Transcript Slide 1

WHS AP Psychology
Unit 9: Developmental Psychology
Essential Task 9-4:Explain the maturation of
cognitive abilities according to Vygotsky with
specific attention to zones of proximal
development and compare this viewpoint to
Piaget.
Adulthood
Types of Studies
Adolescence
Unit 9
Developmental
Psych
Prenatal
Development
Aging
Cognitive
Development
Piaget’s
Stages
Adulthood
Moral
Development
Vygotsky’s
Theory
Social
Kohlberg
Development
We are
here
Erikson
Parenting
Styles
Gender
Gilligan
Essential
Task
9-4:
Outline
• Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive
development
• Zones of proximal
• Compared to Piaget
Vygotsky Continued
• Different than Piaget’s image of the
individual constructing
understanding alone
– Everything is social
• Vygotsky saw cognitive development
as depending more on interactions
with people & tools in the child’s
world.
– Tools are real: pens, paper, computers;
– or Tools are symbols: language, math
systems, signs
The Big Ideas…
• Explained complex learning through Guided
Participation.
– Explained things that are taught rather than
discovered (reading, writing etc.)
– a way to “share the thinking load”
– Helping a novice accomplish a complex task
– Assistance can be physical or mental & come
from adults or peers
– Scaffolding: where the more knowledgeable
other provides some type of structure.
The Big Ideas…
• Vygotsky developed the theory of the
Zone of proximal development (ZPD)
– The distance between where a learner is at
developmentally on their own & where a
learner could be with the help of a more
knowledgeable other.
– A more knowledgeable other can be an
adult or a peer, helping a learner in this way
is to scaffold their learning. Scaffolding
occurs through the process of
internalization… mediated by language and
though (see youtube).
Examples of Guided Participation
• A mother sitting with her toddler
singing, “Baa, baa black sheep have
you any wool, yes sir, yes sir ….” at
this point the mother pauses and the
child sings loudly, “THREE BAGS
FULL!”.
– How is this guided participation?
Examples of Guided
Participation
• A 6-year old lost a toy & asks her father for
help. The father asks her where she last saw
the toy; the child says , “I can’t remember.” He
asks a series of questions – “Did you have it in
your room? Outside?” To each question the
child answers “No”. When he asks, “In the
car?”, she says “I think so” and finds the toy in
the car.
– In this story, who found the toy?
Examples of Guided
Participation
• Think back to your days of driver’s ed.
and driving around with your parents
and your temporary driver’s license.
– In what ways did your parent or driving
instructor provide guided participation for
you?
Vygotsky and Schools
• Emphasized social learning
– We can often complete harder tasks with
someone else than we could alone.
• Collaborative learning, group presentations, group work
• Zone of Proximal Development
– The teacher considers how much scaffolding
to give a student to help them learn.
• A push for “authentic learning”.
– Learning is tied to the context it is in.
Motivation & Vygotsky
• This view emphasizes how people’s
identities are formed by their
participation in a group
– Students can be motivated to learn by
participating in communities where
learning is valued
– Ex: Children want to learn to read &
write to become members of the
“literary club”, to be able to participate
and interact with the written world
Vygotsky’s Words…
• “It is through others that we become
ourselves”
– All learning is social
• “What a child can do in co-operation
today he can do alone tomorrow”
– Guided participation, ZPD, scaffolding