Annalisa Sannino
Biographic Data
| ID | 83804 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Annalisa Sannino |
| GIVEN NAMES | Annalisa |
| FAMILY NAME | Sannino |
| SIGNATURE | SANNINO A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Helsinki |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1470-3666 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 36 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 72 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 36 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
From contradictions to kinship: Expansive learning and concept formation in the wild
Introduction This article examines the Explorer Program, a culturally grounded credit-recovery pathway co-designed through the Indigenous Learning Lab at a rural high school in the United States. Grounded in Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and Indigenous relational epistemologies, the study investigates how historically produced contradictions in schooling, particularly between punitive disciplinary regimes and Indigenous kinship-based…
Forming a new concept of mentorship amidst contradictions: A change laboratory of initial teacher education
Mentorship plays pivotal roles in initial teacher education, setting significant challenges for heterogeneous communication. This article shows how concept formation based on participatory analyses of systemic contradictions in mentorship can contribute to transformation of initial teacher education. Using the Change Laboratory formative interventionist method, university staff, school staff and student teachers collectively analysed the contradi…
What Adolescents Find Engaging and Why the Content of Instruction Does Not Come Up: A Student-Centered Just Perspective on School Engagement
This study presents a new student-centered just perspective on school engagement in Finland. Using cultural-historical activity theory as a conceptual framework, it explores the views of adolescent students, school staff, and school partners through semistructured interviews ( n = 29) and thematic analyses asking what adolescents find engaging in school. The findings across the three interview groups show a limited emphasis on the official object…
Supporting transformative agency in initial teacher education: A Change Laboratory in China
Toward a diagnostic toolkit for intervention in teachers' agency during curriculum reform: Groundwork for a Change Laboratory in Vietnam
This study presents a diagnostic toolkit in support of teachers' agency during curriculum reform, potentially supported with a Change Laboratory intervention. The instrument was developed with a Vietnamese school undergoing an educational reform. Using cultural-historical activity theory core concepts, we examined the school's approach to its students, its orientation to overcome systemic contradictions, its engagement with expansive learning pro…
In Search of an Experiment: From Vygotsky to Lewin and Dembo and Back to the Future
Contradictions as an entry into inclusive systemic design: Addressing racial disparities in the discipline at an urban middle school
Digital peer learning for transformative professional agency: The case of homelessness practitioners in Finland
Digital lifelong learning and more specifically digital peer learning (DPL) can play a major role to foster transformative agency in professions and occupations which are critically positioned for responding to acute societal needs. Yet so far, no published studies seem to have focused on this. This article aims at filling this gap with the help of a study in which online workshops and web forums were created for supporting homelessness practitio…
From mediated actions to heterogenous coalitions: Four generations of activity-theoretical studies of work and learning
The article outlines four generations of theorizing and research on work and learning within the Finnish school of activity theory. The main focus of the paper is on the evolution of the unit of analysis through the four generations, from mediated action to a collective activity system, to multiple-interconnected activity systems, and most recently to heterogenous work coalitions aimed at resolving wicked societal problems. We examine how learnin…
Is ‘co’ in coworking a short for contradictions
Purpose Building on the existing literature and on a series of interviews conducted in very diverse coworking spaces, this article attempts at analyzing coworking by focusing on the historical evolution and heterogeneity of its interpretations, as well as the plurality of its realization in practice and prospective developments. Design/methodology/approach The theoretical framework adopted is Cultural Historical Activity Theory – a dialectical ap…
Transformative agency for justice: Addressing racial disparity of school discipline with the Indigenous Learning Lab
In the U.S. school systems, Native American students receive harsher and more frequent school discipline than White counterparts. Exclusionary discipline may result in adverse academic, social, and life outcomes. There is an urgent need for creating an inclusive, equity-oriented learning environment where Native American students’ identities, well-being, and dignity are promoted and nurtured. To develop a culturally responsive behavioral support …
