platforms, and data analytics – function as mediating artifacts influencing the relationship between subjects (teachers/students) and objects (learning outcomes/professional competencies). CHAT reveals how AI integration transforms traditional pedagogical practices, redistributes educational community roles, and generates tensions or contradictions that drive innovation and change (Kaptelinin & Nardi, 2009).

UNESCO has developed three complementary frameworks: the *AI Competency Framework for Students* (Miao et al., 2024), the *AI Competency Framework for Teachers* (Miao & Cukurova, 2024), and *AI and Education: Guidance for Policy-Makers* (Miao et al., 2021). They emphasize ethical, inclusive, human-centered AI principles, promoting transparency, fairness, and digital literacy development consistent with CHAT principles. The competency frameworks focus on pedagogical applications and educator empowerment as AI-enhanced learning facilitators, and the policy framework prioritizes systemic governance, data stewardship, and evidence-based regulation for scaled AI deployment. Collectively, they establish a multi-level theoretical foundation positioning AI as both pedagogical tool and socio-technical system requiring coordinated oversight.

The authors have developed an approach that combines the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) (United Nations, 2015) and UNESCO competency frameworks for AI, with the trans-disciplinary systematic perspective that drives CHAT. This approach is based on a simple idea: Just as it is impossible to separate learning about brush techniques or pigment mixing from aesthetics or chromatic composition when learning to paint, it is impossible to use AI-assisted learning without learning at the same time, in a totally integrated way, about AI technology, how it works, where it is best applied, and when it is most convenient, sustainable, and ethical to use other tools.

These ideas lead to the development of three intertwined, essential and inseparable aspects of AI in education (Gallon, 2024; Ouyang & Jiao, 2021):

* AI literacy – learning about AI and how it works (technology, algorithms, process).

* AI-assisted learning – using AI for learning, developing strategies and practices in different disciplines, evaluated against predefined quality criteria.

* Co-creation with AI – collaborating with AI to create new knowledge and build knowledge structures according to ethical principles and criteria for multi-sectorial application.

These three areas also align with the revised Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model (Mishra, 2019) and with the integrated incorporation of AI in education based on the personalization defended by Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (CAST, 2018).

These principles inform the attitudinal analysis toward AI in training experiences elaborated here, under the APLICA project, designed by the Catalan Society of Pedagogy (Lorenzo Galés, 2023). Trainings were given at the University of the Balearic Islands, Mallorca (for a group combining professional teacher educators and law professors) and at the Escola Isabel de Villena, in Esplugues de Llobregat, near Barcelona (for primary and secondary school teachers). This provided a comparison of perceptions and readiness across different educational publics and contexts.

## Methodology

The study in this article is a comparative evaluation of the impact of an AI teacher training program, aiming to identify participants' increase in AI literacy, evolution of collaborative practices, and attitudes toward AI in education.
## Research design

A pre-post quasi-experimental design was used to compare qualitative and quantitative data, inside each cohort and between training groups, addressing three analytical dimensions that correlates with the already mentioned Ouyang & Jiao (2021) paradigms, and echoes the UDL principles for personalization:

* Initial knowledge and practice: introductory theoretical modules and demonstrations of AI tools in the classroom (UNESCO's AI competencies, evaluated on a Likert scale).

* Engagement in collaborative activities. Planning and designing school-level AI integration plans, and negotiating digital policy through collaborative processes. Co-creation of six "Decalogues" for AI use, evaluated via mixed methods using coherence, clarity, relevance, and academic criteria, with a consensus index (0-1) for thematic overlap.

* Meta-reflection and attitudinal transformation, measured via the Content Validity Ratio (Lawshe, 1975) to determine essentiality of items related to learning progress, strategy reflection, and role transformation. Awareness and hands-on educational activities, using AI tools in teaching and learning for wellbeing, better learning and transforming roles, based on SDG's.

Guides and resources provided during the training sessions aimed to integrate the policy-level and competency-level objectives of UNESCO's frameworks with CHAT's systemic view of mediated activity.

CHAT components in the Aplica Project:

* **Subject** = Teachers and Learners

* **Object** = AI literacy & profesional development

* **Artifacts** = AI tools + UDL + UNESCO frameworks

* **Rules** = Ethical principles + dynamics of CHAT elements

* **Community** = Training institutions, schools, universities, policy actors

* **Division of labour** = Roles of teachers, trainers, AI agents and collaborative teams

* **Outcome** = Professional transformation, Educational innovation (attitude evolution, ethical AI integration, inclusive AI pedagogy)

A pre-post attitudinal questionnaire and voluntary collection of AI-based classroom production served as the main evaluation instruments. Ethical protocols were rigorously followed in accordance with the *Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing* (American Educational Research Association, 1999) including informed consent, voluntary participation, and anonymized, aggregated data.

## Intervention Overview

The APLICA training involved 92 in-service teachers (30 in Mallorca, 62 in Esplugues). Training combined theoretical modules on AI ethics, governance, and pedagogical integration (aligned with UNESCO), practical workshops on AI tools (e.g., LLMs, adaptive platforms, GenAI for video and analytical research), and collaborative activities for negotiation, role-sharing, and problem-solving (consistent with CHAT).

Next year, the course will be replicated at the University of Andorra, with Univariate Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) planned to compare mean score changes across three territorial contexts and content dimensions (Field, 2024; Tabachnick et al., 2019).
# Results

The project produced three key outcomes:

* **Consensus-Building** – participants collaboratively created a negotiated *Decalogue for using AI in education*, refining it using GenAI tools with collective oversight.

* **Shift in Attitudes** – hands-on practical exposure reduced initial resistance, with some teachers moving from fearing cognitive decline to valuing AI for workload reduction and personalized learning.

* **Integration into Practice** – AI tools were embedded into lesson plans and used to co-create materials such as videos, texts, and classroom resources.

Using a convergent mixed methods design (Field, 2024; Tomczak & Tomczak, 2014), quantitative data in pre and post-tests were analyzed with Mann-Whitney U tests, reporting *p* values and rank-biserial correlations (Effect size *r<sub>sub</sub>rb<sub>sub</sub>*: 0.1= small, 0.3= moderate, 0.5+= large).

The Mallorca cohort demonstrated measurable increases in self-reported familiarity and use of specific AI tools. Notably, *ChatGPT/Gemini LLMs* showed a statistically significant rise of moderate-to-large effect and *inclusion/personalization benefits (Q9)* also increased significantly. A comparison of pre and post perceptions (Figure 1) reveals interesting movements in attitudes, perceptions and other qualitative data related to risks and benefits of using AI in education:

<figure><img src="image_22.png" /><figcaption>Fig 1. Qualitative analysis, Comparative data pre and post-test, Aplica project, 2025.</figcaption></figure>

**Note:** the pre and post-test show a significant increase of perceptions of the risk of *teacher resistance*, and *cognition/learning impact*, and an increase of perception of benefits from *personalization* and *teaching support*.

# Final Reflections and Conclusion

The APLICA Project employed an integrated theoretical framework combining UDL, CHAT, and UNESCO AI frameworks to examine AI competency development in educational contexts. The project was anchored in ethical principles, governance, and human-centered AI adoption, reflected in curriculum elements on AI ethics, data stewardship, and inclusive pedagogy. Results show Mallorca achieved significant gains in Large Language Model (LLM) use and perceived benefits for inclusion/personalization, plus broader AI tool diversity. Esplugues began with high pedagogical awareness but limited practice in AI, LLM's and digital diversity, suggesting untapped
potential. The findings underscore the need for contextual diagnosis before training and demonstrate that scaffolded, theory-driven approaches can build both technical competence and reflective practice.

These findings indicate that Mallorca's structured, collaborative approach yielded measurable gains in AI tool diversity and attitudinal shifts, while Esplugues' results indicate that awareness alone is insufficient – evolution toward diversified, pedagogically relevant applications is critical. Project results to date emphasize the critical importance of contextual diagnosis and theory-driven design, both at subject and community level, for optimizing training outcomes.

## References

American Educational Research Association. (1999). *THE STANDARDS FOR EDUCATIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING*. The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. https://www.testingstandards.net/

CAST. (2018). *About Universal Design for Learning*. CAST. https://www.cast.org/impact/universal-design-for-learning-udl

Engeström, Y. (2015). *Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research* (Second edition). Cambridge University Press.

Field, A. (2024). *Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics* (Sixth edition). Sage Publishing.

Gallon, R. (2024). Plan digital de IAE: preguntas, reflexiones y horizontes imprescindibles. In N. Lorenzo, J. M. Muñoz, & X. Suñe (Eds.), *Inteligencia Artificial en la Microeducación: Transformando el Aula del Futuro* (pp. 148–163). ODITE Espiral.

Kaptelinin, V., & Nardi, B. A. (2009). *Acting with technology: Activity theory and interaction design* (1. MIT Press paperback ed). MIT Press.

Lawshe, C. H. (1975). A QUANTITATIVE APPROACH TO CONTENT VALIDITY. *Personnel Psychology, 28*(4), 563–575. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1975.tb01393.x

Lorenzo Galés, N. (2023). *APLICA IA: NOUS INSTRUMENTS DIGITALS Aplicacions del CHAT GPT als diversos nivells educatius (... i la UNESCO què hi diu?)*. 12ª Trobada De Centres innovadors a Catalunya DIM-EDU, Barcelona. https://rgdoi.net/10.13140/RG.2.2.22946.40649

Mishra, P. (2019). Considering Contextual Knowledge: The TPACK Diagram Gets an Upgrade. *Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 35*(2), 76–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/21532974.2019.1588611

Ouyang, F., & Jiao, P. (2021). Artificial intelligence in education: The three paradigms. *Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 2*, 100020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2021.100020

Tabachnick, B. G., Fidell, L. S., & Ullman, J. B. (2019). *Using multivariate statistics* (Seventh edition). Pearson.

Tomczak, M., & Tomczak, E. (2014). *The need to report effect size estimates revisited. An overview of some recommended measures of effect size*. https://wwwsemanticscholar.org/paper/The-need-to-report-effect-size-estimates-revisited.-Tomczak-Tomczak/8c08127f9e736e8db15bec81d69f547d672f9f58

United Nations. (2015). *Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development*. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda
# Maker-STEAM projects and Science Thinking: perspective from the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT)

Guillermo Pech Torres¹

1University of Guadalajara, guillermo.pech@academicos.udg.mx

**Abstract:** This project shares a proposal for exploring scientific thinking in Mexican secondary school students. It considers a series of Maker-STEAM experiences, whose interactions are strongly related to Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), a central axis of analysis for recognizing possibilities in the development of scientific competencies. Based on student contributions, aspects strongly related to tools and signs, division of labour, and ambiguity were identified, which demonstrate the use of scientific principles, experimentation, programming principles, and the development of aspects related to creativity.

**Keywords:** Maker Education; STEAM Education; Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT); Science Thinking

## Introduction

Today, science education is considered one of the indispensable elements for the development of nations. In her academic and teaching work, she constantly focuses on creating strategies that are relevant to understanding children and adolescents. Mexico's educational reform (Nueva Escuela Mexicana, NEM) suggests incorporating active methodologies to develop curriculum understanding, considering STEAM for the scientific and mathematical fields (Secretaría de Educación Pública, SEP, 2022). A significant element is the use of Maker practices, which involve programming, electronics, and the design of unstructured solutions.

## Method

To develop the proposal, the Maker approach (Blikstein, 2013), the Gradual Immersion Method (Sanabria, 2015), and the scientific method were integrated so that participants could move through problem identification, experimentation, verification, and presentation of results (Pech y Romero, 2024, Pech, Pérez, López, 2021; Pech, Sanabria, Romero, 2019). Significantly, an additional exhibition stage was proposed after the familiarization process (figure 1).

<figure><img src="image_23.png" /><figcaption>Figure 1. Stages of Maker-STEAM workshops.</figcaption></figure>
With the participation of 24 secondary school students in Mexico, a total of 3 programming and electronics workshops with Arduino were held, wrapped in an interdisciplinary challenge that involved the collaborative construction of a device:

1. Let's Be Technocreative Biologists (Space Sciences and Electrical Circuits); in this workshop a species of biological interest for life on other planets was investigated and co-created using basic electrical circuits.

2. Smart Cities (Programming and Actuator Electronics); this workshop explored the programming of actuators in arduino for the automation of smart home elements.

3. S.O.S to the forest (Sensor programming and electronics); this workshop allowed for the programming of sensors such as light and temperature, which were used to build a fire monitor for forests and other ecosystems.

For the analysis of the science and programming experience, it was necessary to build an instrument of open questions, based on CHAT, for which situations were described in which will reflect key aspects of the activities. After analyzing the experiences, considering a case of study, and codification process, the most significant elements associated with Tools and Signs, Ambiguity, the Artifact, and the Division of Labour were selected (Engeström, 1987, 2007b, 2015). These elements were explored with the help of an open-ended questionnaire at the end of each workshop.

## Results

From this, aspects that students consider significant were identified, which also, related strongly to scientific competencies. In addition, as a result of analysis of interactions, the first activity system of what was called "Maker-STEAM Ecosystem" is shared (figure 2 and 3).

