Transcript Vygotsky-style Learning

Vygotsky-style Learning
Lev Semenovich Vygotsky
1896-1934
“…an essential feature of learning is that it creates the zone of
proximal development; that is, learning awakens a variety of
internal developmental processes that are able to operate only
when the child is interacting with people in his environment and
in cooperation with his peers.”
Vygotsky, L. (1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Psychological Processes.
Zone of Proximal
Development
The zone of proximal development is the distance between a
child’s “actual developmental level as determined by
independent problem solving” and the higher level of
“potential development as determined through problem
solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more
capable peers.”
Vygotsky, L. (1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Psychological Processes.
Stages of the ZPD
Zone of Proximal Development
Performance is
assisted by more
capable peers
Performance is
self-assisted
Performance is developed.
Assistance is disruptive.
Developed from R.G. Tharp and R. Gallimore (1988). Rousing minds to life (pp. 3-39).
Vygotsky-style Classrooms
“Activity Settings”
Activity settings
 Contexts in which collaborative interaction,
intersubjectivity, and assisted performance occur - in
which teaching occurs
not random
determined absolutely by restriction to the context of goaldirected action
 arise from the pressures and resources of the larger social
system of which the participants are a part
 can be used as a unit of analysis
 the who, what, when, where, and why - the small
recurrent dramas of everyday life - played on the stages
of home, school, community, and workplace
Who
People who can achieve the goal of an
action are determined by the goal and
the setting
makes for the maximum contribution of
each individual desirable to the entire
group
What
a description of the things that are done
a description of how they are done
operations
• Ex. Handling of the host during Communion
• Ex. “metacognitive” strategy of questioning that assists
the child to retrieve from memory the bits of information
needed to locate lost shoes
scripts
• Ex. Care and feeding of pets
• Ex. Classroom procedures
When
Activity settings are patterned in time,
cannot exist without time
they are driven by productive activity,
occur as often and for as long as the
product requires - when the product is
produced or the goal achieved, the
scheduled activity should end
Where
Activity settings must have a place to exist
best placed where the tools, the materials,
or the uses of the product dictate - where
the production can best occur
much truth in the adage that schools teach
no thing, but teach only how to talk about
things
Why
Can be described in terms of motivation
and meaning
goal for the activity setting usually provides
the motivational impetus
if not, contingency management
not identical for all members
organizational structures in the minds of
individuals and the cultural meaning of the
interaction [schemata]
Vygotsky-style Teaching
Therefore the only good kind of instruction is that which
marches ahead of development and leads it; it must be
aimed not so much at the ripe as at the ripening
functions. It remains necessary to determine the lowest
threshold at which instruction in, say, arithmetic may
begin, since a certain minimal ripeness of junctions is
required. But we must consider the upper threshold as
well; instruction must be orient toward the future, not
the past.”
Vygotsky, L. (1962) Thought and Language.
Good Teaching: a new definition
“Teaching consists in assisting performance through the
ZPD. Teaching can be said to occur when assistance is
offered at points in the ZPD at which performance
requires assistance.”
Tharp, R. & Gallimore, R. (1988) Rousing Minds to Life.
Six Means of Assistance
Modeling
contingency
management
feeding back
Instructing
questioning
cognitive
structuring
Modeling
The process of offering behavior for
imitation
Contingency
Management
The process of assisting performance by
arranging for rewards or punishments to
follow specific behaviors, depending on
whether the behaviors are desired.
Feeding-back
This is the process of assisting
performance providing performance
information that compares a given
performance to an established standard.
Instructing
A linguistic process for assisting
performance that calls for specific
action.
Effective instructions are embedded in a
context: contingency management,
feeding-back, and cognitive structuring.
Questioning
Most characteristic means for assisting
performance in formal learning situations.
Calls for an active linguistic and cognitive
response, provoking creations by the
student.
Two types of questions
Questions
those that assess
inquires to discover the level of the pupil’s ability
to perform without assistance
those that assist
inquires in order to produce a mental operation
that the student cannot or will not produce alone.
The assistance provided by the question is the
prompting of that mental operation
Cognitive
Structuring
An organizing structure for thinking and acting
process of organizing the raw stuff of
experience
structures that organize content and/or
functions and refer to like instances
most frequently practiced
Designing school
activity settings
 teacher participates at times in at least one activity setting with students
 authority of the teacher used to organize activity settings and to make
resources of time, place, persons, and tools available
 activity setting has a product as a goal, a product that is motivating for
the students
 focus = ability of the teacher to assist the students [cooperative
learning; assisting themselves]
 permanent or temporary activity setting as determined by goal
 all members should be engaged in the joint productive activity whose
purpose is ever-increasing competence to assist performance
 teacher designs activity settings, which create products, assist
performance, foster intersubjectivities, promote cognitive growth of
each individual, refocus accountabilities, and turn schools into a culture
of learning.
Vygotsky-Style
Assessment
A continuous process that includes the
social context of learning and instruction
dynamic versus static
Static
Assessment
Refers to measuring the student’s individual
performance, what the student has
already learned
Dynamic
Assessment
Refers to measuring the student’s assisted
performance during collaboration, the
student’s potential development, or what the
student is in the process of learning
process summarized
Dynamic Assessment
Procedure (DAP)
 Test the learner working alone (static) to provide a
baseline measure (highest level without assistance) of
skills on a task
 provide a controlled protocol of assistance and instruction
(dynamic) while child works on comparable task
 posttest with an alternate form of original measure while
the learner works alone (static) on a the task
 compare test and retest measures to establish the
learner’s zone of proximal development (ZPD) (the range
from the baseline to the highest level obtained with
assistance).
DAP cont.
 Analyze the learner’s performance both quantitatively
and qualitatively on both product and process
a. Identify the upper limit of the ZPD as expressed by mental
age, grade equivalent, reading level, or test score
(quantitative)
b. Investigate processing strengths and weaknesses and
learning style to determine the specific kind of assistance
required to obtain optimal performance (qualitative).
Classroom Assessment
Techniques [Angelo & Cross]
Goals inventory
Selection of technique
Model technique in an activity setting
Rubrics
Definition
Measuring Student Progress