Vergara Wilson, Martín

2021, Sebastián, Christian, Vergara Wilson, Martín, Lissi, María Rosa

During the 1990s, trying to account for the complexity of the learning process of adult learners, Étienne Bourgeois and Jean Nizet realized that the conceptual frameworks available to explain such a process widely rest on an epistemology that establishes a priori essential differences between child and adult learners. As a response, they committed in developing a general approach to human learning that were coherently inscribed in a general theory of human functioning and development. Appropriating the conceptual system of Piagetian constructivism, they developed a solid and fruitful account of human learning. This account, however, is not free of problems and poses new challenges. In this chapter, we briefly present two of those challenges (the supposed distinction of declarative and procedural knowledge, and the problem of authentic cognitive novelty) and propose Lev Vygotski’s work to overcome them. We focus particularly on the Vygotskian conceptions of concept and internalization, and we illustrate these conceptual contributions with examples of our work in teaching and research in both deaf education and teacher training. The chapter finally presents the integrated Vygotskian-Piagetian model we have adopted in our ongoing effort to account for human learning, which we hope will be useful for researchers and educators.

2020, Lissi, María Rosa, Sebastián, Christian, Vergara Wilson, Martín, Iturriaga, Cristián, Henríquez, Catalina, Hofmann, Sergio

2019, Lissi, María Rosa, Sebastián, Christian, Vergara Wilson, Martín, Iturriaga, Cristián

Deaf education in Chile has made important progress during the past 30 years, particularly during the past decade. However, many of these achievements have brought new problems and challenges. This chapter gives an overview of the paths followed by educational policy, school practices, and research in deaf education. The authors’ review of official documents and published research was enriched by the voices of eight key informants connected to deaf education. From the analysis of all the material gathered, they identified several important issues, such as the tension between policies that promote the education of deaf students in regular schools and those that acknowledge the importance of sign language in deaf education. They also included some proposals for further research and for moving forward in educational policy and practices, with a focus on the important role deaf adults can play in these processes.