Individual Cognitive Structuring and the Sociocultural Context: Strategy Shifts in the Game of Dominoes

Abstract

In this article, I explore the relation between the sociocultural and individual cognitive structuring as elementary school students, high school students, and adults play the strategic game of dominoes. I present data from a study in which players at each level were observed and video-recorded during domino tournament play. Findings reveal the cognitive and mathematical skills players developed as well as how those skills were fundamentally integrated with shifts in the activity structures of the game as players got older. Implications for understanding cognition and context and for teaching and learning are discussed.