The Activity Theory is an analytical framework (according to the author it is not a theory per se, but an extension of Vygotskys

sociocultural theory). Activity theory maps the social influences and interactions that are involved in human activity. An activity theoretical perspective attempts to construct a holistic view of human activities as well as human agency within these activities. The power of activity theory as an analytical framework, as stated by the authors, resides in the fact that it allows individuals to capture how each component in the activity system influences the other (directly or indirectly) while capturing the situated activity system as a whole. The subject: the individual or group whose agency is selected as the point of view in the analysis The object: the problem space at which these activities are directed and that object is continuously molded and transformed into an outcome that is shaped by a host of mediating artifacts (both physical and symbolic). The community, within this activity system, can consist of teachers, students, and mentor teachers. In any community there exists a division of labor determining who does what, how activities get done, and who holds power or status. Likewise, how things get done is shaped by rules: both explicit and implicit norms and conventions that place certain limits as well as possibilities on the nature of interaction within the activity system An activity system contains the results of all previous activity system that have influenced it. Thus, the concept of sociocultural theory is an important explanatory tool for understanding any activity system. The concepts of contradictions, which are prevalent in teachers professional worlds, are also cited. They are divided in four levels, namely primary contradictions (a conflict that occurs within each component of an activity system), secondary contradictions (which are found between the components of a human activity system), tertiary contradictions (that arise when another activity system which is culturally more advanced prescribes a new objective for another activity system), and finally quaternary contradictions (which occur between a central activity system and its neighbor activities).