<figure><img src="image_24.png" /><figcaption>Figure 2. Activity System for the case</figcaption></figure>
<table><caption>Figure 3. Aspects and codes of CHAT analyzed in the proposal</caption><thead><tr><th>Aspect</th><th>Principle</th><th>Categories</th><th>Maker Experience 1</th><th>Maker Experience 2</th><th>Maker Experience 3</th><th>Aspect</th><th>Principle</th><th>Categories</th><th>Maker Experience 1</th><th>Maker Experience 2</th><th>Maker Experience 3</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="4">TA3. Tools and Signs</td><td rowspan="4">Scientific principles observed in experience</td><td>Skills of the Scientific Method</td><td>Scientific method: Experimentation, Research.</td><td>Scientific method: Experimentation (circuits, Arduino, actuators, programming). Creation (codes), Observation, organization.</td><td>Scientific Method: Experimentation, Trial and Error</td><td rowspan="2">TA3. Tools and Signs</td><td rowspan="2">Scientific skills lived in experience</td><td>Experimentation</td><td>Experimentation with circuit development and the use of non-conventional conductors (OF).</td><td>Experimentation: Programming, connecting circuits</td><td>Programming devices and sensors [Experimentation, OF 3]</td></tr><tr><td>Scientific Concepts</td><td>Scientific concepts: electricity, electrical conductors, electrical circuits, animal species, space exploration, prototyping.</td><td>Scientific concepts, Electronics, Technology, Electrical circuits and Electricity.</td><td>Scientific concepts: global warming, electrical circuits, laws of electrodynamics, sensors.</td><td>Hypothesis Testing</td><td>Hypothesis Testing in Electrical Circuits</td><td>Use of science-specific language: Programming. Technological skills, computer use, electrical connections Object design</td><td>STEAM Principles: Electricity, Species, Circuit Connections, Use of Technology</td></tr><tr><td>Technological Skills</td><td>Prototype</td><td>Arduino programming and automation</td><td>Programming, Electronics, Computing</td><td rowspan="2">TA5. Division of labor</td><td rowspan="2">Distributio n of work during the experience</td><td rowspan="2">Programmer, Designer, Connections</td><td rowspan="2">Electrical circuits, conductors and insulators (OF). Development of creativity (Cr)</td><td rowspan="2">Arduino programming Connect electrical circuits Design or construction of the artifact</td><td rowspan="2">Programmer, the connections, and the design or construction of your device</td></tr><tr><td>21st Century Skills</td><td>Creativity, design and use of materials</td><td>Creation of the artifact with recycled materials (Cr).</td><td>Creation (the maker essence): Creativity, Artifact</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="4">TA3. Instrument [Artifact]</td><td rowspan="4">The most outstanding features of the project</td><td>Functions, Operation</td><td>Operation, connections, lights</td><td>Functions, programmed in Arduino. Operation of the device (actuators).</td><td>Functions/operation of the device: Temperature sensor, Arduino, automation.</td><td rowspan="4">TA7. Ambiguity</td><td rowspan="4">The freedom to create the artifact</td><td rowspan="2">Development of Artifacts</td><td rowspan="2">Development and creation of the artifact, Material Handling</td><td rowspan="2">Development and creation of the artifact: selection/use of components and materials, use of knowledge, programming. Using Creativity for Invention (Cr)</td><td rowspan="2">Freedom for development and creation (Cr), Freedom to use ideas Use of components and materials,</td></tr><tr><td>OF, Scientific Hab</td><td>Research carried out</td><td>Scientific principles involved in the artifact: Species, Temperature.</td><td>Use of Scientific Principles</td><td>Species selection</td><td>Using programming</td><td>Use of ecosystems. Construction oriented towards scientific principles (ecosystems)</td></tr><tr><td>Materials</td><td>Materials used</td><td>Materials, electronics (actuators), recycling.</td><td>Materials used in the device: Cables, temperature sensor, Arduino.</td><td>Experimentation</td><td>Experimentation, Materials Handling, Research, Species Selection</td><td>Use of materials and components, Use of knowledge for programming.</td><td>Use of components and materials.</td></tr><tr><td>Creativity</td><td>Process creativity, design, imagination,</td><td>Design and Creativity: The chosen design and the result of the combination (Cr).</td><td></td><td></td><td>21st Century Skills</td><td>Creativity</td><td>Using Creativity for Invention</td><td>Use of Creativity</td></tr></tbody></table>

Discussion

Based on student contributions, it is considered that the development of maker-STEAM activities involving the use of programming and electronics tools promotes elements of the scientific method, oriented toward experimentation, as well as trial and error, which in turn allow for the confirmation of assumptions or the presentation of an original solution. The activities also allowed for a deeper understanding of the elements of electricity and the use of sensors.

There is a strong presence of creativity, described by participants in the creation of their artifacts and in the search for solutions. The use of the Gradual Immersion Method allows for the development of Maker-STEAM projects in which familiarization and co-creation are evident. They have a strong connection with the development of scientific thinking.

Maker-STEAM activities foster the development of collaboration, which is evident from the distribution of tasks, with participants taking on programming, electrical circuits, design, or communication roles to solve the challenge. This approach actively dismantles pre-established roles, promoting the equity, redress of gender, or socioeconomic background.
Project development in secondary education is a strong area of opportunity for further in-depth study of creative ecosystems from a CHAT perspective, such as the contradictions and dual stimulation posed by the challenge and learning of tools involving programming and design.

## References

Blikstein, P. (2013). Digital fabrication and ‘making’in education: The democratization of invention. FabLabs: Of machines, makers and inventors, 4(1), 1-21.

Engeström Y. (1987). Learning by expanding: An activity theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit.

Engeström Y. (2007 b). From communities of practice to mycorrhizae. In J. Hughess, N. Jewson, & L. Unwin (Eds.). *Communities of practice: Critical perspectives* (pp. 41–54). Routledge.

Engeström, Y. (2015). Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pech, G., Sanabria-Z, J., Romero, M. (2019). Applying Gradual Immersion Method to Chemistry: Identification of Chemical Bonds. In: Stewart, A.J., Mueller, M.P., Tippins, D.J. (eds) Converting STEM into STEAM Programs. Environmental Discourses in Science Education, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25101-7_15

Pech, T. G., Pérez, L. F., López, M. S. (2021). Buenas Prácticas en Ecosistemas Maker. En, Hacia una tecnología educativa con sentido humano, para una educación sin distancia y de bienestar en México. Quinto aniversario de la Red LaTE México (pp. 123-136). CUDI México

Pech T., G. E. & Romero, M. (2024). Experiencias de inteligencia artificial generativa y programación para la educación en la región de los Valles. *Ayala R., S. & Rodríguez G., D.* (Eds). *Tecnologías para el aprendizaje en la región Valles, Jalisco: Vicisitudes de la brecha digital y la educación rural* (pp. 177-205). Comunicación Científica, México. DOI: https://doi.org/10.52501/cc.231.07

Sanabria, J. C. (2015). The Gradual Immersion Method (GIM): Pedagogical Transformation into Mixed Reality. Procedia Computer Science, 75, 369-374.

Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP).(2022). Plan de estudios para la Educación Básica (Preescolar, Primaria y Secundaria). https://educacionbasica.sep.gob.mx/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Plan-de-Estudio-ISBN-ELECTRONICO.pdf
# Indicators of the self in the study of identity
narratives of Latin American migrant women in
Spain: a cultural-historical analysis

Manuel L. de la Mata-Benítez<fnref n="1" />, Alicia Español<fnref n="2" />, José Antonio Matías-García<fnref n="3" />,
Cristina del Villar-Toribio<fnref n="4" />& María Lojo-Ballesta<fnref n="5" />

**Abstract:** Latin American women constitute one of the largest groups within the migrant population in Spain. They are often recruited for domestic and care work, where they encounter various forms of discrimination. Grounded on a cultural psychology perspective, the paper analyzes identity reconstruction of four Latin American women living in Spain. The analysis was based on Bruner’s indicators of selfhood: agency, resources, social references, and coherence. Migration itself, as a primary means of escaping poverty, was identified as a key indicator of agency. Perseverance and religion emerged as the main personal resources on which these women rely to pursue their goals. Among the social reference indicators, support was received from family members, friends, certain employers, and professionals, while ex-husbands and the broader Spanish population were identified as the main barriers to their integration. Finally, coherence indicators reveal an ongoing effort to maintain continuity during the migration process. The application of Bruner’s (1997) indicators of selfhood enabled an examination of the processes of identity reconstruction in response to the rupture and transition triggered by migration. This rupture involves profound changes in the Activity Systems (ASs) in these women participate. These changes are associated with the appropriation of new semiotic tools.

**Keywords:** Migration, Identity, Indicators of selfhood, Mediated action

<footnote n="1">¹Universidad de Sevilla, mluis@us.es</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²Universidad de Sevilla, aespanol@us.es</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³Universidad de Sevilla, jimmatias@us.es</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴Universidad de Sevilla, mcrviltor@alum.us.es</footnote>

<footnote n="5">⁵Universidad de Sevilla, mlojo@us.es</footnote>
The feminization of migration is a trend that began particularly in the 1990s, with women playing an increasingly prominent role in global migratory flows (Sassen, 2000). This trend has been also observed in Spain (Parreñas, 2001). The care crisis (Gálvez, 2016), associated with gender inequalities in the distribution of care work within Spanish families, has been addressed through the hiring of migrant women—many of them from Latin American countries—as domestic workers (Díaz-Gorfinkel & Martínez-Buján, 2018).

As a feminized activity, domestic work is marked by high levels of informality and precariousness, as well as by asymmetrical relationships between employers and employees. In the case of Latin American women, many have experienced racism and xenophobia (Rinken et al., 2021).

All these factors correspond to the macro-social level and shape the Activity Settings (ASs) in which Latin American migrant women participate: the workplace (private homes as domestic workers), schools (for their children), the healthcare system, religious groups, and institutional contexts (interactions with public administration, the police, etc.).

Theoretical framework

This study is theoretically grounded in Cultural Psychology, integrating Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (with particular attention to the contributions of theorists such as Zinchenko and Wertsch) and the work of other authors like Jerome Bruner (1997, 2003) and Zittoun (2008), who emphasize the role of narratives in the mediation of the human mind. This theoretical perspective is based on three main pillars: (1) the need to consider different planes of analysis; (2) the conceptualization of identity as action mediated by narratives; and (3) the understanding of migration as a process of identity reconstruction.

In line with this framework, we assume that the analysis of psychological processes requires attention to multiple planes of analysis:

*   **The macrosocial plane**, which encompasses institutions and broader societal phenomena. The analysis at this level is informed by the concepts of *Activity System* (Leontiev, 1981; Engeström et al., 1999) and *Activity Setting* (Wertsch, 1985).

*   **The microsocial plane**, which focuses on the dynamics of interpersonal interactions. These interactions are always situated within sociocultural activities (Activity Systems and Settings).

*   **The individual plane**, which examines how individuals appropriate the semiotic and cultural tools historically developed and used in social interactions to mediate their own actions—thereby creating the intrapsychological plane (Wertsch, 1985).

From our perspective, identity (or self) is conceptualized as action mediated by narratives (semiotically mediated action, Wertsch, 1985, 1998; Zinchenko, 1985). Bruner's (2003) notion of *self-making narratives* aligns with this view. Such mediated actions allow individuals to maintain a sense of self-continuity over time (de la Mata et al., 2024).

Identity narratives are constructed within social, historical, and cultural contexts—namely, within Activity Systems that can be analyzed at different levels. Personal narratives, or life stories, are shaped through the appropriation of social and cultural narratives.
Identity narratives are multivoiced (Wertsch, 1991). They incorporate the voices of individuals, groups, institutions...(from both the micro and the macrosocial plane). As any other process of appropriation, the appropriation of master-alternative narratives by individuals and groups is not a mere process of transfer from “outside” to “inside”, but a complex reconstruction in which new meanings and senses are created (Wertsch, 1985; Valsiner, 2014).

The third pillar of our analysis is the consideration of migration as a *rupture* (de la Mata et al., 2024) or a *transition* (Zittoun, 2008) in a person's life, involving profound changes in the Activity Systems in which they participate across all life domains. For our participants—and for most Latin American migrant women—this rupture is further exacerbated by the macrosocial factors discussed above. Migration, therefore, represents a profound challenge to the self.

This rupture prompts the reconstruction of migrant identity narratives. These narratives bring together diverse voices, often in conflict or contradiction, in a complex interplay where echoes of *master* (exclusionary) narratives and *alternative* (resistance) narratives can be heard.

Building on previous theories about the key elements of a “good story,” Bruner (1997) proposed a set of nine “indicators of selfhood.”, which reveal the extent and nature of self-construction within personal narratives, offering a framework for identifying the critical narrative nodes around which individuals—consciously or unconsciously—shape their autobiographical accounts. In our study, we focus on four of these indicators:

* **Agency** (both individual and collective).

* **Resources** employed by **participants** to navigate the challenges of migration.

* **Social reference, referring** to the groups, communities, or institutions that play significant roles in their migration experiences, including both supportive networks (e.g., family members, community organizations) and groups that represent the “Other” against whom participants position themselves (e.g., Spaniards). These references relate to different levels of analysis: individual, microsocial (interpersonal), and macrosocial (ethnic or national groups, institutions, etc.).

* **Coherence, referring** to how participants maintain or develop a sense of continuity of self—linking past, present, and future.

## Aims

The aim of this study is to understand how participants confront the challenges of migration and reconstruct their identities. More specifically, we focus on:

* **The obstacles** they encounter—primarily social in nature—corresponding to both the microsocial and macrosocial planes.

* **The resources** they draw upon—both personal (often shaped by prior experiences) and social.

* **The social referents**, both positive (sources of support and identification) and negative (sources of tension and exclusion).

* Finally, we examine how participants **reflect on their migration experiences** to refashion a sense of self-continuity across time.

