Vygotsky

What key elements of Vygotsky’s theory are demonstrated through the scenario that opens the chapter on Vygotsky’s theory? 

Higher order mental processes emerging through interpersonal AND cultural context (ex. Asking: why?) 

  What was Vygotsky’s theoretical motivation for constructing his theory? What about his political goal? How do these tie to Marxism? What was his educational goal? 

How did Vygotsky’s early death and socio-cultural context affect the acceptance and spread of Vygotsky’s ideas? What limitations of his theory are these things also associated with?

He died in Moscow in 1934. Some of his works were published shortly after his death, but from 1936 to 1956 his works were banned by the Communist Party. As a result, many of his theoretical ideas were slow in reaching a broader Western audience. His first book, Thought and Language, was published in Russia in 1934, but was not translated into English until 1962. Since he died early a lot of his work was left unfinished or with limitations due to lack of explanation for certain concepts and the suppression of his work. 

What are the three interacting elements of Vygotsky’s Integrated Psychology of Cognitive Behavior and which one is the unique element that Piaget did not see as important? How did Piaget and Vygotsky differ with regard to their attention to the social-cultural-historical context? 

The three interacting elements of Vygotskys Integrated Pschology of cognitive behavior are social interaction, culture, and language.

What are two ways that Vygotsky was influenced by Marx and Engels? 

According to Marx and Engels, humans create technical tools to master our environment. How did Vygotsky build on/expand this notion of tools? What is the most important “psychological tool” for humans according to Vygotsky? What is the main difference between psychological and technical tools? 

What did Vygotsky define as lower versus higher mental processes? Which ones develop as a result of interactions of the individual with others in their context? 

Lower mental processes: Present at birth and are not significantly influenced by culture or social interaction. 

Higher mental processes: Develop through interaction with others and the use of cultural tools 

According to Vygotsky, why is social interaction with adults or older children that are“knowledgeable others” so important to child development? 

“knowledgeable others” promote children to work towards their potential level. As concepts are learned the zone extends upward. 

Name and explain the four key concepts in Vygotsky’s theory

Culture as a mediator of cognitive structuring

movement from the intermental to the intramental

inner speech

the zone of proximal development

How did Vygotsky define culture and what did Vygotsky mean by culture as a mediator of cognitive 
structuring? 

Culture consists of physical settings, tools and technologies, and a patterned system of customs, beliefs, information, and social relationships. 

What did Vygotsky see as the most important sign system affecting human cognition?

Why was Vygotsky so interested in language and reducing illiteracy?

Given his view of the social origins of cognition, his work placed an especially strong emphasis on language as a cultural tool that allows the person to modify the stimulus situation as part of the process of responding to it and to coordinate inner mental activity with that of others. 

For Vygotsky, what is inner speech and how does it develop? How does this differ from Piaget’s view of inner speech and how it develops? Where does egocentric speech fit in for each of them? 

Vygotsky saw inner speech developing in this order: Social speech —˃ egocentric speech —˃ inner speech. 

Inner speech, according to Vygotsky, is a tool that helps regulate, plan and guide problem-solving and behavior. 

Piaget, however, believed inner speech has no social intention; language of an egocentric nature. 

Which view of inner speech has more support? Does the other view have any support? Explain the support that has been found.

What did Vygotsky mean by the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and how does the ZPD relate to scaffolding? How do we know what the appropriate scaffold is? 

Distance between actual and potential development (potential with guidance) 
§ Level of potential functioning reflects functions in the process of maturation 
§ Highlights social nature of cognitive development 
§ Children mature in the direction of the cognitive competences of those with whom they interact. Adults too... 

Scaffolding: Help provided by others, at the edge of learning/development 
• A bit above where one is at independently 
• Remember: hard to know how much above is good! 
• Removed when no longer needed/the learning/development has been achieved 
• This moves the zone: new actual level changes potential level 

How does the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) demonstrate Vygotsky’s main claim that development is a process of interaction between those who already know/understand something and those who don’t yet know/understand something? 

The zone of proximal development is referred to as the distance between what a child is able to do alone and what they are able to do with help, also known as potential development. By receiving help from those who already understand something allows children to learn how to do things as they’ve been done by others in their societal context.  

