Pathways from infancy to the community of shared minds / El camino desde la primera infancia a la comunidad de mentes compartidas

Abstract

Critical problems for developmental theory and empirical research focused on the pre-school years are how language and other semiotic resources enter cognition and knowledge structures, the challenges posed for children, and the advances in thought that then become possible. Competences that are essential to subsequent successful school learning are conceptualized here in terms of the child becoming a member of the shared adult ‘community of minds’. Areas of developmental research are identified, with prospects for future advances.