Enacting the utopia of eradicating homelessness: Toward a new generation of activity-theoretical studies of learning
Eradicating homelessness is one of the most pressing challenges for efforts aimed at equity and social justice in the world. Many people who experience homelessness have histories of violence, growing up in child protection institutions, involvement in criminal activities, and mental and health problems connected with substance abuse. Homelessness is, therefore, a phenomenon which requires coherent and consistent cross-sectoral service integratio…
Testing the model of double stimulation in a Change Laboratory
The principle of double stimulation is foundational within Cultural Historical Activity Theory. This paper illustrates an analysis of the model of double stimulation applied to a Change Laboratory in an Italian vocational school. Results show that the four phases relating to Apparatus 1 do not follow the model in strict order, nor do they become concentrated in single sessions. The analysis points at quantitative and qualitative differences of th…
Cultural-historical activity theory: Founding insights and new challenges
The article presents central ideas and future challenges of cultural-historical activity theory, focusing specifically on the work of the so-called Helsinki school of activity theory. We first introduce the revolutionary roots of the theory in the works of Marx and Vygotsky, and the evolution of the unit of analysis through different generations of activity theory. We then discuss the foundational role of historicity and dialectics in activity th…
Counteracting the stigma of homelessness: The Finnish Housing First strategy as educational work
There is growing concern globally about homelessness in many affluent cities and the stigma attached to this phenomenon. The study focuses on the ways in which the Housing First strategy developed and implemented in Finland since 2008 is counteracting the stigma of homelessness by facilitating collective learning and agency formation. The study substantiates this conceptual argument with the help of examples from accounts by young people experien…
Formative Interventions for Expansive Learning and Transformative Agency
This article examines formative interventions as we understand them in cultural-historical activity theory and reflects on key differences between this intervention research tradition and design-based research as it is conceived in the learning sciences tradition. Three projects, including 2 Change Laboratories, are analyzed with the help of conceptual lenses derived from basic epistemological principles for intervention research in activity theo…
From controlled experiments to formative interventions in studies of agency: Methodological considerations
The article explores the possibility of developing a methodology for studying the emergence of agentive action experimentally. It discusses the limitations of classic experimental research and seeks a different perspective on the issue of control. The argument starts by reviewing how the concept of an experiment has been expanded throughout the years in social scientific research. Then new openings are considered toward experiments beyond the con…
Double Stimulation in the Waiting Experiment with Collectives: Testing a Vygotskian Model of the Emergence of Volitional Action
The principle of double stimulation: A path to volitional action
The emergence of transformative agency and double stimulation: Activity-based studies in the Vygotskian tradition
Double stimulation in the waiting experiment: Testing a Vygotskian model of the emergence of volitional action
Toward a Grammar of Collaboration
Inspired by Susan Leigh Star’s work, we propose a conceptual grammar for analyzing and comparing culturally and historically different kinds of collaboration. Drawing on cultural-historical activity theory and Bakhtin’s theorizing, the grammar is tested and concretized with the help of the macroscale case of different types of social movements and the microscale case of different types of collaboration in home care encounters. There is no direct …
Gendered hegemony and its contradictions among Finnish university physicists
This article addresses the issue of gender imbalance in Finnish universities in the domain of physics as a historical and dialectical phenomenon. Drawing from the Gramscian notion of hegemony and the activity-theoretical notion of contradiction, this paper analyses gendered hegemonic and contradictory forces steering physicists’ careers. This article argues that hegemony is to be seen as a historical and dialectical process rather as a status quo…
On the Methodological Demands of Formative Interventions
Bringing design-based research and activity-theoretical formative intervention research into dialogue is commendable. William R. Penuel contributes to this effort by examining two cases that he con
La volition et l’agentivité transformatrice: Perspective théorique de l’activité