Explain how the ZPD challenges the organized whole principle of Piaget’s strict stage concept. What, if any, other aspect(s) of the strict stage concept does Vygotsky’s theory as a whole directly challenge? 

What role did Vygotsky see the ZPD playing in cognitive development? How did he connect the ZPD to learning and development? Explain why Vygotsky viewed learning as driving development using ZPD.

Vygotsky suggested that the potential development of a child, or what they were capable to with assistance, reflected development that was in the process of maturation. ZPD allows children to learn skills to complete tasks or meet goals, and to eventually master them on their own. Learning such skills allows children to advance to the next level of development. The Zone of Proximal Development characterizes development as a continuous process, in which instruction should move ahead of development and should teach content and cognitive strategies in a relevant format.

How does this view on ZPD differ from Piaget’s? How does this difference relate to a major difference in underlying assumptions about human development, and also a major critique of Vygotsky’s theory from a strong developmental perspective? 

Piaget believed that development was discontinuous and that children would be developmentally ready to learn at specific stages. Vygotsky underestimates the role of the individual differences and biological factors in one’s development. He also undermines the role of the individual as an active player in their development.  

What would the best learning (and teaching) be that is responsive to Vygotsky’s concept of the ZPD? How does this differ from Piaget’s view of the best learning and teaching? 

Scaffolding is the best learning that is responsive to ZPD. Scaffolding is characterized by meeting learners where they are developmentally and helping them build the skills to master a task or lesson. Vygotsky believes that learning should come before development and that help should meet a learner where they’re at. Piaget  

If we accept the notion of ZPD, how would that influence how we should “assess” children to identify where they are at developmentally and what class level/grade, group or class activity might be best for them? 

How did Vygotsky think about symbolic play and its role in development? Compare this view to Piaget’s view. 

One of the New Directions that has been taken building off Vygotsky has to do with symbolic play. How does this kind of play operate as a leading activity for promoting preschool children’s development—what are its main elements?

Describe the first and fourth levels of symbolic play.

What are the functions of symbolic play that facilitate development? 

Think about the educational/instructional implications of Vygotsky’s theory versus Piaget’s. How would each think about the role of the teacher in a formal educational setting? What kind of classroom would each think is best to have/design? What kinds of activities would each be most interested in providing for children? I.e., what would each advocate for? Explain why. 

Role of a teacher in a formal educational setting  

Vygotsky 

• Scaffolder within ZPD, active guidance, mediated learning activities  

• Classroom design:  

• Activities: group exploration, lots of cultural tools 

Piaget 

• Facilitate exploration by providing stimulating environments 

• Classroom design: lots of materials to explore with, novel problems and situations that promote disequilibrium, activities aligned with developmental stages 

• Activities: Independent exploration 

What do you think each would recommend for parenting practices that would best support their children’s cognitive development? 

• Piaget 

• Offer rich and stimulating environment 

• Pay attention to cognitive development and where they are at do not go above things they can do 

• Encourage active exploration 

• Vygotsky 

• Scaffold things within ZPD 

• Engage in lots of meaningful conversations for intermental develpment  

• Encourage collaboration and learning from others 

• Use language as a tool as well as other cultural tools 

• Recognize symbolic play as a leading activity 

Think about an intermediate level college class where a student is really struggling with the course material. How would Vygotsky likely think about and respond to this situation? Compare this to how Piaget would likely think about and respond to this situation? 

Vygotsky- work with others to scaffold concept, use cultural tools like language or flashcards, connect it to concepts you already know to scaffold, work within your ZPD and have people help you within it, use intermental to intramental processes by talking to others/peers to internalize material 

Piaget- don't seek help immediately experiment and try to solve the problems yourself, the person needs to work with the material in a hands on manner to explore it and learn it. Piaget may consider if the material the person is learning aligns with where they are cognitively in their development.  he also might see the student struggle and wondeirng if they are having trouble adapting to the new concepts such as trouble assimilating or accommodating the new information 

How did Vygotsky’s work contribute to improvements in cross-cultural research and the cross-cultural study of development? 

• Can’t understand development without considering individual, interpersonal, and cultural levels of context. 

