Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development

Vygotsky (1934) background

• where Piaget saw the child as a scientist, Vygotsky saw them as an apprentice, he focused more on the role of others

• he focused on the importance of social interaction and language on children’s development of understanding

• like Piaget, he saw children as curious, problem solving beings who play an active role in their own learning and development

social processes matter

• he agreed with Piaget that children develop reasoning skills sequentially but believed this was dependent on social processes

• he claimed knowledge is first intermental, between someone more expert and someone less expert, then intramental, within the individual

collaborative learning

• children at similar levels of competence work together, eg pairs or groups, creates an effective environment for guiding students through their ZPD by encouraging them to use language, provide explanations and work cooperatively to produce cognitive change

• knowledge is constructed from working with others to allow them to work better on their own

elementary and higher mental functions

the role of culture is to transform elementary mental functions into higher

• elementary mental functions- perception + memory (biological)

• higher mental functions- mathematical systems (culture)

role of culture + language- cultural differences in cognitive ability

• reasoning abilities are acquired via contact with those around us so there will be cultural differences in cognitive development as we all grow up and learn about the world surrounded by cultural values and beliefs

• children pick up mental ‘tools’ that are most important for life from the world they live in

role of the teacher or more experienced peers

• Vygotsky defined intelligence as the capacity to learn from instruction

• Scaffolding (Wood et al. 1976) helps the child cross their ZPD by the adult providing hints and prompts at different levels, the adult doesn’t simplify the task but intervenes

• so teachers need to guide pupils in paying attention, concentrating and learning effectively, they scaffold them to be competent and experienced

• eventually scaffolding becomes self instruction

zone of proximal development

• the gap between the child’s actual developmental level, what they know or can do alone, and the potential level they could achieve with the help of adults or more experienced peers, what they’re capable of

• the role of a teacher is to guide the child through this gap to as full a level of understanding as the child’s developmental ability will allow, full development of ZPD depends on full social interactions

advanced reasoning ability

• for Vygotsky, cognitive development wasn’t just about acquiring more facts but about becoming more skilled at reasoning

• the most advanced (formal) reasoning may only be achieved with the help of experts, not simply through exploration

scaffolding

• the process of helping a learner cross their ZPD and advance as much as they can, given their stage of development

• adults give support and prompts to help the child achieve cognitive tasks they couldn’t achieve alone

• there’s gradual withdrawal of support as the child’s knowledge and confidence increases, they cross their ZPD

progressive scaffolding strategies- from most to least help

1. demonstration- eg mother draws an object with crayons

2. preparation of child- eg mother helps child hold crayon

3. indication of materials- eg mother points to crayon

4. specific verbal instruction- eg mother says ‘how about using the green crayon?’

5. general prompts- eg mother says ‘now draw something else’

strength- support for the ZPD

• Roazzi + Bryant (1998) asked one group of 4-5 year olds to estimate the number of sweets in a box, most failed to give a close estimate

• a 2nd group of 4-5 year olds were guided by older, expert, children and most then mastered the task

• means children can develop more advanced reasoning with the help from a more expert individual

strength- support for the idea of scaffolding

• Conner + Cross (2003) observed 45 children at age 16, 26, 44 and 54 months, finding mothers used less direct intervention as children developed

• mothers also increasingly offered help when it was needed rather than consistently

• means adult assistance with children’s learning is well described by the concept of scaffolding

strength- real world applications of Vygotsky’s ideas

• educational techniques such as group work, peer tutoring and individual adult assistance are all based on Vygotsky’s ideas, increasingly used in the 21st century

• Van Keer + Verhaeghe (2005) found 7 year olds tutored by 10 year olds as well as their whole class teaching, progressed further in reading than a control group who only had class teaching

• means Vygotsky’s ideas

counterpoint of real world applications

• in China, classes of 50 children learn effectively in lecture style classrooms with few individual interactions with peers or tutors (Liu + Matthews 2005)

• means Vygotsky may have overestimated the importance of scaffolding in learning

evaluation- Vygotsky vs Piaget

• there’s evidence to support Vygotsky’s idea that interaction with a more experienced other can enhance learning eg Conner + Cross

• however, if Vygotsky was right about interactive learning, we’d expect children learning together to learn the same things, however it varies a lot

• means Piaget may have explained learning better than Vygotsky, in spite of Vygotsky’s emphasis on interaction