Cet article traite de la formation de l’agentivité transformatrice au sein d’organisations, sous l’angle de la volonté et de l’action volontaire de la théorie de Vygotsky et du principe dialectique du mouvement ascendant de l’abstrait au concret comme point de départ. Le principe de la double stimulation de Vygotsky offre un cadre dans lequel les limites des conceptualisations de l’agentivité peuvent être outrepassées. Pour illustrer et examiner …
From Talk to Action: Experiencing Interlocution in Developmental Interventions
This article explores how to analyze and conceptualize the dynamics through which conversations in Change Laboratory research interventions lead to envisioning and implementing material changes in activities. Leont'ev's concept of personal sense is used as a theoretical lens for tracing these dynamics and to provide a means to relate local conversations to overall transformation of professional practices. In addition, the article tests the potent…
Teachers' talk of experiencing: Conflict, resistance and agency
Cultural-historical activity theory: Founding insights and new challenges
The article presents central ideas and future challenges of cultural-historical activity theory, focusing specifically on the work of the so-called Helsinki school of activity theory. We first introduce the revolutionary roots of the theory in the works of Marx and Vygotsky, and the evolution of the unit of analysis through different generations of activity theory. We then discuss the foundational role of historicity and dialectics in activity th…
Double Stimulation in the Waiting Experiment with Collectives: Testing a Vygotskian Model of the Emergence of Volitional Action
Transformative agency for justice: Addressing racial disparity of school discipline with the Indigenous Learning Lab
In the U.S. school systems, Native American students receive harsher and more frequent school discipline than White counterparts. Exclusionary discipline may result in adverse academic, social, and life outcomes. There is an urgent need for creating an inclusive, equity-oriented learning environment where Native American students’ identities, well-being, and dignity are promoted and nurtured. To develop a culturally responsive behavioral support …
Testing the model of double stimulation in a Change Laboratory
The principle of double stimulation is foundational within Cultural Historical Activity Theory. This paper illustrates an analysis of the model of double stimulation applied to a Change Laboratory in an Italian vocational school. Results show that the four phases relating to Apparatus 1 do not follow the model in strict order, nor do they become concentrated in single sessions. The analysis points at quantitative and qualitative differences of th…
From controlled experiments to formative interventions in studies of agency: Methodological considerations
The article explores the possibility of developing a methodology for studying the emergence of agentive action experimentally. It discusses the limitations of classic experimental research and seeks a different perspective on the issue of control. The argument starts by reviewing how the concept of an experiment has been expanded throughout the years in social scientific research. Then new openings are considered toward experiments beyond the con…
La volition et l’agentivité transformatrice: Perspective théorique de l’activité
Cet article traite de la formation de l’agentivité transformatrice au sein d’organisations, sous l’angle de la volonté et de l’action volontaire de la théorie de Vygotsky et du principe dialectique du mouvement ascendant de l’abstrait au concret comme point de départ. Le principe de la double stimulation de Vygotsky offre un cadre dans lequel les limites des conceptualisations de l’agentivité peuvent être outrepassées. Pour illustrer et examiner …
Analyzing discontinuous speech in EU conversations: A methodological proposal
Toward a diagnostic toolkit for intervention in teachers' agency during curriculum reform: Groundwork for a Change Laboratory in Vietnam
This study presents a diagnostic toolkit in support of teachers' agency during curriculum reform, potentially supported with a Change Laboratory intervention. The instrument was developed with a Vietnamese school undergoing an educational reform. Using cultural-historical activity theory core concepts, we examined the school's approach to its students, its orientation to overcome systemic contradictions, its engagement with expansive learning pro…
Counteracting the stigma of homelessness: The Finnish Housing First strategy as educational work
There is growing concern globally about homelessness in many affluent cities and the stigma attached to this phenomenon. The study focuses on the ways in which the Housing First strategy developed and implemented in Finland since 2008 is counteracting the stigma of homelessness by facilitating collective learning and agency formation. The study substantiates this conceptual argument with the help of examples from accounts by young people experien…
Experiencing Conversations: Bridging the Gap between Discourse and Activity
