Vygotsky studies

what is a supporting study of vygotsky

Nichols 1996

what is the aim of Nichols

to investagte if children working in groups would learn more effectivily than if they were working individually

what is the procedure of Nichols?

• 81 American high school students

• students were randomly allocated into 3 conditions

• group 1: students took the first half of a semester doing cooperative work then traditionally lectures

• group 2: students did traditional lectures then cooperative work

• group 3: students only did traditional lecturing

what are the findings of Nichols?

• students in group 1 and 2 showed more motivation that students in group 3.

• motivation was the greatest in students during the cooperative section of their semester

• supports vygotsky’s theory that social interaction promotes development

what is the evaluation of Nichols

the study measures motivation rather than performance

it is difficult to say whether the students actually developed more over the semester or weather they were simple more motivated which does not directly cause development

another supporting study of vygotsky

prior and welling

what is the aim of prior and welling?

to test Vygotsky’s theory that younger children think out loud when problem solving till their speech has internalised

what is the procedure of prior and welling?

• 73 canadian children aged 5 to 8 years old (pre-operational stage)

• students were selected once teachers confirmed that their reading levels is appropriate for their age

• in condition 1 the children were asked to read outloud

• in condition 2 the children were asked to read to themselves quietly

• they were then tested in their understanding of the subject

what are the findings of prior and welling?

• the younger children showed no difference in comprehension regardless of condition

• the older children however performed best when they read aloud

• these findings contradict vygotsky’s theory of the development of internalised speech

what is the evaluation of prior and welling?

• reading is a cognitive process that can not be directly observed or measured; it is difficult to know if the children actually read in order to measure their comprehension

• lack of counterbalancing: every student in their allocated conditions read the same text regardless of age which does not allow for researchers to control for difficulties of the text as a confounding variable