Cultural-historical activity theory(CHAT) takes a collective, artifact-mediated and object-oriented activity system as the prime unit of analysis. Subject, object, artifacts, rule, community, and division of labor are the six elements of an activity s...
Cultural-historical activity theory(CHAT) takes a collective, artifact-mediated and object-oriented activity system as the prime unit of analysis. Subject, object, artifacts, rule, community, and division of labor are the six elements of an activity system. The modes of relations or contradictions between these elements, within an activity system or between interacting activity systems, are central to identifying the problems arising from the activity and seeking transformation. In this paper, we described and analyzed through the lens of activity system classroom innovations at a middle school, in its first year phase of Innovative Schools Project in Seoul. Based on participant observation, we identified various elements of the activity system; mediating concepts and object, subject, artifacts, community, rules and division of labor. We then analyzed dilemmatic situations encountered during classroom instructions in terms of the contradictions between the existing classroom activity system and the new innovative system in their objectives, artifacts, community and division of labor.