The article introduces the Vygotskian tradition in the realist theoretical discussion of the structure‐agency problem. Archer's concept of internal conversation is discussed in terms of internalization and externalization of conversational dynamics. The article addresses in particular the methodological issue of observing how external events trigger internal use of language, and how these internal dynamics are externalized. The experience of talk…
Gendered hegemony and its contradictions among Finnish university physicists
This article addresses the issue of gender imbalance in Finnish universities in the domain of physics as a historical and dialectical phenomenon. Drawing from the Gramscian notion of hegemony and the activity-theoretical notion of contradiction, this paper analyses gendered hegemonic and contradictory forces steering physicists’ careers. This article argues that hegemony is to be seen as a historical and dialectical process rather as a status quo…
Analyzing discontinuous speech in EU conversations: A methodological proposal
Experiencing Conversations: Bridging the Gap between Discourse and Activity
The article introduces the Vygotskian tradition in the realist theoretical discussion of the structure‐agency problem. Archer's concept of internal conversation is discussed in terms of internalization and externalization of conversational dynamics. The article addresses in particular the methodological issue of observing how external events trigger internal use of language, and how these internal dynamics are externalized. The experience of talk…
From Talk to Action: Experiencing Interlocution in Developmental Interventions
This article explores how to analyze and conceptualize the dynamics through which conversations in Change Laboratory research interventions lead to envisioning and implementing material changes in activities. Leont'ev's concept of personal sense is used as a theoretical lens for tracing these dynamics and to provide a means to relate local conversations to overall transformation of professional practices. In addition, the article tests the potent…
Teachers' talk of experiencing: Conflict, resistance and agency
Studies of expansive learning: Foundations, findings and future challenges
Discursive manifestations of contradictions in organizational change efforts: A methodological framework
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new methodological framework for the identification and analysis of different types of discursive manifestations of contradictions. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on the dialectical tradition of cultural‐historical activity theory. The methodological framework is developed by means of analyzing the entire transcribed corpus of the discourse conducted in a change laboratory interv…
Activity theory as an activist and interventionist theory
This article presents arguments used in current discussions on potential shortcomings of contemporary works within activity theory concerning subjectivity and the use of conceptual models such as the triangular representation of the activity system. It documents the history of activity theory as an activist and interventionist theory. It suggests that advances in activity theory depend on the ability of those within this framework to establish fr…
Cultural-historical activity theory and interventionist methodology: Classical legacy and contemporary developments
The article discusses the growing interest in cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) and its potential to promote change in work and educational practices through research interventions. Seeds for research interventions in CHAT are identified in the rich heritage of the works of Vygotsky and other classic authors. Particular attention is devoted to Vygotsky’s epistemic reasoning in “The Historical Meaning of the Crisis in Psychology” and to h…
Whatever happened to process theories of learning
Embodied Germ Cell at Work: Building an Expansive Concept of Physical Mobility in Home Care
This article presents a process of collective formation of a new concept of mobility between home care workers and their elderly clients, who are at risk of losing physical mobility and functional capacity. A new tool called mobility agreement was introduced to facilitate the inclusion of regular mobility exercises in home care visits and in the daily lives of the clients. Our analysis starts with an overview of those visits in 2008 and 2009. We …
Concept Formation in the Wild
In traditional studies of concept formation and conceptual change, the focus is usually on well-defined and stable concepts of natural sciences and mathematics. This is the domain of “formal concep
La volition et l’agentivité transformatrice: Perspective théorique de l’activité
Cet article traite de la formation de l’agentivité transformatrice au sein d’organisations, sous l’angle de la volonté et de l’action volontaire de la théorie de Vygotsky et du principe dialectique du mouvement ascendant de l’abstrait au concret comme point de départ. Le principe de la double stimulation de Vygotsky offre un cadre dans lequel les limites des conceptualisations de l’agentivité peuvent être outrepassées. Pour illustrer et examiner …
On the Methodological Demands of Formative Interventions
