Transcript What separates humans from animals? What separates advanced societies from primitive societies?

What separates humans from animals?
What separates advanced societies from primitive
societies?
What separates advanced cognition from basic
cognition? That is, what makes us smart?
Vygotsky awakes our eyes to the
powerful role of culture and
community in learning. His
theory presents the radical idea
that our very thought and
intelligence is really not our own.
It’s the product of history and
culture.
Mediated Activity
Signs
(Help us do mental work-So I call them mental tools)
Tools
(Help us do physical work)
Vygotsky’s Basic Concepts

Cultures create mental tools which
transform our mental work just like
physical tools transform our physical
work.
Vygotsky’s Basic Concepts

As we internalize these tools we become
smarter (i.e., we develop higher
psychological processes).
– Language is the mother of all mental tools.
• Piaget’s vs. Vygotsky’s views on the relationship
between thought and language.
Vygotsky’s Basic Concepts

We internalize these tools as we work in our
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
“The distance between the actual developmental
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
othersΣ (Vygotsky, Mind in Society, p. 86).
Tasks I cannot do
even with help
Tasks I can do
only with help
Tasks I can do all
by myself
ZPD
Use abstract
language
Use language
Babble
ZPD
ZPD
What mental tool has
been internalized?
Vygotsky’s Basic Concepts

Learning (internalization of tools) occurs most
naturally and efficiently when we participate in
authentic, social activities.
Vygotsky in a Nutshell

The mental tools of our culture are what make us
smart. We acquire these mental tools best through
meaningful participation in authentic, social activities.
The ZPD describes how we learn from others as we
participate in social activity.

Overall, learning is a process of enculturation.
“Human learning presupposes a specific
social nature and a process by which children
grow into the intellectual life of those around
them” (Vygotsky, Mind in Society, p. 88)
Learning as a process of
Enculturation

Think about a group or clique you were a part
of in high school.
 What were some of the defining qualities of
this group?
–
–
–
–

What “look” did you need to have?
How did you need to talk?
What unique values did the group have?
What activities did you engage in?
How did you learn to be a part of this group
and adopt these qualities?
Individual and Social
Constructivism

Individual: individuals construct meaning out
of what they already know and through their
interactions with the environment.
 Social: Groups or cultures construct meaning
together out of what the group or culture
already knows and experiences.
– Vygotsky’s extension: Individuals construct
meaning through their interaction with others (i.e.,
they internalize the meaning constructed by the
group or culture as they become enculturated).
Instructional Models Based on
Vygotsky and Social Constructivism

Cognitive Apprenticeship model
– Modeling
– Scaffolding and Fading
• Providing support so that students can complete some
task they couldn’t do alone. Then gradually removing the
support as students gain competence. In other words,
help student progress through their ZPD.
– Authentic Activity
•
•
•
•
Real world
Complex
Meaningful
Social
Instructional Models Based on
Vygotsky and Social Constructivism

Examples of the Cognitive
Apprenticeship model:
– Reciprocal Teaching
– Immersion approach in foreign language
instruction.
– Science apprenticeships
How would the teacher education
program be different if it were based
on an apprenticeship model (i.e., if
the whole thing was like an extended
student teaching assignment)?
What would be the
advantages/disadvantages?
Instructional Models Based on
Vygotsky and Social Constructivism

Community of Learners
– Joint problem solving
– Student directed inquiry
– Dialogue
– Everyone not learning the same things
– Note: This is a collaborative form of
problem-based learning. Hence, it fits with
both individual and social constructivism.
Instructional Models Based on
Vygotsky and Social Constructivism

Examples of the Community of
Learners model:
– Our motivation project.
– Deborah Ball’s constructivist math
instruction.
Diversity

What are some of the educational
implications of Vygotsky’s belief that our
thought and intelligence comes from our
society and culture (through the
internalization of culturally constructed
mental tools)?
Some implications

Must take the sociocultural context into
account:
–
–
–
–

Cultural norms, attitudes, beliefs
Cultural knowledge bases
Cultural forms of language use
Power and politics
Must be aware of cultural mismatch (mental
tools of home culture don’t match up with
mental tools required in school).
– Example: types of questions used at home vs.
school (Brice-Heath).
– Example: use of “talk-story” in Native Hawaiian
culture.
Note:
Formal thought is internalized language;
language comes from society; hence the
mind is a product of society.
[Back to Vygotsky’s basic concepts.]
Discussion Questions from the
Fringe

Karl Marx said that religion is the opium
of the masses. More recently,
Minnesota governor and ex-pro wrestler
Jesse Ventura said that religion is for
the weak minded. Would Vygotsky
agree? What about Piaget?