• Research methods and tasks can’t just be used in other contexts 
  without insuring cultural relevance 

• Western schooling: key to development in the West (vs. universal) 

•  Led to new approaches and understandings 

•  No comparing to a “norm” 

• Explore how and why children (and adults) develop as they do in particular cultures 

•  Examine why society is structured as it is 

• Use assessments that reflect what the culture values 

What are new extensions of Vygotsky’s theory often referred to and what are the aims of these extensions? 

Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and the aim of this extension is to recognize culture as the context of cognition

What is the basic purpose of CHAT (Cultural Historical Activity Theory) and what four aspects of culture as influencing cognition are the focus of attention? How are two of these aspects of culture influencing cognition demonstrated in the research example on “doing mathematics”? 

Basic purpose of chat- It recognizes culture as the context of cognition and it tries to look at this in four areas    

4 aspects of culture influencing cognition 

• Language  

• How we teach 

• Social interactions 

• Social expectations and how they influence cognition 

• Example of doing mathematics: parents in Japan were more realistic in child's capabilities and didnt push their children past capabilities american parents had fixed mindsets japan had higher academic goals.  

• Example of how culture shapes development and learning and this difference lead to people in japan doing better at math because of the two different approaches 

• Basically an example of social interactions as well as social expectations and how they effect people in different cultures.  

 

Use the research on “doing mathematics” to explain differences found in performance between children of Japanese parents and children of U.S. parents. What are the four factors that were identified as helping to explain these differential outcomes between children in Japan and in the U.S.? 

Performance was different in mathematics for kids in Japan as compared to US children because of cultural differences teachings and expectations. Parent's in Japan had realistic expectations for their children as well as high goals  

4 factors:  

• the social relationships;  

• the classroom setting;  

• symbolic, linguistic, and material artifacts;  

• the broad cultural orientation to the significance and salience of quantity as an organizing concept that result in the internalization of new levels of understanding and mastery. 

Draw on the research on childrearing among the Zinacantecos of Southeastern Mexico and the research on scientific reasoning to help show how Vygotsky’s work led to a recognition that we can’t fully understand development without paying attention to the individual, the interpersonal, and the cultural levels of context. 

Not directly covered but use your critical thinking skills: What type of attachment style might children of the Zinacantecos be wrongly classified as if the Strange Situation is used to assess attachment between a parent and infant? 

Use the research example about the cultural management of attention to explain how we now understand attention to be something that is not a universal process that functions the same way across cultures. 

In communities where children are expected to learn by observing others and to contribute as needed to adult activities, children are more likely to watch and remember even when they are not the direct target of instruction” (N&N, pg. 435, 2022). This is a main idea of Vygotsky's theory, especially the ZPD, that one can learn through observation. 

What are the two different ways that Vygotsky’s theory has tended to be applied to instruction and why is one way more common in the U.S.? 

Two different ways that Vygotsky’s theory has tended to be applied to instruction is  

In the U.S., lead to the promotion of metacognition (increasing the children’s responsibility for planning, monitoring, and more).  

Of the following two metaphors, which is more appropriate for Vygotsky’s image of the child and which for Piaget’s image of the child: “Apprentice” or “Lone Scientist”? Explain. 

The metaphor “little apprentice” is more appropriate for Vygotsky’s image of the child, because according to Vygotsky, children learn from others and take it in. 

The metaphor “Lone scientist” is more appropriate for Piaget’s image of the child, because according to Piaget, children take on a much more active role in their own development and their mind in figuring things out.  

There were three questions posed for the viewer to think about at the end of the video you watched on Vygotsky as homework as a way to wrap up our study of Vygotsky’s theory. How would a Piagetian respond to these questions? 

1. Can a child learn anything regardless of any developmental prerequisites?  

No, a child needs to be ready to learn (have developmental readiness) in order to be able to develop  

2. Do we only learn through social and cultural contexts?  

No, there is a biological context that is at play as well, (biology helps to determine development)  

3. Is it appropriate for a more knowledgeable other to determine what a child should learn next? 

No, children should be drivers of their own development  

Overarching Question: How do Vygotsky’s and Piaget’s views differ regarding cognitive development? Regarding the best educational processes? In what ways are they similar?