Bringing design-based research and activity-theoretical formative intervention research into dialogue is commendable. William R. Penuel contributes to this effort by examining two cases that he con
The principle of double stimulation: A path to volitional action
The emergence of transformative agency and double stimulation: Activity-based studies in the Vygotskian tradition
Double stimulation in the waiting experiment: Testing a Vygotskian model of the emergence of volitional action
Toward a Grammar of Collaboration
Inspired by Susan Leigh Star’s work, we propose a conceptual grammar for analyzing and comparing culturally and historically different kinds of collaboration. Drawing on cultural-historical activity theory and Bakhtin’s theorizing, the grammar is tested and concretized with the help of the macroscale case of different types of social movements and the microscale case of different types of collaboration in home care encounters. There is no direct …
Gendered hegemony and its contradictions among Finnish university physicists
This article addresses the issue of gender imbalance in Finnish universities in the domain of physics as a historical and dialectical phenomenon. Drawing from the Gramscian notion of hegemony and the activity-theoretical notion of contradiction, this paper analyses gendered hegemonic and contradictory forces steering physicists’ careers. This article argues that hegemony is to be seen as a historical and dialectical process rather as a status quo…
Formative Interventions for Expansive Learning and Transformative Agency
This article examines formative interventions as we understand them in cultural-historical activity theory and reflects on key differences between this intervention research tradition and design-based research as it is conceived in the learning sciences tradition. Three projects, including 2 Change Laboratories, are analyzed with the help of conceptual lenses derived from basic epistemological principles for intervention research in activity theo…
From controlled experiments to formative interventions in studies of agency: Methodological considerations
The article explores the possibility of developing a methodology for studying the emergence of agentive action experimentally. It discusses the limitations of classic experimental research and seeks a different perspective on the issue of control. The argument starts by reviewing how the concept of an experiment has been expanded throughout the years in social scientific research. Then new openings are considered toward experiments beyond the con…
Double Stimulation in the Waiting Experiment with Collectives: Testing a Vygotskian Model of the Emergence of Volitional Action
Cultural-historical activity theory: Founding insights and new challenges
The article presents central ideas and future challenges of cultural-historical activity theory, focusing specifically on the work of the so-called Helsinki school of activity theory. We first introduce the revolutionary roots of the theory in the works of Marx and Vygotsky, and the evolution of the unit of analysis through different generations of activity theory. We then discuss the foundational role of historicity and dialectics in activity th…
Counteracting the stigma of homelessness: The Finnish Housing First strategy as educational work
There is growing concern globally about homelessness in many affluent cities and the stigma attached to this phenomenon. The study focuses on the ways in which the Housing First strategy developed and implemented in Finland since 2008 is counteracting the stigma of homelessness by facilitating collective learning and agency formation. The study substantiates this conceptual argument with the help of examples from accounts by young people experien…
Enacting the utopia of eradicating homelessness: Toward a new generation of activity-theoretical studies of learning
Eradicating homelessness is one of the most pressing challenges for efforts aimed at equity and social justice in the world. Many people who experience homelessness have histories of violence, growing up in child protection institutions, involvement in criminal activities, and mental and health problems connected with substance abuse. Homelessness is, therefore, a phenomenon which requires coherent and consistent cross-sectoral service integratio…
Testing the model of double stimulation in a Change Laboratory
The principle of double stimulation is foundational within Cultural Historical Activity Theory. This paper illustrates an analysis of the model of double stimulation applied to a Change Laboratory in an Italian vocational school. Results show that the four phases relating to Apparatus 1 do not follow the model in strict order, nor do they become concentrated in single sessions. The analysis points at quantitative and qualitative differences of th…
Sociology (27 works) · Psychology (22 works) · Innovative Education and Learning Practices (21 works) · Epistemology (19 works) · Pedagogy (17 works) · Political science (15 works) · Computer Science (14 works) · Social science (13 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · Educational and Psychological Assessments (9 works)