transferability of skills

[purple_geek]

Over in academics_anon, there's an interesting discussion which touched on the transferability of skills (thanks freixenet. I think this is one of the key points that I really need to think about in what I'm trying to do with Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development. One of the issues that I'm finding in (re)reading Vygotsky is that a lot of it deals specifically with

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[freixenet]

please to post this or part of it as a response to my question over there. I was really hoping someone who had read something first hand would weigh in--all I know is what my colleagues in psych and neuro science have to say, and I can barely understand them

[purple_geek]

In some ways, this is too ... airy fairy at the moment. It's something that I'm trying to thoerise. I have thought of trying to connect with others in that community, but I'm too much of a slack blogger (a state I'm attempting to change).

But, the zone of learning capability arose from something I noticed as I was analysing some 3000 emails for my phd. Some students could take that extra step, they knew that they didn't know but they also knew that they could ask. And they rarely asked for an 'answer'. Then there were students that wanted an 'answer', who couldn't think beyond the limited problem they were tackling at a given moment. I get the feeling that there really is something in what I'm thinking about, but I have to do more research and more reading.

I'll be working on this as a paper with one of the psychologists in my department this coming year (provided he doesn't get sidetracked on other works since he's on sabbatical). I really wasn't sure where this fitted in over in academics anon, but I'll have a go.