## Method

The participants were four Latin American women who had migrated to Spain. They shared several common traits in their migratory trajectories. All had left their countries of origin more than 14 years ago, primarily citing economic reasons for migrating. At the time of migration, all participants were mothers with children under their care. They also shared physical characteristics identifying them as native Andean women. Upon arrival in Spain, they began working as cleaners or caregivers in private households and had experienced episodes of xenophobia.
The analysis was based on Bruner’s indicators of selfhood: **agency**, **resources**, **social references**, and **coherence**.

Data was collected through a **semi-structured interview** focused on participants’ migration experiences. The interview began with a brief section gathering sociodemographic information and addressed the following topics: the period before deciding to migrate; the moment the migration decision was made; the first year in Spain; current life in Spain; and future perspectives. Questions explored different life domains, including work, family and friends, education and healthcare systems, and the broader economic and political context.

## Results

**Agency.** Migration itself—particularly as a means of escaping poverty—was identified as a fundamental expression of agency. Other indicators of agency were linked to how participants confronted obstacles and hardships, which included precarious economic conditions in their countries of origin, intimate partner violence (IPV), and administrative or bureaucratic barriers in Spain. All of these challenges were met with a variety of agentive actions reported by the participants.

**Resources.** The most salient personal resources were perseverance and religious faith, which the women relied upon to pursue their goals and cope with difficulties.

**Social References.** Participants identified sources of support that included family members, friends, certain employers and professionals, co-nationals living in Seville, and religious communities. Conversely, ex-husbands and the broader Spanish population were often perceived as barriers to integration. The participants’ narratives included episodes of xenophobia and racism, where dominant (master) anti-immigration and racist narratives were voiced by some Spaniards. In response, the women articulated both master and alternative narratives in their own accounts, positioning themselves in relation to these discourses.

**Coherence.** Indicators of coherence revealed a continuous effort to maintain a sense of identity throughout the migration process. This was achieved through the ongoing positioning and repositioning of themselves and others, with caregiving emerging as a central theme in their lived experiences and personal narratives.

## Discussion and Conclusion

From a cultural-historical perspective, the findings of this study can be interpreted through the lens of multiple levels of analysis and identity-related action. The application of Bruner’s (1997) indicators of selfhood enabled a detailed examination of the processes by which Latin American migrant women reconstruct their identities in response to the rupture and transition triggered by migration.

This rupture involves profound changes in the Activity Systems (ASs) in which they participated in their countries of origin—such as family structures, employment, social networks, and institutional ASs like education and healthcare. After migration, the participants began engaging with new ASs in the host country, including domestic service, their children's schools, healthcare services, and administrative structures related to immigration. Within these new contexts, they were required to learn new roles and assume new—often subordinated—positions.

Throughout their migration narratives, the participants demonstrated how they confronted adversity through agentive action. They developed and enacted personal resources such as perseverance and religious faith and relied on social networks including family, friends, employers, and support organizations. These strategies enabled them to resist social exclusion and respond to racism and xenophobia.

From a cultural-historical standpoint, this process reflects the appropriation of new semiotic tools, leading to the transformation and reconstruction of identity actions. Notably, the analysis of the
coherence indicator showed that participants had developed the capacity to reflect on their experiences, gaining awareness of the changes brought about by migration. In this sense, these identity shifts can be interpreted as instances of expansive learning (Engeström & Sannino, 2010). Further analysis is needed to deepen this interpretation.

## References

Bakhtin, M.M. (1986). *Speech genres and other late essays*. C. Emerson & M. Holquist (eds.). Austin: University of Texas Press.

Bruner, J. S. (1997) *A narrative model of Self construction. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences*, **818**(1), 145-161. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1997.tb48253.xCarmena, M. (September 28th, 2023) In *Wikipedia*. https://es.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Manuela_Carmena&oldid=153695562.

Bruner, J.S. (2003). *Making stories: law, literature, life*. Harvard University Press.

De la Mata, M. L., Español, A., Matías-García, J. A., Lojo, M., & del Villar-Toribio, C. (2024). Repairing the breach: identity narratives of a Latin American woman in Andalusia. *Culture & Psychology*, **30**(1) 150-172.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X231160237

Díaz-Gorfinkiel, M., & Martínez-Buján, R. (2018). Mujeres migrantes y trabajos de cuidados: transformaciones del sector doméstico en España. *Panorama Social*, **27**, 105-118.

Engeström, Y., Miettinen, R., & Punamäki-Gitai, R. L. (Eds.). (1999). *Perspectives on activity theory*. Cambridge University Press.

Engeström, Y., & Sannino, A. (2010). *Studies of expansive learning: Foundations, findings and future challenges*. Educational Research Review, **5**(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2009.12.00.

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Leont'ev, A.N. (1981). The problem of activity in psychology. In J.V. Wertsch (Ed. and Trans.), *The concept of activity in Soviet psychology* (pp. 37-71). Armonk, NY. Sharpe. (Original work published 1979)

Parreñas, R. S. (2001) *Servants of globalization*. Stanford University Press.

Rinken, S., Pasadas-del-Amo, S., Rueda, M., & Cobo, B. (2021). No magic bullet: estimating anti-immigrant sentiment and social desirability bias with the item-count technique. *Quality & Quantity*, **55**, 2139-2159.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-021-01098-7

Sassen, S. (2000) Women's burden: counter-geographies of globalization and the feminisation of survival', *Journal of International Affairs*, **53** (2), 503-24.

Valsiner, J. (2014). *An invitation to cultural psychology*. Sage.

Wertsch, J.V. (1985). *Vygotsky and the social formation of mind*. Harvard University Press.

Wertsch, J.V. (1991). *Voices of the mind. A sociocultural approach to mediated action*. Harvard University Press.

Zinchenko, V.P. (1985). Vygotsky's ideas about units for analysis of mind. In J.V. Wertsch (ed.) *Culture, communication and cognition: vygotskian perspectives* (pp. 94-118). Harvard University Press.

Zittoun, T. (2008). Learning through transitions: The role of institutions *European Journal of Psychology of Education* **23** (2), 165-181. 10.1007/BF03172743.
# Expanding the Present.

## Collaborative creativity and Imagination in workplaces to design “the Near Future” of Family-School-Service Collaboration

Maria Livia Alga¹, Diego Di Masi², Chiara Sità³

1University of Verona, marialivia.alga@univr.it

2University of Turin, diego.dimasi@unito.it

3 University of Verona, chiara.sita@univr.it

**Abstract:** Creating interprofessional spaces involves more than just exchanging information; it requires a mutual commitment to co-constructing knowledge and identifying shared goals and practices. In this process, imagination plays a fundamental role. When understood as an 'expansion' of experience and possibility, realistic imagination stimulates reflection on systematic practices and the representations, contradictions and desired changes of professionals. This paper presents a case study conducted with an interprofessional group working with children and families in Italy within the P.I.P.P.I. programme (Programme of Intervention for Preventing Institutionalisation), a national programme supporting vulnerable children and families. The presentation focuses on an exercise in which professionals are asked to write creatively and collaboratively about the near future of school-family-service collaboration. This narrative approach enables us to understand the proximal experience of professionals in their context, from analysing the future to addressing the challenges of the present.

**Keywords:** interprofessional work; service-family-school collaboration; imagination; narrative methods

## Introduction

Service-family-school collaboration is often understood as a process of networking between persons who, on the basis of their own interpretation of a problem, get in touch by asking each other for the resources each believes to be appropriate. In a research on preventing children's vulnerability, Edwards (2011) proposes instead to base collaboration on the creation of interprofessional and community spaces in which to engage in co-constructing knowledge and understanding of the problem. The issue is not one of diluting specialist expertise or assuming one another's professional roles, but rather of gaining sufficient insight into the purposes and practices of others to enable collaboration' (Edwards, 2011, p. 34). Such collaboration extends beyond the mere exchange or transfer of information; it entails a genuine, reciprocal commitment to the identification of shared horizons and the practices through which these may be realised. At its core, it underscores the inherently relational character of effective agency (Edwards, 2011).

This horizontal working, which takes place at the boundaries of communities and professional practices, consists of negotiating interpretations of tasks and ways of accomplishing them: at the boundaries, the
categories, values and goals on which practices are based are revealed and, at the same time, the
categories, values and goals of the work of others are recognised and paid attention to.

In the constitution of a symbolic domain for interprofessional and community work, imagination
occupies a foundational role. Following Zittoun and Gillespie’s (2016) cultural-historical approach,
imagination is conceived not merely as a faculty of mental representation, but as an *expansion* of both
experience and possibility, thereby foregrounding its generative and transformative potential.

According to Vygotskij (1987) “no accurate cognition of reality is possible without a certain element of imagination, a certain flight from the immediate, concrete, solitary impressions in which this reality is presented in the elementary acts of consciousness. The processes of invention or artistic creativity demand substantial participation by both realistic thinking and imagination. The two act as a unity” (p. 349). In outlining the relationship between imagination and experience, Vygotsky identifies the combinatory capacity of the human mind as the foundation of creative activity. He inquires into how this combinatory creative activity occurs, and stresses that its development depends on the accumulation of our experience (p. 55). Thus, the first and most fundamental connection between imagination and reality lies in the fact that every product of imagination is assembled from elements derived from reality and preserved through prior experience. As Vygotsky notes, it would be a miracle for imagination to generate something entirely ex nihilo, without drawing upon the reservoir of lived experience.

Within this theoretical framework, our research with an interprofessional group commenced by eliciting and sharing experiences of working within multidisciplinary teams, with particular attention to their constitutive elements, interprofessional dynamics, impacts, and discursive practices (first stimulus). Subsequently, the use of narrative tools was introduced as a means of stimulating professionals to envision and design prospective systems of collaboration among services, families, and schools. The writing process itself became a collective arena in which participants articulated motives and professional expectations regarding collaboration, while the narratives they produced functioned as second stimuli for analyzing the current activity system in both its historical-genetic and actual- empirical dimensions (Engeström & Sannino, 2010).

The aim was to examine the potential of the *letters from the future* narrative tool to decouple
professional imagination from the immediacy of proximal experience, thereby opening a space for the
exploration and identification of possible alternatives and transformations within the system of
collaborative activity

Methods

This paper presents a case study conducted with social workers, educators, psychologists, teachers, neuropsychiatrists working with children and families in Italy within the P.I.P.P.I. program (Milani, 2022). P.I.P.P.I. is a national program for supporting children and families who live in a situation of vulnerability. The program is coordinated by the Italian Ministry of Welfare in association with the University of Padua, and the Universities of Torino, Verona, Trieste. P.I.P.P.I. is an intensive support program, and its name is an acronym for Program of Intervention for Preventing Institutionalization. It is based on interprofessional collaboration and collaboration between professionals and other formal and informal actors, families included. The local authorities that have participated in two or more implementation of the program can join the advanced module and constitute into a Territorial Laboratories (LabT): a collaborative space involving professionals and researchers to analyze the local system, promote learning and situated innovations involving different key actors who contribute to the wellbeing of children and families (Sità, Di Masi, Petrella, 2023).
The presentation focused on our experience of using the narrative tool *letter from the Future* (Zanzibar Protokol) in a LabT project. Professionals were asked to write about the near future of school-family-service collaboration (Kloetzer, 2025).

The letters have been written by an interprofessional group of 45 professionals (educators, social workers, psychologists, teachers, school principals) working in child and family welfare in the Tigullio gulf area (Nord-West of Italy). We used the following prompt as a trigger question to stimulate a near future imagination: "It is 2034, and you have the opportunity to write yourself a letter from the future that you receive today. What would you tell us about school - family - services collaboration in your region?"

The narrative tool allows us to represent the proximal experience lived by professionals in their context "what is" starting from a near future imagination "what it could become", i.e. from the analysis of the future to read the question of the present. It is a practice of realistic imagination and a stimulus to reflect on systematic and professionals' representations, contradictions and desired changes.

We present the key contents that emerged from a thematic analysis of these 45 letters, focusing on what it means to cross professional and institutional boundaries, trying to establish collaboration and to search for shared knowledge, while expanding the *bubble of now*.

## Findings

The analysis of the *letters from the future* constructs an ambivalent imaginary of school-family-services collaboration, simultaneously infused with utopian projections and dystopian anxieties. The contradictions articulated by professionals reflect the broader socio-historical conditions in which they are embedded: precariousness in working life, the destabilizing effects of wars, the erosion of public commitment to welfare, and the transformative yet disruptive presence of AI technologies. These macro-structural pressures manifest at the micro-level in recurrent experiences of incommunicability, the absence of a shared lexicon across professions, and the persistent economic and social undervaluation of educational labour.

The recurrent evocation of “a common language” signals more than a technical demand for terminological alignment: it embodies the aspiration to transcend disciplinary boundaries and open up symbolic spaces as sites of unpredictable, and potentially transformative, understanding. At the same time, the topic of “borders” offers a glimpse into the blurring of the boundary between professionals and non-professionals. This is evident in their shared vulnerability in the face of injustices and precariousness experienced by individuals and families in the contemporary labour and economic system. It also suggests the potential for creating a caring community that transcends the disparities in power and opportunities associated with each person's social role.

### a) Sharing “a common language”

“School-family collaborations have taken on a new value in respecting the figure of the teacher and the importance of parenthood. The times of long meetings and endless phone calls are over. We only speak one language! Inclusion, support, collaboration, listening are now internalized by everyone. I no longer feel like an alien” (school educator).

