Michael Cole

Michael Cole is University Professor of Communication, Psychology, and Human Development and director of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, both at the University of California, San Diego. He received his BA from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his PhD from Indiana University. He conducted postdoctoral research with Alexander Luria at Moscow State University. His subsequent research has focused on the role of culture in human development with a special emphasis on the role of education as a sociocultural institution. Cole is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Russian Academy of Education. In recent years his research has focused on learning and development in specially designed activities implemented in community settings after school. His publications include Cultural Psychology: A Once and Future Discipline, The Psychology of Literacy (with Sylvia Scribner), and The Development of Children (with Sheila Cole).