Traditionally, human cognition has been seen and studied as existing
solely "inside" a person, irrelevant to the social, physical, and
artifactual context in which cognition takes place. This book reexamines
the nature of cognition and proposes that a clearer understanding of
human cognition would be achieved if it were conceptualized and studied
as distributed among individuals; knowledge is socially constructed
through collaborative efforts toward shared objectives within cultural
surroundings, and that information is processed among individuals and
the tools and artifacts provided by culture. The contributors to this
thought-provoking text enhance their arguments by offering examples from
daily life and educational activities. Researchers in a number of social
and scientific fields will welcome this book.