In these letters from the future, social and interprofessional work takes place in a space where communication takes on multiple, layered forms, such as voices, semantics, specialised languages and
'dialects' that constantly oscillate between the aspiration for a 'common language' and resistance to differences. Educational and social work is often reduced to collecting and managing information. The dialectical tension between *information* and *understanding* is crucial here: the risk is that technical simplification, rooted in organisational monolingualism and the lexicon of efficiency, obscures the richness of 'dialects', living and contextual languages. These are places of creativity and transformation.

b) Crossing and inhabiting borders

The problem of institutional and relational boundaries is rooted in a similar tension: these are not static barriers, but rather permeable thresholds that are continually crossed and renegotiated. For instance, the role of the educator is characterised by a constant tension between underestimation and redefinition within the team as an assessment actor. The fine line between professional function and identification with the users is also highlighted as being precarious, in a circuit of reciprocity. The space for the encounter between professionals and beneficiaries thus becomes a boundary device: a place where the continuity and circularity of relationships shape the conditions of collaboration itself.

“Everyone needs support in growing and developing. As an educator and then as a mother, I have benefited from this collaboration, too, because your own well-being and that of those around you is fundamental. Education today means physical, psychological and economic well-being: a network of services aimed at people for people. You work for others, but others work for you, not as a means but as an intertwining” (early childhood educator).

In this scenario, the question of knowledge emerges from collective trajectories involving the activation of opportunities and tools, which sometimes manifest as specific actors — such as schools, families and networks — that are not only contexts, but also competent subjects. The affective dimension is also relevant to this process: trust, passion and desire, as well as effort and resistance, act as generative or limiting forces in the configuration of interprofessional practices.

Nevertheless, the concept of institutional functioning is still largely influenced by neoliberal logics, which primarily define collaboration in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and consistent achievement of objectives, thereby shaping professional discourse with performative and prescriptive semantics. This results in contradictions articulated as polarities: mechanical response *versus* organic response; information *versus* understanding; medicalisation *versus* the centrality of the educational act; and reparative function *versus* transformative function.

Ultimately, change can be interpreted as a dual process: firstly, as a subjective transformation resulting from individual learning and re-elaboration, and secondly, as change imposed by institutional mechanisms and socio-historical contexts that continuously restructure the margins of possibility for social work and interprofessional collaboration.

If we take these polarisations into account as dialectical forms, we can consider them as engines of development, levers for imagining innovation projects towards desirable future forms of interprofessional work.
<figure><img src="image_25.png" /><figcaption>Figure 1 This diagram summarizes the initial analysis of the data emerging from *Letters from the Future*. The four main themes (communication; relational and institutional borders; management and organization; changes) are divided into categories that highlight the main contradictions or internal tensions that professionals are facing.</figcaption></figure>

## References

Edwards A. (2011), “Building common knowledge at the boundaries between professional practices: Relational agency and relational expertise in systems of distributed expertise”, *International Journal of Educational Research*, 50, 33-39.

Kloetzer, L., Kloetzer, L. (2025). Instant Futures: an experimental study of the imagination of alternative near futures thanks to science fiction. *Integr. psych. behav.* 59, 25.

Milani P. (2022), ed., *Il Quaderno di P.I.P.P.I.. Teorie, metodi e strumenti per il Programma di Intervento per la Prevenzione dell'Istituzionalizzazione*, Padova, Padova University Press.

Sità C., Di Masi D., Petrella A. (2023) *Le città visibili: la ricerca trasformativa nei Laboratori Territoriali*, Padova, Padova University Press.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). *The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky, Vol. 1. Problems of general psychology*. (R. W. Rieber & A. S. Carton, Eds.). Plenum Press.

Zittoun T., Gillespie A. (2016), Eds, *Imagination in Human and Cultural Development*, London, Routledge.
# Exploring Contradictions in Initial Teacher Education: A CHAT-Based Analysis of 21st-Century Skills Integration

Arum Nisma Wulanjani

Universitas Tidar, Magelang, Indonesia, The University of Sydney, awul4379@uni,sydney.edu.au

**Abstract:** Integrating 21st-century skills into teacher education is essential in today's evolving educational landscape. However, contradictions often emerge and serve as catalysts for change. While many studies acknowledge their role, few explore their complexity. This study uses Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) to examine these contradictions and develop effective solutions. Fifteen participants from an Indonesian teaching practice programme—student teachers, teacher educators, and mentor teachers—were involved in the intervention aimed at developing a model for integrating the 21st-century skills in Initial Teacher Education. They participated in in-depth interviews for data collection. The analysis drew upon CHAT and concentrated on identifying contradictions between the activity system's components. The interviews revealed three key contradictions. The contradictions included a gap between theoretical knowledge and the practical use of 21st-century skills, community engagement barriers, and the absence of clear guidelines for assessing these skills effectively. to navigate complex classroom realities and contribute meaningfully to educational communities.

**Keywords:** Initial Teacher Education (ITE), 21st-Century Skills, Activity Theory, Contradiction, Educational Transformation

## Introduction

It is Educational institutions worldwide have recognised the importance of developing 21st-century skills that can be applied across various fields of knowledge, enabling students to adapt, solve problems, and perform effectively in today's rapidly changing and complex 21st-century world [6] Teacher education programs, including Initial Teacher Education (ITE), are being challenged to integrate these skills into their curriculum to ensure that student teachers develop these skills in addition to pedagogical knowledge.

Despite the recognition of the importance of 21st-century skills, challenges of effectively integrating them into educational practices have persisted [2]. These challenges often manifest as contradictions, which can either prevent development or drive changes for transformative educational practices [7]. In many existing literatures, contradictions are commonly treated as incidental phenomena instead of treating them as change-inducing potentials [3]. Through the lenses of the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) framework, this research aims to unfold and analyse underlying contradictions that might hinder meaningful integration of 21st-century skills in Initial Teacher Education to further generate actionable solutions for educational practices transformation.

## Research Methods

This study used a qualitative case approach that focused on an activity system. The analysis was grounded on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) by Engeström [4,5] to examine human interactions within the activity system. CHAT provides a robust framework for investigating
interactions between the components of an activity system, such as subject, object, tools, rules, community, and division of labour. These interactions give rise to systemic contradictions that can obstruct the effective integration of 21st-century skills within Initial Teacher Education (ITE).

<figure><img src="image_26.png" /><figcaption>Figure 1: A general model of the activity system</figcaption></figure>

## Context of the study and participants

This research focused on the practice of 21st-century skills integration in an Initial Teacher Education (ITE) program in Indonesia, where the activity system was the focus. There were fifteen participants, consisting of six student teachers, five teacher educators, and four mentor teachers from partner schools. These participants were deliberately chosen to gain a diverse representation of perspectives. This triangulation enabled a comprehensive understanding of systemic contradictions between components in an activity system [8].

## Data Collection Method

This research employed semi-structured interviews to collect the data from participants. The questions in the interviews were designed in accordance with the principles of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, ensuring that the data reflected the dynamic interactions between the components of the activity system [1]. Through the interviews, the participants could reflect on their experiences regarding the integration of 21st-century skills. These include their understanding of these skills, the implementation of these skills, and the challenges faced in implementing these skills. The interview took place in 60 minutes. All the interviews were video recorded with the participants' consent. The transcripts were then anonymised to ensure confidentiality. The ethical aspects of this study have been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) of The University of Sydney [ethics reference: 2024/HE000822].

## Analytical Framework

In conducting the data analysis, a thematic coding approach informed by CHAT was employed. This included initial coding for identifying recurring themes and patterns inductively, mapping the emerging themes to the six components of CHAT, analysing the contradictions between the components, and the last process was interpreting and synthesising the findings [7]. Contradictions were seen as learning opportunities that may guide the reform of the initial teacher education rather than as a failure of the activity system.

## Results

Based on the interviews, three main challenges were identified.
1. Student teachers faced challenges in implementing their knowledge of 21st-century skills into their academic classrooms and actual teaching practices, despite the implementation of 21st-century skills into the curriculum by ITE. This challenge suggests a contradiction between student teachers as the subject of activity and the object or goal of activity.

2. Student teachers were expected to implement the skills into their teaching practices but were hindered in their practice schools within the community. This challenge suggests a contradiction between the subject and the community.

3. There was a lack of clear guidelines for assessing 21st-century skills. This lack led to inconsistent practices and uncertainty about how to evaluate the skills and what was expected from the assessment. This challenge suggests a contradiction between the rules (what was expected) and the object.

<figure><img src="image_27.png" /><figcaption>Figure 2: Key Contradictions of the 21st-century Skills Integration in ITE</figcaption></figure>

<table><caption>Table 1: Summary of Key Contradictions and Implications</caption><thead><tr><th>Contradictions</th><th>Activity System<br>Components</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Theory-Practice Gap</td><td>Subject ↔ Object</td><td>Difficulty translating theory into the classroom practice</td></tr><tr><td>Community Engagement Barriers</td><td>Subject ↔ Community</td><td>Limited collaboration due to institutional constraints</td></tr><tr><td>Assessment Challenges</td><td>Rules ↔ Object</td><td>Lack of clear guidelines for evaluating 21st-century skills</td></tr></tbody></table>

## Conclusion

The contradictions between subject and object, subject and community, and between rules and object expose a deeper structural and pedagogical misalignment. Through the lens of the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, these contradictions can lead to solutions that inform reform efforts in the Initial Teacher Education, particularly in the integration of 21st-century skills.

## Implications

The results of this research offer valuable insights for broader context, both theoretically and practically:
1. The contradictions that emerged within the activity system of Initial Teacher Education call for rethinking how teacher education conceptualises the development of 21st-century skills, ensuring that theory is not only taught but also meaningfully enacted within authentic teaching contexts.

2. The findings suggest that Initial Teacher Education programs should incorporate more practice-based learning and reflective teaching strategies to help student teachers bridge the gap between theory and classroom realities.

## Acknowledgement

1. The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by Balai Pembiayaan Pendidikan Tinggi (BPPT) and Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP), which made the publication of this article possible.

2. I acknowledge the use of Grammarly AI (www.grammarly.com) and Copilot (copilot.microsoft.com) for their assistance in refining the grammar, clarity, and overall readability of this paper.

## References

Alhothali, H. M. (2021). Inclusion of 21st century skills in teacher preparation programs in the light of global expertise [Article]. *International Journal of Education and Practice, 9*(1), 105-127.
https://doi.org/10.18488/journal.61.2021.91.105.127

Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M. E., & Gardner, M. (2017). Effective teacher professional development.

Engeström, Y. (2001). Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. *Journal of education and work, 14*(1), 133-156.

Engeström, Y. (2006). Activity theory and expansive design. *Theories and practice of interaction design, 3-23*.

Engeström, Y. (2014). *Activity theory and learning at work*. Springer.

Kim, S., Raza, M., & Seidman, E. (2019). Improving 21st-century teaching skills: The key to effective 21st-century learners [Article]. *Research in Comparative and International Education, 14*(1), 99-117. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745499919829214

Miles, R. (2020). Making a case for Cultural Historical Activity Theory: Examples of CHAT in practice. *Studies in technology enhanced learning, 1*(1).

Vogl, S., Schmidt, E.-M., & Zartler, U. (2019). Triangulating perspectives: ontology and epistemology in the analysis of qualitative multiple perspective interviews. *International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 22*(6), 611-624.
# Adaptive Learning and the Zone of Proximal Development: A Vygotskyan Perspective on AI-Based Educational Technologies

Carles Sierra¹

¹ Institut d'Investigació en Intel·ligència Artificial (IIIA-CSIC), sierra@iiia.csic.es

**Abstract:** This invited talk explores how AI-driven scaffolding, dynamic assessment, and social adaptation reinterpret and extend Vygotsky's socio-cultural principles of learning. Through the cases of ALEKS, Squirrel AI, and EDUTEAMS, this talk explores how adaptive systems model learners' evolving knowledge states and orchestrate instructional interactions in real-time, operationalising the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development.

**Keywords:** Adaptive Learning, Zone of Proximal Development, Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Vygotsky's notion of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), the distance between what a learner can achieve independently and what they can accomplish with guidance (1962, 1978), can serve to interpret adaptive learning as a socio-technical realisation of human scaffolding. Within sociocultural approaches, learning is understood as a mediated, socially situated activity in which tools, artefacts, and "more knowledgeable others" (MKO) support learning. The ZPD represents the dynamic space where learning occurs through cooperation between a learner and an MKO. This interaction is scaffolded as the learner internalises new competencies.

While Vygotsky conceived scaffolding as a fundamentally social and dialogical process, adaptive learning systems translate these principles into algorithmic form, redefining how mediation and guidance are enacted in learning contexts. Adaptive learning systems employ various techniques to infer the learner's current knowledge state and predict the next optimal learning task. In doing so, they emulate the scaffolding process characteristic of the ZPD. Systems like ALEKS apply Knowledge Space Theory (Falmagne & Doignon, 2010), modelling what a learner knows and what they are ready to learn next. Similarly, Squirrel AI employs fine-grained learner profiling and dynamic content recommendation to maintain each learner within their zone of optimal challenge. From a sociocultural perspective, these systems act as mediational tools that transform the learner-teacher-content triad. The traditional social mediation is partly replaced by algorithmic mediation. This shift introduces both opportunities for individualisation and contradictions regarding agency, context, and cultural meaning in learning activities (Engeström & Sannino, 2011).

From a Vygotskyan computational perspective, adaptive learning represents both a continuation and a transformation of human pedagogical mediation. AI systems emulate aspects of the ZPD by personalising instruction and providing contingent support. However, they also introduce ontological shifts: learning becomes data-driven, interactional scaffolding is codified, and the social other becomes algorithmic. To reconcile these tensions, hybrid models of adaptive learning that integrate AI mediation with collaborative and dialogical contexts are needed. AI can function as a supportive artefact for a dynamic diagnostic and recommendation system, within a broader socio-cultural ecology where teachers and peers remain the primary agents of meaning-making within a collaborative learning activity. For instance, the EDUTEAMS tool (2025) provides support for creating competent and congenial teams of learners that mediate one-to-one tutoring.
References

EDUTEAMS (2025). https://eduteams.iiia.csic.es/

Engeström, Y., & Sannino, A. (2011). Discursive manifestations of contradictions in organizational change efforts: A methodological framework. *Journal of organizational change management*, 24(3), 368-387.

