Summary Of Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory

To summarize, Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory is based on children's learning and embedding upon their cultural environment. It’s central focus is the show of “information and cognitive skills from generation to generation” (Rathus (2016) pg. 238). In details, Vygotsky wants to focus on how the child interacts with adults can affect her cognitive skills. In this theory, there are two main concepts, which are the zone of proximal development (ZPD) and scaffolding. ZPD is referred to the amount of task a child can only do with the help of a skilled older one, mainly an adult. The adult in this situation represents the knowledge that the child develops from. An example of a ZPD situation is where Cindy is learning the meanings of a few words by her teacher. As time goes by, she learns each definitions from her teacher. She can also imply those new learned skill to other classmates. Another main concept of Vygotsky’s theory is scaffolding, and scaffolding is the temporary support given by an adult to a child who is currently learning a task. Through time when the child is more skilled in the particular skill, the less support is given. An example of scaffolding is where Sam is being taught how to add math with his fingers by his teacher. He watches how his teacher demonstrates how to add numbers along with putting a finger up.