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The principle of double stimulation is foundational within Cultural Historical Activity Theory. This paper illustrates an analysis of the model of double stimulation applied to a Change Laboratory in an Italian vocational school. Results show that the four phases relating to Apparatus 1 do not follow the model in strict order, nor do they become concentrated in single sessions. The analysis points at quantitative and qualitative differences of the four phases between the first block and the second block of sessions, with the sixth session acting as a boundary. publishedVersion

Double stimulation is currently acknowledged as a foundational issue in contemporarystudies, commentaries and interpretations of Vygotsky’s work.This paper sheds light on how double stimulation works outside experimentalsettings. While many authors have advocated for double stimulation asone of the epistemic principles characterising formative intervention, noscholar has tried so far to interrogate this relationship with a detailed analysisof the transcripts of the workshops. This paper applies Sannino’s model of double stimulation to formative interventions and tests it to a specificChange Laboratory with in-service teachers. The analyses of the transcriptsat the level of the workshops shows the presence of all the four phases ofthe double stimulation model. Moreover, the findings support the theory ofexpansive learning that formative interventions are based on.