Falmagne, J. C., & Doignon, J. P. (2010). Knowledge spaces. In *Learning Spaces: Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics* (pp. 43-60). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). *Thought and language*. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). *Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes*. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
# Integration of CHAT in Classroom Management Planning in the Digital Age: Educating for Online Sociability

Josianne Caron¹, Anne-Sophie Côté²

1Université du Québec à Rimouski, josianne.caron@uqar.ca

2Université du Québec à Rimouski, anne-sophie.cote@uqar.ca

**Abstract:** In a school context marked by the omnipresence of digital technology, this paper explores classroom management planning in the era of online interactions between pupils. Rather than limiting itself to reactive responses, it proposes a proactive approach based on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). The Clim@t project, in its first research and development phase, draws on the narratives of four novice primary school teachers confronted with critical incidents involving the misuse of digital platforms (Snapchat, TikTok, Google Classroom, Canva). The analysis reveals conflicts of motives (e.g., prohibit vs. educate) that catalyze transformative agency. The participants proposed solutions such as a lesson plan focused on modeling digital behaviors, school-family collaboration, and the creation of educational video capsules. These findings highlight the importance of reflective and contextualized planning that integrates the relational challenges of digital technology. They call for structured institutional support and coordinated training to assist teachers in educating for online sociability. This work contributes to enhancing inclusive practices and promoting a positive classroom climate by anticipating digital challenges through teacher thinking that is both enlightened by a critical understanding of systemic tensions and shaped, that is, mediated by the tools, rules, roles, and cultural artifacts that structure educational activity.

**Keywords:** classroom management planning; online interactions; Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT); teachers

## Introduction

In the Quebec school environment, as elsewhere, tablets and computers have become common tools for learning and communication. Their use, both in the classroom and at home, raises concerns related to the hyperconnectivity of some young people (Ruedas et al., 2021). Rather than advocating for screen bans, public messages promote balanced and responsible use, highlighting issues such as cyberbullying, online safety, digital literacy, and the development of critical thinking (Villeneuve et al., 2024). In this context, the school plays a central role, in collaboration with families and the community, in supporting pupils in their relationship with digital technology and fostering a positive classroom climate. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) helps to better understand teachers' actions in response to relational challenges arising from pupils' online interactions. This paper aligns with the conference themes: equity and peace in digital learning environments; inclusive practices; learning through interaction. The Clim@t research project, part of which is presented here from phase 1, fits within this perspective. The following sections outline the context, define key concepts, present the analytical framework and methods, and then discuss the results by highlighting both scientific and managerial implications.

## Background of the Subject: Classroom Management Planning in the Digital Age

The planning of teaching, although crucial, is often perceived as difficult to implement in practice by novice teachers (Viola & Tremblay-Wragg, 2024). However, the levers that could guide this planning remain underexplored, despite their importance for pupils' development, learning, and socialization (Deprit & Van Nieuwenhoven, 2021). These authors highlight the impact of preactive reflection for action on the action itself, particularly in the context of classroom management in the
digital age. This phase allows teachers to anticipate interactions and analyze the diversity of pupils' needs, thereby influencing pedagogical decisions. Bergeron (2018) notes that planning-oriented thinking, focused on problem-solving, leads to informed decisions. Support for planning is all the more necessary given the challenges involved in choosing intervention strategies: experienced teachers tend to favor proactive approaches (Alasmari & Althaqafi, 2024; Al Khanbashi, 2024), while beginners, in search of guidance, often default to reactive responses. In a context where pupils' interactions extend online, planning cannot be limited to face-to-face interactions. It must anticipate digital relational challenges: misunderstandings, impulsivity, conflicts, that can disrupt the classroom climate (Elsaesser et al., 2021; Pellerin & Jacquet, 2021). This complexity adds to the well-documented challenges of classroom management among novices (Bernier et al., 2024; Caron, 2019; Julien, 2025), making it essential to develop pedagogical reasoning capable of guiding planning. Since pedagogical decisions can emerge from problems and solutions (Bergeron, 2018), it is important to empirically document authentic problems experienced by novice teaching staff. Understanding the nature of issues related to online interactions would lead to proactive intervention planning. CHAT provides a relevant framework for analyzing these planning practices, considering digital tools, institutional rules, and social dynamics. Two research questions are posed and addressed in this study:

1. What classroom management problems do novice primary school teachers encounter in face-to-face teaching when dealing with their pupils' online interactions?

2. What potential solutions can be identified from the analysis of experiential knowledge (lived problems) to support classroom management planning in the digital age, within a logic of mediated and contextualized activity?

## Conceptual Framework: Teacher Planning and Online Interactions

Teacher planning involves three phases: preactive (before the activity), interactive (during the activity) and postactive (after the activity) (Tochon, 1989, as cited in Deprit & Van Nieuwenhoven, 2021). Each phase is essential: the preactive phase allows for organizing content and anticipating interactions; the interactive phase facilitates real-time adjustments; and the postactive phase supports the regulation of future practices. Preactive planning is defined as a situated reflective activity, preceding interaction with pupils and oriented toward programming content and preparing didactic guidance (Deprit & Van Nieuwenhoven, 2021). In Quebec, classroom management aims to maximize pupils' development, learning and socialization (Ministère de l'Éducation du Québec [MEQ], 2020). It relies notably on proactive planning, which involves a conscious organization of school realities and interventions in both individual and collective interactions (Dumouchel & Dufour, 2023). This process is structured into five steps: introspection, observation of pupils, development of a classroom management plan, implementation and regulation of this plan (Bernier et al., 2024, inspired by Bosch, 2006). This cycle allows teachers to reflect on their intentions, analyze a diversity of needs, design appropriate interventions, and adjust them over time. In today's digital context, this planning includes managing technological tools used both in class and at home, requiring specific preparation to ensure appropriate use (Dufour & Dumouchel, 2023). It also involves helping pupils develop skills to interact responsibly and constructively in digital environments (Sénéchal et al., 2023). Educating for online sociability requires a clear pedagogical intention aimed at preparing pupils for thoughtful and respectful exchanges. These interactions, according to Quintin & Masperi (2010), are part of a dialogic dynamic, where each message responds to another, partially or explicitly referencing previous statements. This structure, inherent to online interactions, underscores the importance of citizen education aimed at fostering online sociability (Villeneuve et al., 2024).
# Methods: an R&D integrating CHAT analysis

The Clim@t project is part of a research and development (R&D) approach (Bergeron & Rousseau, 2021). The first phase, qualitative in nature, aims to clarify the development concept through an analysis of needs and solutions with novice teachers facing classroom management and relational challenges in the digital age. This step precedes the development of a prototype intended to support teaching staff. In winter 2025, four novice primary school teachers participated voluntarily in this phase. Each participant wrote a critical incident they experienced in classroom management (face-to-face teaching), using a tool inspired by Harvey (2023), and then took part in an individual interview (a RÉVERBÈRE tool) to explore the described situation in greater depth. These two instruments helped achieve the following objectives: Describe and understand classroom management problems related to pupils' online interactions; Identify potential solutions based on experiential knowledge. The data corpus consists of written critical incidents and audio transcripts of the interviews. The analysis is based on CHAT, which helps understand interactions that influence the classroom climate. The double stimulation method (Issac et al., 2021) was used: participants were confronted with a lived problem (stimulus-end), then invited to identify possible solutions (stimulus-means).

The interviews revealed conflicts of motives (e.g., to prohibit or to educate), which acted as catalysts for pedagogical reasoning and transformative agency (volitional actions). The data were structured into practice narratives, illustrated by a teacher-artist, fostering dialogue between the results and the lived and felt experiences (Beaupré & Caron, 2024). Feedback from participants helped validate the accuracy of the interpretations. Internal validity was strengthened through continuous adjustments and two rounds of peer review, ensuring rigorous reflexive validation.

# Results: Four Illustrated Practice Narratives

To structure the initial phases of the Clim@t project, leading to prototyping, we rely on the enriched model by Zahedi and Tessier (2023), which extends Engeström's classic CHAT components by adapting them to collaborative dynamics. This model integrates traditional elements such as the subject (main actor), object (targeted goal or issue), tools (material or symbolic artifacts), rules (norms governing the activity), community (involved individuals), and division of labor (role distribution), while adding dimensions relevant to the next phase of our project (prototype), such as the collective subject (team sharing a mental model), object in context (situated understanding), signs (cognitive interpretations), design criteria (constraints guiding decisions), projected community (intended users), and shared approach (common project vision).

In this perspective, the four participants - Juliette, Silvana, Laura, and Dominique (pseudonyms) - implemented their classroom management plan, consolidating and adapting their practices with pupils in alignment with the planning cycle proposed by Bernier et al. (2024).

Table 1 illustrates how, starting from an encountered problem (stimulus-end), they deployed strategies to restore and maintain a positive classroom climate in the digital age, transitioning from reactive responses to a reflective and proactive stance (solutions to come).
<table><caption>Table 1. Double stimulation and conflicts of motives experienced by the participants.</caption><thead><tr><td>Name</td><td>Grade Level</td><td>Problems: Stimulus-End</td><td>Conflicts of Motives and Feelings</td><td>Solutions: Stimulus-Means</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Juliette</td><td>5th grade (part-time)</td><td>Digital conflict erupting in class, exclusion (Snapchat)</td><td><ul><li>Emotionally supporting one student vs managing the rest of the group</li><li>Waiting due to lack of human resources vs acting urgently</li><li>Ignoring conflicts arising outside school on a platform prohibited at this age vs taking partial responsibility</li></ul>= Overwhelming</td><td><ul><li>Reactive means: activity reorganization, individual listening, mediation, small group discussions</li><li>Volitional actions/agency: fostering digital empathy</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>Silvana</td><td>4th grade</td><td>Misuse of Google Classroom chat</td><td><ul><li>Allowing pedagogical use vs allowing social use</li><li>Disabling chat vs educating for online interactions</li></ul>= Frustration</td><td><ul><li>Reactive means: individual explanation, chat deactivation</li><li>Volitional actions/agency: modeling appropriate chat use</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>Laura</td><td>6th grade</td><td>Humiliating posts on TikTok</td><td><ul><li>Reporting behavior close to cyberbullying vs letting families supervise online interactions</li><li>Ignoring conflicts arising outside school on a platform prohibited at this age vs taking partial responsibility</li></ul>= Indignation</td><td><ul><li>Reactive means: reporting, coordinated intervention, suspension</li><li>Volitional actions/agency: joint training in digital use, strengthening school-family-community collaboration</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>Dominique</td><td>5th-6th grade (multi-level)</td><td>Loss of digital control during substitute teaching (Canva)</td><td><ul><li>Ignoring what happens during substitution vs taking responsibility as the main teacher</li><li>Allowing free Chromebook use vs controlling digital use</li></ul>= Powerlessness</td><td><ul><li>Reactive means: Chromebook removal, exclusion from activities, student discussions</li><li>Volitional actions/agency: considering supervision tools, using educational and reflective video capsules</li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>

The **subject** remains constant: novice teachers in a reflective posture, confronted with critical situations. Their vulnerability becomes a lever for understanding, revealing experiential knowledge and inclusive practices that consider a diversity of pupils' needs. Juliette, for example, adapts her activity by redirecting pupils to autonomous tasks in order to support an excluded pupil in distress, as illustrated in Figure 1. The **object** of the activity is shared: to maintain or restore a positive classroom climate despite disruptions caused by pupils' online interactions. Each narrative reflects this object within specific contexts: Juliette manages the consequences of a conflict on Snapchat, Laura responds to humiliating posts on TikTok, Silvana addresses the misuse of chat on Google Classroom, and Dominique reacts to inappropriate behavior on Canva following a substitute teaching period. These situations show that digital technology functions as a complex relational space, generating tensions and conflicts of motives. The digital **tools** and platforms used are often diverted from their educational purpose, becoming vectors of socialization or transgression. This contradiction highlights the need for modeling and collaborative training. The **rules** governing the activity are often unclear or absent, forcing teachers to improvise, which leads to cognitive and emotional overload. The educational **community** plays a variable role: some teachers are isolated, while others receive partial or coordinated support, revealing an uneven division of labor in which novice teachers bear a disproportionate burden, one they wish to share with parents and the school team. Incident management falls primarily on the teachers themselves, despite the collective nature of the issues. This diffuse responsibility underscores the need for structured institutional support and stronger collaboration with families. Interventions are often reactive (deactivation, withdrawal, punishment), but the narratives reflect a desire for transformation: Juliette proposes an activity on digital empathy; Laura envisions joint school-family training; Silvana hopes for turnkey lesson plans that include modeling; and Dominique imagines educational video capsules. The four participants agree on the relevance of developing a product that opens up to pupils' experiences of online interactions and classroom
discussions, while also taking into account these other suggestions. Finally, the narratives express a range of emotions (signs) that reveal the relational challenges of digital life: overwhelming for Juliette, frustration for Silvana, indignation for Laura and powerlessness for Dominique. These emotions reflect the complexity of classroom management in the digital age and confirm the need for an adapted product to support teachers' agency as they educate online sociability through inclusive practices.

