Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) as a framework for analyzing community service-learning¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

CHAT is described as a cross-disciplinary framework for studying how humans purposefully transform natural and social reality as a culturally and historically situated, socially mediated process. The paper uses it to analyze CSL in higher education, tracing three generations: Vygotsky's object-oriented action mediated by cultural tools, Leont'ev's collective activity, and Engeström's interacting activity systems. Activity systems direct attention to division of labour, tools, rules, and outcomes.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Analysis must attend to activity systems: who carries out activities, the tools at their disposal, the cultural norms and rules governing performance, and desired outcomes

Constraints¶

• CHAT research varies widely in the extent to which it engages with Marxist ideas, and paradigmatic tensions persist between more adaptive and transformative orientations

Target Learners¶

• higher education students in community service-learning programs

Target Learning Objectives¶

• understanding learning as socially and culturally mediated activity
• connecting academic coursework to community practice

Claims¶

Related Theories¶

• Activity theory: a mediated activity system framework for analyzing cognition in context
• Cultural-Historical Activity Theory
• Activity theory frames human activity as a system of six interacting elements (subject, object, tools, community, rules, division of labor)
• Cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) activity-system framework as a lens for understanding e-teaching

Examples¶

• Use activity-system analysis (objectives, rules, norms, artifacts, division of labour) as a reflection tool for CSL participants

Key Sources¶

• Taylor, A. (2014). Community service-learning and cultural-historical activity theory. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 44(1). https://journals.sfu.ca/cjhe/index.php/cjhe