Negotiating identities and meanings in the transmission of knowledge : analysis of interactions in the context of a Knowledge Exchange Network

Abstract

At the crossroads of cognitive and social psychology, research trends on learning are now developing that are characterized by their interest in the social dimension of cognition. Inspired by the psychology of Jean Piaget, and exploring the perspectives of Russian psychologists such as Lev Vygotsky (1978) and his followers as well as the advocates of symbolic interactionism, notably George Herbert Mead (1934), this trend suggests a definition of the learning process and of development which emphasizes the role of interactions and of symbolic systems as these exist in specific cultural and social contexts.