<figure><img src="image_28.png" /><figcaption>Figure 1 Juliette, overwhelmed, in the classroom and without support from the special education technician. Student A from Juliette's class, in tears after interacting online with classmates. Illustrations by Stéphanie Robitaille, teacher-artist. (Caron et Côté, 2025)</figcaption></figure>

## Concluding Discussion: Transformative Agency for a Future Preactive Phase

This communication sheds light on classroom management planning in primary education in the digital age, through the lens of CHAT. The conceptual framework (Bergeron, 2018; Bernier et al., 2024; Deprit & Van Nieuwenhoven, 2021; Villeneuve et al., 2024) enables an analysis of planning as a reflective and iterative process. The participants' narratives reveal an evolving stance and transformative agency, marked by conflicts of motives that pull them in different directions, echoing Isaac et al.'s (2021) work on volition actions in dilemma contexts. The findings also highlight the need for institutional support, coordinated training, and school-family-community collaboration. The participants' proposals offer concrete solutions to educate online sociability and support planning. Illustrations created by a teacher-artist enrich the narratives by making visible the emotions experienced (signs), providing useful visual mediation in training contexts (Beupré & Caron, 2024). The results show that online interactions disrupt the classroom climate and require both urgent responses and proactive inclusive strategies. Planning decisions emerge from a situated reflective process, where stimuli prompt adjustments based on reactive strategies. Teacher thinking, illuminated by CHAT, helps visualize the interactions between knowledge, pupils, teachers, and institutions (Xue, 2013), which is relevant for classroom management training. Limitations include the small number of participants and the absence of an explicit presentation of the analytical framework to them, which limits the scope of the findings. The participants could have been explicitly informed that double stimulation has the potential to serve as a springboard for learning how to plan classroom management in the digital age. The Quebec context also calls for caution in transferring the results. The next phase of the Clim@t project will aim at coconstructing a prototype with novice teachers, based on their narratives. The collective subject will emerge, the object in context will be redefined, and the signs from interpretations will guide the design (Zahedi & Tessier, 2023). The final product will aim to transform experiential knowledge into shared resources, to support teachers' agency and anticipate digital relational challenges.
## Acknowledgements

I would like to warmly thank the participating teachers for their generosity, sensitivity and commitment, which brought the narratives to life. I am also grateful to Anne-Sophie Côté and Alex-Ann Julien for their rigor (peer review) and valuable collaboration throughout the process. A special thanks to Stéphanie Robitaille, teacher-artist, whose sensitive and profound illustrations extend the narratives and facilitate emotional reading. This project benefited from the financial support of the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) and the support of Synergia, whose mission resonates with the objectives of this research. Generative AI was used only for synthesis suggestions or minor corrections (spelling, grammar), as well as for enhancing visual elements (Table 1). The English translation of the original text was also facilitated by generative AI. Source of the pictogram: https://www.uqac.ca/ressourcespedago/iag/

<figure><img src="image_29.png" /></figure>

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# Reframing Critical Thinking in AI-Mediated
Undergraduate Thesis Writing: Towards
Equitable Assessment and Cognition in
Higher Education

Patricia Díaz Badra¹, Carolina Estrada Bascuñana¹, Margarida Romero¹

¹Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona
,bcb203237@uic.es; cestrada@uic.es; mromerov@uic.cat

**Abstract:** In the current educational landscape, where generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools like ChatGPT are reshaping academic writing, critical questions arise regarding student cognition, authorship, and equitable assessment. This study explores how GenAI impacts the development and evaluation of critical thinking in undergraduate thesis writing from both student and teacher perspectives. Drawing on sociocultural theories of learning and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), thesis writing is examined not merely as a cognitive process but as a culturally mediated activity system where GenAI tools, academic norms, and roles intersect. The research follows a three-phase mixed-methods design: Phase 1, a systematic literature review using the PRISMA protocol; Phase 2, a qualitative inquiry with students and supervisors; and Phase 3, a Delphi method with international experts. This paper focuses on Phase 2, which investigates real-world practices and dilemmas around GenAI. Interviews with supervisors and focus groups with students reveal tensions around assessment fairness, originality, and ethical boundaries. Findings highlight systemic contradictions in current evaluation frameworks, particularly the misalignment between assessment criteria that reward fluency and learning objectives that demand critical depth. The discussion emphasises the need for new policies, rubrics, and pedagogical approaches to support authentic critical engagement in the age of AI.

**Keywords:** Critical Thinking; Academic Writing; Artificial Intelligence; Higher Education; Cultural-Historical Activity Theory.

## Introduction

Academic writing has traditionally served as a means for students to externalise thought, demonstrate research competencies, and engage in higher-order reasoning. The rapid integration of generative AI into academic writing practices has precipitated what Engeström (2001) calls a 'double bind' in higher education. On one hand, tools like ChatGPT demonstrate remarkable capacity to support text production (Al-Zubaidi et al., 2024); on the other, they destabilise conventional understandings of authorship and critical engagement. This research addresses two research questions (RQ):

RQ1. How has the introduction of GenAI reconfigured the traditional division of labor between students and supervisors in the undergraduate thesis writing process?

RQ2. What systemic contradictions emerge between established institutional assessment practices and the new, AI-mediated writing processes?
In this study, the central activity system under analysis is the undergraduate thesis writing process, understood as a culturally and institutionally mediated practice. Drawing on the third-generation Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) framework (Engeström, 2001), this study analyzes the undergraduate thesis writing process as a complex, culturally, and institutionally mediated activity system. Within this system, the student acts as the subject, pursuing the *object* of developing and demonstrating critical thinking. This process is mediated by a variety of *tools*, including digital resources like generative AI, as well as institutional artifacts such as rubrics, academic language, and citation norms. The activity is governed by *rules* like institutional evaluation policies and ethical guidelines, and it is embedded within a *community* comprised of the supervisor, evaluation committee, and peers. This *community* collectively determines the division of labor, where the student is the primary writer, the supervisor provides guidance, and the committee performs the final evaluation. By framing thesis writing in this way, the study aims to uncover how the introduction of GenAI disrupts or transforms the relationships among these components, particularly in terms of how critical thinking is demonstrated, supported, and evaluated.

Methodology

This study adopts a three-phase mixed-methods design. Phase 1 consisted of a systematic literature review using the PRISMA protocol (Page et al., 2021) to map existing research at the intersection of AI, academic writing, and critical thinking assessment. Phase 2 centres on a qualitative investigation of how students and supervisors perceive, use, and evaluate GenAI in thesis work. Phase 3, still forthcoming, will employ a Delphi method with international experts.

This study focuses on Phase 2, which explores real-world practices, ethical dilemmas, and the perceived fairness of assessment (Al-Zubaidi et al., 2024). Phase 2 comprises two strands: interviews with 15 supervisors and 3 focus groups with undergraduates. Supervisors assessed anonymized thesis excerpts, some AI-generated, others not, using rubrics. After they developed semi-structured interviews. Students discussed their use or avoidance of GenAI, critical thinking, ethical boundaries, and fairness. This dual approach revealed systemic contradictions in academic evaluation (Engeström, 2001) and informed the design of Phase 3.

Preliminary Results

Analysis of Phase 2 revealed three key patterns. First, supervisors reported difficulties in evaluating AI-mediated theses: many noted that AI-assisted texts appeared 'generic but well-written' according to the supervisors, and rubrics tended to prioritize surface features over critical engagement. Second, students described using GenAI for drafting and editing, while expressing uncertainty about ethical boundaries and disclosure. Third, both groups highlighted systemic tensions between institutional policies, traditional expectations, and emerging AI practices.

Discussion

Findings illuminate fundamental tensions in AI-mediated thesis writing. The paradox of 'fluency without depth' describes how GenAI enhances textual fluency while obscuring critical engagement (Al-Zubaidi et al., 2024). This creates a contradiction between *tools* (GenAI) and *object* (critical thinking). The 'assessment challenge' highlights misalignments between evaluation frameworks and AI-mediated practices: rubrics fail to capture the origin of ideas or the quality of human–AI collaboration, raising concerns about validity. The rubric can include a new criterion assessing the student's ability to critically edit and build upon AI-generated drafts, as evidenced
by clear revisions and the integration of original analysis. The 'transparency dilemma' reveals unresolved tensions around AI disclosure, as students fear bias and supervisors lack consistent standards. Finally, the 'agency reconfiguration' shows how students strategically delegate drafting to AI while retaining control in editing, raising questions about how agency is conceptualized. Together, these tensions point to the need for revised rubrics, clearer disclosure policies, and pedagogical approaches that support reflective engagement with AI.

## References

Engeström, Y. (2001). Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. *Journal of Education and Work*, 14(1), 133–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080020028747

Holt, G., & Morris, A. (1993). Activity theory and the analysis of organizations. *Human Organization*, 52(1), 97–109. https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.52.1.u305r18277724374

Kim, J., Yu, S., Detrick, R., & Li, N. (2025). Exploring students’ perspectives on generative AI-assisted academic writing. *Education and Information Technologies*, 30(1), 1265–1300.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-019-0171-0

Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., ... & Moher, D. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. *BMJ*, 372, n71.
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71
Opening Address

# Together Toward Equity, Peace, and Sustainability in Times of Crisis. Opening of the ISCAR Southern Europe and West Asia Conference

Margarida Romero¹, Enric Vidal¹

¹ Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

Distinguished colleagues, esteemed members of the ISCAR community, keynote speakers, dear guests, it is our great honour to welcome you to Sant Cugat del Vallès, to the Faculty of Education of the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC Barcelona), and to the ISCAR 2025 Southern Europe and West Asia (SEWA) Conference, "Towards Equity, Peace and Sustainability in Times of Crisis." We are delighted to host you here and to open this conference together with the ISCAR President, Professor Annalisa Sannino, whom we warmly thank for her presence and support. This conference brings together scholars and practitioners from Southern Europe, the Middle East, and beyond, who are engaged in sociocultural and activity research at a time marked by multiple crises. These social, environmental, political and educational crises call for renewed ethical, intellectual, and practical commitments. Our theme invites us to consider how our research can contribute to more equitable, peaceful, and sustainable futures.

From an axiological standpoint, we see this conference and our research community as grounded in strong values and ethical commitments. Human development is not neutral; it is historically situated and value-laden. Communities working for equity and sustainability are, in this sense, our natural allies in education and research. They remind us that engagement should go beyond individual self-interest and contribute to collective forms of responsibility and care.

Ontologically, ISCAR SEWA is rooted in a sociocultural understanding of human activity. We study learning, development, and practice as profoundly social and historical processes. Epistemologically, our community embraces diversity. We value the coexistence of multiple ways of knowing, and we see epistemological pluralism as a strength: it enables richer, more integrated forms of interdisciplinary inquiry. Rather than falling into "methodological tribalism," we aim for a pluralistic coexistence in which openness, dialogue, and constructive criticism foster innovative cross-fertilisation of methods and perspectives. Our conference is therefore not only an academic event, but also a space for the cultivation of a community with shared values and a diversity of voices. It is a space where each researcher, at whatever point in their journey, can develop within a plural and supportive environment. In the spirit of Lev Vygotsky, we might say that to truly understand one another at this conference, we must go beyond each other's words to engage with each other's thoughts.

We are also honoured to highlight our keynote speakers, whose trajectories embody the kind of engaged scholarship we wish to promote. The first keynote is delivered by professor Sylvie Barma, from Université Laval in Québec, recipient of the Raymond Gervais Prize for excellence and academic trajectory in science and technology education, and currently counselor to the Ministry of Education in Québec. The second keynote is delivered by professor Katerina Plakitsi, from the University of Ioannina in Greece, former ISCAR President (2017–2024), elected board member of the University of Ioannina, and Director of an international master's programme on One Health Education for Global Sustainability developed in collaboration with George Mason University and the University of Florida. We thank both Professors Barma and Plakitsi for accepting to join us as keynote speakers and for inspiring our reflections on equity, peace, and sustainability.

This conference is a collective achievement, and we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all those who have contributed to making it possible. From the Faculty of Education at UIC, we wish to thank: Enric Vidal, Dean of the Faculty of Education, Sergio Cruz, manager of the Faculty of Education, Marta Teruel,
secretary, Patricia Díaz, Maria Domingo-Coscollola, Marc Grau, and Monica Fernández for their valuable advice, Alex Sánchez for communication, Cris de las Heras for web design, and Eric for technical support. From ISCAR SEWA, we extend special thanks to Professor Katerina Plakitsi and Caroline Duret for their continuous guidance and support. From the ISCAR Executive Board, we give special thanks to Brett Bligh and Professor Annalisa Sannino for their trust, encouragement, and collaboration.

We are also deeply grateful to the research and support team whose work has facilitated the organisation of this event: Thomas Frøsig, Saint-Clair Lefevre, Guillermo Pech, Joseba Cejudo, Sara Cebollada, Amaia Uzategui, Oksana Strutynska, Chengcheng Li, Guillaume Isaac, and Patricia Díaz. Their efforts in coordination, communication, and participant support have been essential to this conference.

Let us now share some organisational and logistical information to help you navigate the next days:

* Wi-Fi access: The Wi-Fi network is “UIC”, and the password is “Connectat.”. Beyond its practical purpose, “Connectat” (to be connected) resonates with the spirit of this event. It symbolises the human, intellectual, and social connections that we hope will flourish here: between disciplines, institutions, regions, and people. We invite you to keep this idea of connection in mind throughout the conference.

* Programme and sessions: All essential information about sessions, rooms, and times is available in the programme via the EasyChair Smart Program for ISCAR2025BCN : https://easychair.org/smart-program/ISCAR2025BCN/. Please consult it regularly for any updates and to orient yourself within the scientific programme.

* WhatsApp group: A conference WhatsApp group has been created to facilitate communication among participants and to provide quick updates. The link is provided in the conference materials.

