Vygotsky Essay
Educational Psychology Essay Topic 5:
Explain the Vygotskian notion of the zone of proximal development. Evaluate the efficacy of approaches to teaching and learning [eg. reciprocal teaching, cognitive apprenticeships, and communities of learners] which incorporate this notion.
Many theorists throughout the century have developed concepts that have analysed and explained how a child learns during their schooling years. Educational theorist Lev Vygotsky produced the social development theory of learning. He believed social interaction is the primary cause of cognitive development. He named this the zone of proximal development. There are many approaches to learning in the zone of proximal development such as scaffolding, reciprocal teaching, cognitive apprenticeships and communities of learning, each with their own unique way of transporting the learner into an easier more motivated state of learning.
Compared to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development where the child is seen to go through four stages of development; sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations, Vygotsky believed that the cognitive developmental process should be analysed through social contexts. He believed that this was a lifelong process that was influenced by social interaction with family, teachers, and friends in the cultural community surrounding the student. He emphasised the instruments that specific cultures provide to maintain thinking, and the idea that children use the instruments they’re given to build their own comprehension of the physical and natural world. He named this the Zone of Proximal Development. Vygotsky defines this as "the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, cited from McInerney and McInerney, 2006,part 1,ch 2,p58). During
Explain the Vygotskian notion of the zone of proximal development. Evaluate the efficacy of approaches to teaching and learning [eg. reciprocal teaching, cognitive apprenticeships, and communities of learners] which incorporate this notion.
Many theorists throughout the century have developed concepts that have analysed and explained how a child learns during their schooling years. Educational theorist Lev Vygotsky produced the social development theory of learning. He believed social interaction is the primary cause of cognitive development. He named this the zone of proximal development. There are many approaches to learning in the zone of proximal development such as scaffolding, reciprocal teaching, cognitive apprenticeships and communities of learning, each with their own unique way of transporting the learner into an easier more motivated state of learning.
Compared to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development where the child is seen to go through four stages of development; sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations, Vygotsky believed that the cognitive developmental process should be analysed through social contexts. He believed that this was a lifelong process that was influenced by social interaction with family, teachers, and friends in the cultural community surrounding the student. He emphasised the instruments that specific cultures provide to maintain thinking, and the idea that children use the instruments they’re given to build their own comprehension of the physical and natural world. He named this the Zone of Proximal Development. Vygotsky defines this as "the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, cited from McInerney and McInerney, 2006,part 1,ch 2,p58). During