of intellectual demands they make.

• Chapter 1 discusses culture and cognition.
• Chapters 2 and 3 describe the cultural setting of the authors' work among the Kpelle of Liberia. Discusses three major classes of learning phenomena: the role of classification in memory and learning; the process by which attributes combine to form concepts, and ways of solving problems.
• Chapter 4 is about classification in learning.
• Chapter 5 concerns the impact of social factors on concept formation and emphasizes stimulus-specific learning rather than general learning.
• Chapter 6 deals with problem solving and related verbal formulations and tasks of varying complexity, depending on Kpelle formulations.
• Chapter 7 evaluates what has been learned about the relation between culture and cognition, and describes the implications of these findings for immediate application and future research.

• Bibliography module: Cole, M., Gay, Glick, and Sharp 1971
• In overview module: Bibliography (Literacy): C
• In modular book: Bibliography (Literacy), by Doris Gallemore, Trudi C. Hunt, Jeanne Swanson, and Stephen L. Walter
• In document collection: Reference materials
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

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