* Photo album and image policy: A shared online album has been set up so that participants can upload and view photographs from the conference. The link is included in your materials. If you prefer not to appear in photographs, please indicate this at registration. You will be given an orange dot on your badge. We kindly ask all participants taking photos to be attentive and avoid photographing individuals wearing an orange dot.

* Sustainability and campus facilities: In line with our commitment to sustainability, we encourage you to use refillable water bottles. There are watering stations at different locations around the campus where you can refill your bottle during the day.

* Gala Dinner: For those who have registered, the Gala Dinner will take place on Thursday at 19:30. The walk from UIC to the venue is approximately seven minutes, and we will depart collectively from UIC at 19:10. Dietary constraints have been taken into account (two participants have indicated specific dietary needs), and the venue has been informed accordingly.

Throughout the conference, we invite you to engage in the spirit of #ISCAR2025BCN: to connect, to collaborate, and to co-construct knowledge oriented towards equity, peace, and sustainability. May these days be an opportunity not only to present and discuss research, but also to nurture a scholarly community that is critical, caring, and committed.

We thank you warmly for being here and for contributing your time, your work, and your perspectives to the ISCAR SEWA community. We wish you a stimulating, collegial, and memorable conference.

Margarida Romero (#ISCAR2025BCN Chair) and Enric Vidal, Dean, Faculty of Education, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
# CHAT Scholarship in Times of Malignant Normality

Annalisa Sannino¹

¹ RESET, Tampere University, Finland, [annalisa.sannino@tuni.fi](mailto:annalisa.sannino@tuni.fi)

It is a precious opportunity for the International Society for Cultural-historical Activity Research (ISCAR) to have the Conference of its Southern Europe and Middle East (SEME) Region taking place in Spain. It is of great historical significance that this SEME conference is taking place specifically in Spain. This is because of the role scholars from Spain have played in the establishment of ISCAR in the first place. As it is known to many acquainted with ISCAR pre-history, the predecessor of this organization was called ISCRAT (International Society for Cultural Research on Activity Theory) established in 1986. As the ISCAR webpage reads:

> "By the end of 1990s, it became clear that ISCRAT shared similar concerns and drew from some of the same theoretical sources as the Society for Sociocultural Studies (SSCS). Many scholars were actively participating in both the ISCAR and SSCS congresses and recognized that their efforts were both overlapping and complementary. During an ISCRAT Executive Committee meeting in Amsterdam in 1999, Pablo del Río gave a presentation of the history of the Society of Sociocultural Studies (SSCS) and proposed the ISCRAT and SSCS congresses to be unified." (https://iscar.org/pages/prehistory-and-history).

In connection with this historical note, it is also of significance that this SEME conference is taking place in 2025. This year marks the 30th anniversary of a publication that in many ways conveys key aspects of the pre-history and history of ISCAR as well as its deep interdisciplinary, internationalist and multilateral ethos. In 1995 James V. Wertsch, Pablo del Río and Amelia Alvarez published the edited volume Sociocultural Studies of Mind with Cambridge University Press. This milestone publication includes chapters from Jean-Paul Bronckart, Université de Genève, David R. Olson, from Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Tadanobu Tsunoda from Tokyo Medical and Dental University; Barbara Rogoff, University of California; Ana Luiza B. Smolka, Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil, Vladimir P. Zinchenko, from Moscow Institute of Engineering, Electronics, and Automation. When this publication appeared, Pablo Del Río was working at Universidad de Salamanca and Amelia Alvarez was representing the Fundacion Infancia y Aprendizaje.

The book posits the foundational argument in cultural-historical activity research that mental functioning is tightly intertwined with the cultural, historical and institutional contexts in which human beings are born, grow up and develop. Bridging socio-cultural psychology, cognitive science, philosophy and cultural anthropology, this volume wove together three threads that remain to date cornerstones of the fields of scholarship represented in ISCAR:

1. The contexts in which human beings operate shape their minds by means of the cultural tools they put into use.

2. Processes of mediation enable the tracing of how the shaping of the mind takes place.

3. The influence of cultural tools in the shaping of the mind and the world can be understood by looking at human action as a unit of analysis.
The editors of the book open the introductory chapter with a sentence that probably resonates with what the participants in this conference have thought when reading about the theme of this event: “Perhaps it is the fate of every generation to believe it experiences a period of crisis, or at least rapid social change.” (p.1) Wertsch, del Río and Alvarez refer in this chapter to the impact on the mind of major crises such as World War I and the Great Depression, reminding us that the cultural and psychological dimensions of great social crises are as central to understanding such events as are economic and political dimensions. The chapter also characterizes the circumstances at the time the book was written in terms which are still valid today:

> "Instead of bringing the prosperity and tranquility expected by many, the end of the Cold War has unleashed a host of major social and political forces that are changing our lives in ways few had anticipated: The forces of globalization have accelerated in a variety of arenas such as finance, economic production, and communication, while simultaneously and somewhat paradoxically, new forces of localism, especially in the form of nationalism, have emerged with their attendant and often brutal consequences" (p.1).

Since the publication of this book much has changed in the world and much remains the same. Despite having the technology, knowledge and resources to ensure the flourishing of each human being and living being on our planet, we still see too much violence and too many wars raging in many parts of the world.

> "It has become blatant that business as usual reflects systemic dysfunctions that threaten the very existence of life on our planet, along with the rule of international law and the protection of basic human rights" (Nordic Baltic ISCAR, 2025, p.4).

It is hopeful and at the same time moving to see many human rights activists, including Ada Colau i Ballano, former Mayor of Barcelona, who stand up with determination to do their part in the face of atrocious violence we are seeing in many parts of the world and in particular in Gaza. Many times in history people felt that they had to take risks to confront injustice and oppression, and lost their lives so that current and future generations may one day be allowed to flourish in supportive civil societies regardless of their skin color, religion, gender or socio-economic status.

The theme of this conference tells clearly what this event sets out to accomplish: taking steps “Towards Equity, Peace and Sustainability in time of Crisis.” Today humanity is at a crossroads due to the climate crisis, persistent extractivism and colonial continuity, as well as radical increase in polarization and militarization which exacerbate racism, inequity and risks of a nuclear winter. Following Wertsch, del Río and Alvarez and the authors of their edited book, we could ask ourselves what the global crises from the past, having led to today’s global crises, mean for the mind, and how this historical heritage informs human actions in everyday activities as well as prospects for the future.

In the following, I wish to address these questions by mobilizing a conceptual framework which is at the core of my own research, that is, the framework of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT). I will do so by engaging in a dialogue with a major intellectual of our time, Robert Jay Lifton. He was a psychiatrist and proponent of the transdisciplinary perspective of psychohistory (Lifton & Strozier, 1984). He is primarily known for his studies of the psychological dynamics of exposure to mass violence and the roles professionals in medicine and psychology have played in enabling some of the darkest atrocities in history (Lifton, 1986).

The relevance of Lifton's scholarship in dialogue with CHAT in the context of the opening of this conference pertains to the centrality of human activities in moving toward equity, peace and sustainability. In the following, I will first offer a brief overview of some of Lifton's key ideas. After that, I discuss parallels between Lifton's work and CHAT. Finally, I return to the questions raised above, sketching some tentative answers. The main argument is that a focus on the history and development of human activities is inherently generative of a future
of equity, peace and sustainability. This is because activities hold the power of maintaining business as usual or nourishing alternatives to destructive capitalism. As actors in systems of activity, practitioners and professionals along with researchers have key roles to play to transform educational and work activities in ways that foster, or at least allow, movement toward equity, peace and sustainability.

## Lifton's legacy

In the past decade, Lifton was very vocal on the absurdity of human (in)action in the face of the realistic prospect of the demise of human civilization as we know it by the end of this century. Lifton's work on the threat posed by both nuclear weapons and climate change led to the conclusion that to avert annihilation, humanity must become able to alter the normality it lives in. He referred to this as a particular kind of formed awareness, that is, an understanding of the root causes of nuclearism (Lifton, 1980) and climate denial (2017b) and of the role everyone can play to break away from them. He coined the notion of “malignant normality” (Lifton, 2017a) to indicate the carrying on of business as usual, for instance by continuing extracting coal, oil, and natural gas, despite knowing very well that curbing global warming necessitates discontinuing the extraction and use of fossil fuels (Lifton, 2017b).

Some of Lifton's famous studies examine the perspective of professionals descending into darkness by enabling and contributing to the horrors of the holocaust, Hiroshima, and the Vietnam War. He studied Nazi doctors assigned to Auschwitz to carry out selections for the gas chamber (Lifton, 1986), showing that the doctors generally adapted to carrying out these tasks which required them to kill rather than heal. In other words, Lifton's works show how naturally it can happen that institutions succeed in making professionals act in ways that are the opposite of what they are meant to do. These, according to Lifton, are actions that contribute to the normalization of malignant endeavors. He established parallels with the conduct of Nazi doctors and psychologists operating under the auspices of the American Psychological Association to design torture in prisons and detention centers (Peltz, 2008).

His studies are a call to practitioners and professionals to give themselves the necessary instruments to grasp what their work is used for and to draw the line when it turns out that it is serving unethical, inequitable and destructive ends. He saw himself as “a witnessing professional” giving formal testimony of these historical events and their psychological meaning in his studies with doctors and survivors (Lifton, 2011). To define his scholarly journey, he often used the verse from Theodore Huebner Roethke's poem (1966): “In a dark time, the eye begins to see.”

Lifton's interviews with veterans of the Vietnam war revealed that military psychiatrists routinely supported soldiers, who were experiencing anxiety and felt morally challenged by the events they were part of, to return to their duties, thus further enabling and enhancing the ongoing horrors (Lifton, 1975). He claims that professionals might be molded into the structure of military medical activities to the point of becoming part of “atrocity-producing situations” (2004). Malignant normalizing of inequity, violence and destruction is the result of human ability and at the same time vulnerability to adapt to immediate circumstances:

> "When Nazi Doctors did what they did, and when nuclear physicists involved in weapon making and others involved in weapon strategy do what they do, they are adapting to an immediate environment and to an immediate national ethos. But that adaptation is maladaptive to the larger future; immediate adaptation to genocidal potential threatens the overall human adaptation" (p. 28).

Something evil can slowly but surely become the norm to the point that entire societies adapt to it. This comes out quite vividly in my own work on homelessness - a phenomenon many countries seem to have adjusted to as a form of malignant normality “impossible to overcome.” Phenomena as unjust and unequal as homelessness
may become the normality of everyday life because we humans are a highly adaptive species. But if evolutionary adaptation is a strength, it also makes us vulnerable. Adapting to immediate circumstances may lead us to get habituated to normalized injustice, violence, and destruction, as well as undermine broader necessities, pertaining to the survival of our own and other species. General policies and ethical rules of conduct usually do not identify specific social and political circumstances; thus, individual professionals and practitioners can easily become instruments of malignant normalization.

## Lifton's work through CHAT lenses

The brief overview of some of Lifton's key ideas enables discussing parallels between his work and CHAT, and how the conclusions he reached in his work may transfer to our domain of scholarship within ISCAR. First and foremost, Lifton's work reminds us how central human activities are in moving toward equity, peace and sustainability, as well as in taking opposite directions through the work that practitioners and professionals do within these activities.

Lifton's view on the absurdity of human (in)action in the face of the realistic prospect of the demise of human civilization is a manifestation of possibly the most acute contradiction of human existence today, that is the clash between sticking to our normalized ways of living and the awareness of the necessity of acting otherwise (Sannino, in press). When Lifton discusses the threats posed by nuclear weapons and climate change, his conclusion that humanity must become able to alter the normality it lives in aptly resonates with CHAT understanding that change requires breaking out from consolidated patterns of activity (Engeström, 1996).

Lifton's reference to the need to nourish a formed awareness of root causes that takes a long-term and broad systemic perspective, different from the common fragmented one, about the role everyone can play to break through malignant normality, can be also interpreted through CHAT lenses. It can be seen as an invitation to invest in a dialectical understanding of human actions as part of systems of relations in constant flux, stemming from and contributing to history - for the good and for the bad. CHAT might also interpret Lifton's explanation of adaptation to malignant normality as the common tendency to remain merely at the level of actions, neglecting the systemic activity-level links that influence these actions and that these actions can in turn influence.

In CHAT the alienating process of disconnect between actions of production and the overall system of production and its object of activity is almost a truism. Charlie Chaplin's 1936 film Modern Times vividly depicts the dehumanizing effects of a sole focus on actions and operations. Ever since Leont'ev's (1978) classic example of the primeval hunt, CHAT scholarship has emphasized that when detached from the historical and systemic dynamics of activity, the actions of individuals are likely to be subject to instrumentalization. Through CHAT lenses, it is therefore not surprising that institutions may more or less consciously create circumstances in which the actions of professionals may turn out to be the opposite of what they are meant to be in the first place. In other words, while Lifton's work is a call to practitioners and professionals to give themselves the necessary instruments to grasp what their work is used for and to draw the line when it turns out that it is serving unethical, inequitable and destructive ends, CHAT offers some of these critical conceptual instruments to practitioners and professionals.

By focusing on the historical development of activities and on their systemic nature, the activity system as CHAT's foundational unit of analysis can be a potent resource for practitioners and professionals, as well as for researchers, to transcend the limitations of action-bound normalization of local circumstances. If grasped as part of historically evolving systems of activity, human actions may become less vulnerable to the normalization of malignant pursuits. Human activities disclose their true potential as inherently generative entities for equity, peace and sustainability when professionals realize the role these activities play in maintaining destructive capitalism, or creating meaningful alternatives to it.
## Toward tentative answers

Earlier in this essay, following Wertsch, del Río and Alvarez (1995), I raised the following questions:

-What do the global crises from the past, having led to today's global crises, mean for the mind?

