Theoretical Perspectives

The Fifth Dimension instantiates principles of a family of theoretical perspectives that view learning and thinking as socially distributed, contextual, and dependent upon participation in cultural activity. These include the cultural-historical activity theory initiated by L. S. Vygotsky, A. N. Leont'ev, and A. R. Luria and the sociocultural theories developed by such authors as B. Rogoff. and J. Lave and E. Wenger. These theoretical perspectives and their instantiation in the Fifth Dimension are discussed at the first five sites listed below. Research papers on the Fifth Dimension can be found at the last site.

• The Intellectual Foundations of the Fifth Dimension
  Draft chapter by Michael Cole, Don Bremme, William Blanton, from a booktentatively titled Diversity as a Tool for Educational Design: Creating and Sustaining Alternative Educational Activities, co-authored by Michael Cole and other members of the Distributed Literacy Consortium, to be published by The Russell Sage Foundation.

• Principles of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory Instantiated in the Fifth Dimension
  Virtual Fifth Dimension Clearinghouse & Propagation Center, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, & University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA.

• Cultural Historical Activity Theory and the Expansion of Opportunities For Learning After School
  Paper by Katherine Brown and Michael Cole, Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, USA.
  

• Overview: Cultural-Historical Activity Theory
  Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research, University of Helsinki, Finland.

• Bibliography: Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, Sociocultural Psychology, & the Fifth Dimension
  Whittier Fifth Dimension, Whittier, California, USA.

• Bibliography of Fifth Dimension Papers, Technical Reports, and Proposals
  Virtual Fifth Dimension Clearinghouse & Propagation Center, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, & University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA.