This volume is based on three years of teaching experiments with a group of primary school students as they progressed from the 3rd to the 5th class (ages 9 to 12). Whereas traditional pedagogical approaches focus on the nature of the subject matter being taught, Hedegaard assumes that any teaching program ought to incorporate children's everyday concepts and motivations. She relates this 'double move' in teaching to situated learning and teaching and subsequently presents principles for putting the approach into practice.A second and more subtle aim of the experiments is to promote developmental learning, rather than mere subject mastery. Special attention is paid to the ways children transform and develop concepts, learn modes of thinking and adopt motivations.While the first half of the book is theoretical, seeking to conceptualise the experiments in a culturo-historical framework, the second half is practical in design. It presents and dissects a teaching example from history, as well as three extended case studies of individual students in orientation, an interdisciplinary subject that embraces biology, geography and history.This study will be a valuable resource for anyone trying to optimise children's learning, including primary teachers, school administrators, child psychologists and parents.

Mariane Hedegaard is associate professor in Educational Psychology at the University of Aarhus and president of the International Society for Cultural Research and Activity Theory, ISCRAT.