Origin and development of the Funds of Knowledge approach: a path yet to be followed / Origen y desarrollo de la aproximación de los Fondos de Conocimiento. Un camino aún por recorrer

Abstract

The aim of this article is to contextualize the perspective of the Funds of Knowledge (FK), with particular attention to what we consider three substantial contributions made by Luis Moll. Namely: (1) the Vygotskian conceptualization of study groups involving researchers and teachers as a mediating social structure; (2) the importance of generating zones of proximal development understood as social processes of trust, collaboration and exchange; and (3) the understanding of FK as psychological tools, socially and culturally situated and distributed, which, when recognized and legitimized in educational contexts, serve to amplify, organize, sustain and regulate (mediate) learning processes. All of this is framed within the commitment and connection that Luis Moll consistently demonstrated between his thought, scholarship and life in relation to ‘ convivencia ’ (living together, coexistence). To this end, we trace the origin, development and current stage of internationalization of the FK approach, and finally describe and illustrate, through examples drawn from the contributions in this Special Issue, what we regard as five core principles, or guiding ideas, that have become consolidated over the course of this theoretical and practical approach.