Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction; 2. The emergence of learning activity as a historical form of human learning; 3. The zone of proximal development as the basic category of expansive research; 4. The instruments of expansion; 5. Toward an expansive methodology; 6. Epilogue.

"First published in 1987, Learning by Expanding challenges traditional theories that consider learning a process of acquisition and reorganization of cognitive structures within the closed boundaries of specific tasks or problems. Yrjö Engeström argues that this type of learning increasingly fails to meet the challenges of complex social change and fails to create novel artifacts and ways of life. In response, he presents an innovative theory of expansive learning activity, offering a foundation for understanding and designing learning as a transformation of human activities and organizations. The second edition of this seminal text features a substantive new introduction that illustrates the development and implementation of Engeström's theory since its inception"--