-How does the historical heritage of these cumulating crises inform human actions in everyday activities, as well as prospects for the future?

In the light of Lifton's studies of humanity's descent into darkness and the parallels drawn between his work and CHAT, two tentative answers may be sketched in response to these questions. First of all, the history of inequity, violence and destruction shows that the mind can be adaptive and resilient, but also in ways that are harmful to others, to our own species and to the world ecosystems. Secondly, the sustainable development of human activities by initiatives of individuals and collectives requires a strong sense of history and of the difference individual and collective actions can make in the broad and long-term perspective of systems of activity.

## References

Engeström, Y. (1996). Development as breaking away and opening up: A challenge to Vygotsky and Piaget. *Swiss Journal of Psychology, 55*, 126-132.

Leont'ev, A. (1978). *Activity, consciousness, and personality*. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Lifton, R. J. (1975). The postwar war. *Journal of Social Issues, 31*(4), 181-195.

Lifton, R. J. (1980). Nuclearism. *Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 9*(2), 119-124.

Lifton, R. J. (1986). *The Nazi doctors: Medical killing and the psychology of genocide*. New York: Basic Books.

Lifton, R. J. (1992). From a genocidal mentality to a species mentality. In S. Staub & P. Green (Eds.), *Psychology and social responsibility: Facing global challenges* (pp.17-29). New York: New York University Press.

Lifton, R. J. (2004). Doctors and torture. *New England Journal of Medicine, 351*(5), 415-416.

Lifton, R. J. (2011). *Witness to an extreme century: A memoir*. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Lifton, R. J. (2017a). Malignant normality. *Dissent, 64*(2), 166-170.

Lifton, R. J. (2017b). *The climate swerve: Reflections on mind, hope, and survival*. New York: The New Press.

Lifton, R. J., & Strozier, C. B. (1984). Psychology and history. In Marc H. Bornstein (Ed.), *Psychology and its allied disciplines: Psychology and the social sciences*. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Nordic Baltic ISCAR Conference (2025). Welcome to the Nordic Baltic ISCAR Conference 2025. In M. Hattinger, H. Vallo Hult, E. Forsgren & U. Lundh Snis (Eds.), *Book of abstracts*. https://hv.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1968694/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Peltz, R. (2008). Learning from history: an interview with Robert Jay Lifton. *Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 18*(5), 710-734.

Roethke, T. H. (1966). *Roethke: Collected poems*. New York: Doubleday.

Sannino, A. (in press). *Collective will for change: A practical theory of transformative agency*. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wertsch, J. V., del Río, P., & Alvarez, A. (Eds.). (1995). *Sociocultural studies of mind*. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
# Going beyond the wall: moving from a comfort zone to an expansive and unexpected journey in education

Sylvie Barma¹

¹ Université Laval, Canada, sylvie.barma@fse.ulaval.ca

My journey with Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) goes back to my doctoral studies, when I started reflecting on the limits of traditional science teaching as most of us have experienced it. One theme that is present in my work is that of trajectory, whether personal or professional. Trained in pure science and having worked in science laboratories, or in the field, with civil servants as an undergraduate student, I became a biology, chemistry, and physics teacher engaged in the reproduction of empirico-realistic experiments with high school students.

I was rapidly unsatisfied and understood the importance of going beyond disciplinary teaching. This led me to question my own professional and epistemological trajectory, and I became interested in interdisciplinarity and the relevance of gathering a much wider number of actors to give meaning to the classes under my responsibility. I abandoned textbooks and lab protocols, got involved with sociosensitive issues in my community (especially concerning the use of pesticides in the environment), and dove into the unknown. My teaching approaches clashed with some colleagues, and I was recruited by the Ministry of Education in the early 2000s to help implement a new science curriculum in Quebec.

In parallel, I decided to engage in graduate studies, and my attempts to de-encapsulate science teaching materialized in my doctoral thesis, where I used CHAT and Expansive Learning to document how a science teacher innovated and collaborated with others and experts to go beyond her school.

As an academic, I was able to gather a great number of participants — students, principals, teachers, special education teachers, parents, and others — over a long period of time as my team and I investigated teachers’ resistance to implementing a new curriculum, how climate change was taught in classrooms, the impact of the legalization of cannabis in Canada on high school students, and more.

In my keynote, I present the theoretical and methodological challenges I faced as I progressed through my research activities. Starting with descriptive research, where I did not ask so much “why” but rather “what” and “how,” I rapidly faced conflicting motives — such as focusing on individual participants as they experienced new teaching instruments to modify mediators (rules, division of labour, community) versus aiming at more participation and collaboration. Then, engaging in developmental work research and the need for de-encapsulation, I faced issues like feeling out of control with data analysis while doing CHAT in the field and learning to accept that time and money are important elements to sustain transformative practices.

Doing CHAT “in the wild” and adopting the Change Laboratory methodology, I engaged in formative intervention methods for developing work activities with practitioners in contexts such as the legalization of cannabis in Canada and hand hygiene in emergency rooms during COVID-19. Finally, for the last five years, I
acted as a political advisor to the Minister of Education. Those years were as challenging as interesting as I
 gained the power to influence political actors.

In a nutshell, I will discuss with the audience how to address the analysis of years of data collected and how to reconstruct a multilevel and experiential expansive trajectory in the field. I am especially thinking about young researchers as they start their own journey and already feel lost in translation. My work has led me to focus on the importance of emotions in the form of conflicting motives as key in the double stimulation process. I have documented how focusing on individual and collective conflicts of motives and joint agency helps to understand why and how participants engage in the expansive resolution of conflicts of motives to collectively progress and expand the borders of their joint activity.

When it comes to documenting expansion, my conclusions point to the importance of having enough time and money to de-capsulate educational settings when historical and cultural aspects are taken into account and reconceptualized. Even if conflicts of motives start with the individual, they rapidly reach a collective layer to be resolved, leading to the definition of a boundary zone where a new form of practice emerges. The expansive resolution of conflicts of motives goes beyond the individual and scales up to collective transformation. The question of sustainability, on the other hand, is another kettle of fish and hopefully, will be addressed by younger generations to make sure that we indeed go beyond that wall of comfort that makes all of us so secure most of the time.
Keynote

# Expanding Science Education: A Living Lab Cycle
Integrating One Health, Equity, and Sustainability

Katerina Plakitsi¹

¹ University of Ioannina, Greece, [kplakits@uoi.gr](mailto:kplakits@uoi.gr)

This keynote charts the developmental journey of the living lab at the University of Ioannina, Greece, examining how key milestones and crises have shaped its trajectory. It begins with a fundamental inquiry into transforming early-years science education—an inquiry that evolved into a shared goal among communities of practice. In response to successive crises, both the tools employed and the frameworks of activity were reconfigured.

To meet these challenges, we have developed a model named SCOPES, which extends traditional science education through an integrated approach drawing on psychology, sociology, and the One Health paradigm. SCOPES aims to promote sustainability, peace, and inclusion by linking human, environmental, and social well-being, and scaling from local initiatives to European and global collaboration. As the model is being implemented, emerging tools continue to refine its practice, giving rise to new questions and research directions.

In this presentation, we share not only outcomes but also methodology, reflections, and practical lessons. We will try to address systems for adapting education in crisis, strategies for interdisciplinary collaboration, and how One Health education can contribute to global sustainability. The talk is grounded in real practice and open to dialogue across scientific disciplines.

## References

Plakitsi, K., Barma, S. (2024). *Sociocultural Approaches to STEM Education. An ISCAR International Collective Issue*. SERIES: Sociocultural Explorations of Science Education. Series editor: Catherine Milne, New York University. Authors from Canada, Brazil, India, Greece, Denmark, Australia, France, Spain. Springer Nature.

Roth, W.-M., Goulart, M.I.M., Plakitsi, K. (2013). *Science Education during Preschool Years. A Cultural-Historical Approach*. SERIES: Cultural Studies of Science Education. Series editor: Kenneth Tobin, City University of New York, USA, and Catherine Milne, New York University. Authors from Canada, Brazil and Greece. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

Plakitsi, K. (Ed.) (2013). *Activity Theory in Formal and Informal Science Education*. Series: Cultural perspectives in science education: research dialogs. Series editor: Kenneth Tobin, City University of New York, USA, and Catherine Milne, New York University. Editor and Co-authors: ATFISE group of the University of Ioannina (K. Plakitsi and PhD students) p. 252. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
<figure><img src="image_30.png" /></figure>

Proceedings

ISCAR Southern Europe and West Asia
Conference 2025

*Towards Equity, Peace and Sustainability*
*in Times of Crisis*

Hosted by Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona), Spain

Proceedings edited by Margarida Romero

<figure><img src="image_31.png" /></figure>
Author Index

Albareda-Tiana Silvia, 102, 103

Albayrak Ebru, 76-79

Anastasakis Marinos, 16–18, 84–86

Angles Barbastro Rosana, 44–47

Ayaşlı Baştuğ Hava, 76–79

Barma Sylvie, 58–61, 180, 181

Barras Alessio, 125–129

Bationo-Tillon Anne, 13–15, 87–89

Başkurt Irfan, 76–79

Bembich Caterina, 9–12

Benitez Priscila, 48–50

Biazim Miriana, 48–50

Bligh Brett, 107–110

Bonometti Stefano, 73–75

Borgkvist Ashlee, 37–40

Bourmaud Gaëtan, 13–15

Bussi Eliana, 121–124

Cadei Livia, 73–75

Caron Josianne, 164–169

Cinque Maria, 97–101

Cuvelier Lucie, 13–15

Côté Anne-Sophie, 164–169

Dafermakis Manolis, 19–21

Dafermos Manolis, 16–18, 84–86

De La Mata-Benítez Manuel L., 148–152

Del Villar Toribio Cristina, 148–152

Di Masi Diego, 153–157

Diaz Badra Patricia, 170–172

Domeniconi Camila, 48–50

Domingo-Coscollola Maria, 41–43

Duret Caroline, 62–67

Efthimiou George, 54–57

Emre Baştuğ Yunus, 76–79

Epstein Muriel, 80–83

Español Alicia, 148–152

Estrada Bascuñana Carolina, 170–172

Fernandez Morilla Mónica, 102, 103

Fernández Ramos Maria Yolanda, 102, 103

Ferri Giovanni, 97–101

Ferri Letizia, 73–75

Fick Fabíola, 44–47

Fragkiadaki Glykeria, 31–36

Frasca Matthieu, 44–47

Frøsig Thomas B., 2–5

Gallon Ray, 138–143

Garcia Marta, 44–47

García-González Esther, 102, 103

Gatti Flora, 104–106

Gonthier Marie-Ève, 90–93

González Palau Fátima, 44–47

Goulet Marie-Josée, 90–93

Grange Zoé, 44–47

Grau Grau Marc, 37–40

Grosttephan Vincent, 13–15

Guevara María Teresa, 80–83

Guibourdenche Julien, 87–89

Hidalgo García María Isabel, 44–47

Hopcan Sinan, 76–79

Isaac Guillaume, 80–83

Jiménez Galán Beatriz, 44–47

Jolicoeur Edith, 90–93

Jornet Alfredo, 121–124

Julien-Gauthier Francine, 90–93

Kalmpourtzis George, 44–47

Karlow Egil, 51–53

Kartika Sari Lufi, 80–83

Kolokouri Eleni, 22–25

Kornelaki Athina Christina, 22–25

Laplaud Ambre, 44–47

Lefèvre Saint-Clair, 44–47

Livia Alga Maria, 153–157

Lojo-Ballesta María, 148–152

Lorenzo Neus, 138–143

Luís Michael, 44–47

Lázaro Cantabrana José Luis, 94–96

Lémonie Yannick, 13–15

López-Múgica Montserrat, 102, 103

Marano Biagio, 104–106

Marqués Diana, 44–47
Martino Elena, 97–101

Matías-García José Antonio, 148–152

Miles Rob, 117–120

Molero Aranda Tania, 94–96

Moscaritolo Alice, 80–83

Nisma Wulanjani Arum, 158–161

Onsès-Segarra Judit, 41–43

Oyesola Oluwakemi, 44–47

Pech Torres Guillermo Emmanuel, 144–147

Plakitsi Katerina, 22–25, 54–57, 84–86, 130–134, 182

Podara Anna, 44–47

Polat Elif, 76–79

Pollet Lucie, 44–47

Procentese Fortuna, 104–106

Ravanis Konstantinos, 35, 36

Real Christophe, 13–15

Romero Margarida, 2–8, 135–137, 170–174, 183

Ruel Julie, 90–93

Sannino Annalisa, 175–179

Santiago-Tescari Carmen, 26–30

Serrelli Emanuele, 73–75

Sierra Carles, 162, 163

Simon Terry, 44–47

Sità Chiara, 153–157

Soler-Campo Sandra, 41–43

Solís-Espallargas Carmen, 102, 103

Song Yurou, 111–116

Sorzio Paolo, 9–12

Stavropoulou Eleni, 31–34

Sıbıç Simge Cepdibi, 76–79

Tabacchi Alessia, 73–75

Topoliati Maria, 130–134

Tsolaki Ifigeneia, 44–47

Turcotte Jessy, 58–61

Vidal Enric, 6–8, 173, 174

Vilar Raúl López, 94–96

Vrysis Dimitrios, 44–47

Vrysis Lazaros, 44–47

Zahedi Mithra, 68–72

Zurbanobeaskoetxea Lourdes, 44–47

Örs Esra, 76–79