Collaborative Building of Sociocultural and Concept Mapping Theories

The power of concept maps can be seen in their ability to represent the complexity of knowledge and understanding at a number of levels including the theoretical and the practical. This paper recounts the collaboration in practical applications that lead to theory building between two scholars, Holbrook Mahn, whose main research interest is sociocultural theory, and particularly the work of the Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, and Manuel F. Aguilar Tamayo, whose main research interests include concept maps and sociocultural theory. We collaborated together on several projects using Vygotsky’s, Novak’s and Ausubel’s work as a theoretical foundation. Through these applications, we gained a deeper understanding of each other’s main research interests at the same time deepening our understanding of the theory that is a primary focus of our own research. After describing our collaborative activities, we describe ways in which Vygotsky’s theory and Concept Mapping Theory can lead to a deepening understanding and representation of the other. In the course of the collaboration, we saw the areas of similarity and dis-similarity between the two theories and are now collaborating on a chapter for a book on concept maps in which we will compare the two theories and describe ways in which each theory complements and can expands the other. In the Discussion section at the end of this article we give an overview of ways in which we feel Vygotsky’s theoretical framework, methodological approach, and research, which led to his analysis of the origins and nature of concepts, can help in building a solid theoretical explanation of the concept concept.