Introduction

The popular image, derived from Piaget, of the child as a solitary thinker struggling to construct a personal understanding of the mathematical and logical properties of the physical world has given way in recent years to a view of children’s learning and thinking as embedded in social relationships.

Recent Perspectives

This shift is here reflected in a set of readings which show the child being initiated into shared cultural understandings through close relationships with parents and teachers, as well as siblings and peers.