ABS086 - The Vygotskyan concept of mediating activity and the educational production of needs - Board 1

Based on Hegel and Marx, Vygotsky considered the use of tools and signs as mediating activities. A typical mediating activity is the one in which human beings transform objects or phenomena into means of action. In order to do that human beings must work with the objective characteristics of the objects in relation to the activity goals. The transformation of something into a mediation inside the activity requires the development of the mental capacity to work with indirect relations between the human needs which generates the activity and each specific component of the entire process that leads to the achievement of a good final result. In this sense, activity puts in movement, at the same time, the external reality and the psychological processes. However, we must consider that human activity is collective in its most basic forms and its success depends on the development of efficient processes of communication as much as on the use of powerful tools. The use of signs and the development of systems of signs generate the complexification of inter-psychical and intra-psychical functions. On the one hand it is true that an activity is always motivated by needs but, on the other hand, the use and the transformation of systems of tools and signs generates historically new kinds of human needs beyond the level of subsistence. From the dialectical perspective this is a crucial aspect to be considered by educational projects which intend to promote the expansion of the horizons of students life and society views.