Transcript Vygotsky - Edublogs

VYGOTSKY
Cognitive Development
Where Piaget saw the child
as a scientist, Vygotsky saw
the child as an apprentice
OVERVIEW OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY
Social Interaction Influences Cognitive
Development
Biological and Cultural Development
do not occur in Isolation
Language plays a major role in
Cognitive Development
Areas were social interaction can influence
cognitive development…
Engagement between the teacher and student
Physical space and arrangement in learning environment
Meaningful instruction in small or whole groups
Scaffolding/Reciprocal teaching strategies
Zone of Proximal Development
WHAT IS THE ZONE OF
PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT?
 The zone of proximal development is
the area of learning that a more
knowledgeable other (MKO) assists
the student in developing a higher level
of learning.
 The goal is for the MKO to be less
involved as the student develops the
necessary skills.
 Vygotsky describes it as “the distance
between the actual development level as
determined by independent problem
solving and the level of potential
development as determined through
problem solving under adult guidance or in
collaboration with more capable peers”
(Vygotsky, 1978)
.
ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT (ZPD)
This is the Vygotskian concept that
explains the mechanism of cognitive
development
ZPD is actually the gap between actual
competence level (what problem level a
student is able to independently solve), and
the potential development level (what
problem level could she solve with
guidance from a tutor)
ZPD is based on the mental functions that
have not yet matured but are being in the
process of maturation.
ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT
ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT
SCAFFOLDING: THE INSTRUCTOR BECOMES A SUPPORTIVE
TOOL FOR THE STUDENT IN THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL
DEVELOPMENT. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN IDEAL
TEACHER ARE THOSE OF A SCAFFOLD:
It provides support
It functions as a tool
It extends the range of the worker
It allows to accomplish a task
otherwise impossible
It is used selectively, when needed
SCAFFOLDING
 Vygotsky defined scaffolding
instruction as the “role of
teachers and others in
supporting the learners
development and providing
support structures to get to
that next stage or level”
(Raymond, 2000).
 Teachers provide scaffolds so
that the learner can
accomplish certain tasks they
would otherwise not be able
to accomplish on their own
(Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000).
 The goal of the educator is for
the student to become an
independent learner and
problem solver (Hartman, 2002).
RECIPROCAL TEACHING
Reciprocal Teaching is
used to improve a
students ability to learn
from text through the
practice of four skills:
summarizing, clarifying,
questioning, and
predicting.
summarizing
predicting
Reciprocal
Teaching
questioning
clarifying
BIOLOGICAL & CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Vygotsky (1978) states: “Every function in the child’s cultural
development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later
on the individual level; first, between people and then inside
the child. This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical
memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher
functions originate as actual relationships between individuals.”
Simplified: community plays a central role in the process
of “making meaning” (McLeod, 2007).
SCAFFOLDING
 Scaffolding: support and prompting, usually
provided by an adult, which helps a child
achieve cognitive tasks they could not
achieve alone.
 An important aspect of scaffolding is that
there is a gradual withdrawal of support as
the child’s knowledge and confidence
increase.
DIFFERENCES: PIAGET VS VYGOTSKY
 Where he differed from Piaget was in his view of the
importance of the role of other, more knowledgeable
people in children’s development.
 Vygotsky argued that although children can acquire some
concepts through their own unaided play, they acquire the
mechanisms of thinking and learning as a result of the
social interactions between themselves and the adults
around them.
Vygotsky’s view:
“…what a child can do with assistance today she will be able
to do by herself tomorrow.”
(Vygotsky, 1978)
Contrast with Piaget:
“Every time we teach a child something, we keep him from
inventing it himself. On the other hand, that which we allow
him to discover for himself will remain with him visible for
the rest of his life.” (Piaget, in Piers, 1972)
Issue
Piaget’s view
Vygotsky’s view
Source of cognitive
development
Cognitive development is
driven by an inbuilt
tendency to adapt to new
experiences
Cognitive development is
driven by social interaction
experience within a culture
Concept acquisition
Child learns through active
self-discovery - a mainly
solitary process of
adaptation of schemas
Child learns through
instruction and guidance results from social
experience
Role of instruction
Child will only learn when
ready
Cognitive development can
be accelerated - increases
scope of cognitive
development, by enabling
learning
Language and thought
Language develops as a
result of cognitive
development. Outward
monologues are
meaningless and egocentric
speech is incidental to
thought
The ability to use language
is the key to cognitive
development. Outward
monologues direct thinking
and later become
internalised as thought.