Introduction

• In contrast to Piaget, who saw the child as an active but largely independent learner, Vygotsky believed all learning and ideas begin in the social world.

• Central to Vygotsky’s theory is the idea that children learn through the process of social collaboration with someone who is more knowledgeable than they are.

• Also considers cultural differences, since learning is collaborative and social-based according to this view

• Largest contribution : Zone of Proximal Development

Zone of Proximal Development

• • Bruner further developed Vygotsky’s concept of the ZPD to describe what the adult does to help children learn.

• He borrowed the engineering concept of a scaffold, which is designed to support the construction of a building and applied it to teaching.

• Scaffolding: a sensitive process of providing the support that helps the child learn what is just out of reach of his abilities. Once the child understands, the scaffolding is no longer needed, and the child can now carry out the task independently

Language and Cognition

• Piaget called children’s self-directed utterances egocentric speech

• Vygotsky viewed private speech as self-talk - the foundation for higher cognitive processes:

  • Used more when tasks are appropriately challenging

  • With age, internalized as silent, inner speech

  • Used more and over a longer period by children with learning problems

  • New research on benefits in regard to regulation

• In a study, researchers increased the difficulty of a problem-solving task. Private speech rose as the task became moderately difficult, then declined as it became highly difficult.

  • Children are more likely to use private speech for self-guidance when tasks are within their zone of proximal development, or range of mastery.

Education

• Promoted assisted discovery

• Teachers guide children’s learning with explanations, demonstrations, and verbal prompts

• Children with varying abilities engage in peer collaboration, working together in groups

Challenges to Vygotsky’s Ideas

• Verbal dialogues are not the only means through which children learn

• Vygotsky says little about how basic motor, perception, attention, memory, and problem-solving skills contribute to socially transmitted higher cognitive processes