Abstract
In this article, I present a framework for the study of children's learning in cultural practices and educational activities. The framework consists of three analytic components, each of which is grounded in a constructivist treatment of cognitive development: (a) a model for the analysis of emergent cognitive goals in practices, (b) a model for the analysis of cognitive developments linked to emergent goals, and (c) a model for the analysis of the interplay between cognitive developments linked to one practice or activity to accomplish emergent goals in another. The article describes the early history of the framework and its current application to the design and analysis of a classroom practice in the United States involving arithmetical problem solving in third and fourth grade inner-city classrooms. I close with a discussion of the framework with reference to Schoenfeld's (1992) standards for methodological innovations.

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