2. Lev Vygotsky
Born in Orsha, a part of the Russian
Empire (now known as Belarus) on 17th
November 1896 and died at the very
young age of 37 in 1934 from
Tuberculosis
A pioneer of psychology; His extensive
research into cognitive development
has lead his theory to be one of the
most important of it’s kind.
His main work was translated to English
in 1962 and it had a major impact on
other psychological research in similar
fields.
3. Vygotsky believed that the adults in a society
foster children’s cognitive development in an
intentional and somewhat systematic manner.
Adult
Child
engage in
meaningful and
challenging
activities
help perform
activities
successfully
5. communicated by either psychological (language, number, art) or
technical (books, calculator) means.
Language is the most important tool for gaining social knowledge;
the child can be taught this from other people via language.
Intelligence -“the capacity to learn from instruction”
THINKING
SOCIAL
KNOWLEDGE
affected by
MORE
KNOWLEDGEABLE
OTHER (MKO)
7. 1. Complex mental
processes begin
as social activities;
as children
develop, they
gradually
internalize these
processes and
begin to use them
independently.
8. Show students
how you think as
you deal with
academic tasks.
Children first talk about objects and events
with adults and other knowledgeable
individuals; in the process, they discover
how the people around them think about
those objects and events.
Dialogue -> COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
INTERNALIZATION - the process through
which social activities evolve into mental
activities.
9. 2. Thought and
language initially
develop
independently of
each other; the two
become
interdependent
when children are
about two years
old.
10. Encourage students
to talk themselves
through new and
difficult tasks.
Infants and young toddlers -
Thought and language are
separate functions. When
language appears, it is first
used primarily as a means
of communication rather
than a mechanism of
thought.
Sometime around age two -
thought and language
become intertwined:
Children begin to express
their thoughts when they
speak, and they begin to
think in terms of words.
By talking to themselves, children
learn to guide and direct their own
behaviors through difficult tasks
and complex maneuvers in much
the same way that adults have
previously guided them.
SELF-TALK
INNER SPEECH
13. Show students how
various academic
disciplines
conceptualize the
world.
Adults share with children the
language of their culture, including
the specific concepts and
terminology used in various
academic disciplines.
Although Vygotsky, like Piaget, saw
value in allowing children to make
some discoveries themselves, he
also saw value in having adults
describe the discoveries of
previous generations.
14. 4. Children can perform
more challenging
tasks when assisted
by more advanced
and competent
individuals.
15. Children’s two kinds of abilities
that they likely to have at any
particular point in their
development:
Children can typically do
more difficult things in
collaboration with adults
than they can do on their
own.
ACTUAL DEVELOPMENTAL LEVEL
LEVEL OF POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT
17. Have students
collaborate with adults
or other students when
they work on
particularly challenging
assignments.
Zone of proximal development
(ZPD) - the range of tasks that
children cannot yet perform
independently, but can perform
with the help and guidance of
others.
Includes learning and problem-
solving abilities that are just
beginning to develop within a
child – abilities that are in an
immature, “embryonic” form.
Naturally, any child’s ZPD will
change over time, as some
tasks are mastered, other more
complex ones will appear to
provide more challenges.
21. Scaffolding
Adults and other more
competent individuals provide
some form of guidance or
structure that enables students
to perform tasks that are in
their zone of proximal
development.
22. Example:
Woods and Middleton (1975) studied the influence of instruction with
their experiment. They provided 3-4 year olds with a puzzle which was
beyond their comprehension on their own. The mother then provided
different levels of assistance for the child:
L1 – General verbal instruction (“Very good! Now try that again.”)
L2 – Specific verbal instruction (“Get four big blocks”)
L3 – Mother indicates material (“You need this block here”)
L4 – Mother provides material and prepares it for assembly
L5 – Mother demonstrates the operation
23. Guided Participation
Giving students the
assistance they need
as they perform
adult-like activities
Engage students in
realistic adult tasks,
giving them the
guidance they need
to be successful.
24. Apprenticeships
A learner works intensively with an expert to
accomplish complex tasks that he or she
could never do independently.
The expert provides considerable structure
and guidance throughout the process,
gradually removing scaffolding and giving the
learner more responsibility as competence
increases.
Cognitive Apprenticeship – a student learns
not only how to perform a task but also how
to think about a task.
Encourage the
thought processes
that experts use
when they engage
in a complex task.
25. Peer Interaction
Working together rather than working
alone; providing scaffolding for one
another’s efforts; interactive approach
26. References
Ormrod, J. E. (2000). Educational
Psychology: Developing Learners. New
Jersey: Prentice Hall.
http://psychohawks.wordpress.com/2010
/11/03/theories-of-cognitive-
development-lev-vygotsky/
Foster = to help develop
Vygotsky believed that the adults in a society foster children’s cognitive development in an intentional and somewhat systematic manner. They continually engage children in meaningful and challenging activities and help them perform those activities successfully.
His theory is sometimes referred to as the sociocultural perspective because he emphasized the importance of society and culture for promoting cognitive growth.
He believed that children’s thinking is affected by their social knowledge, which are communicated by either psychological (language, number, art) or technical (books, calculator) means.
Language is the most important tool for gaining social knowledge; the child can be taught this from other people via language. He defined intelligence as “the capacity to learn from instruction”, which emphasises the fact there is a requirement for a more knowledgable other person or ‘teacher’. He referred to them as just that: the More Knowledgable Other (MKO). MKO’s can be parents, adults, teachers, coaches, experts/professionals – but also things you might not first expect, such as children, friends and computers.
Complex mental processes begin as social activities; as children develop, they gradually internalize these processes and begin to use them independently.
Many thinking processes have their roots in social interactions. Children first talk about objects and events with adults and other knowledgeable individuals; in the process, they discover how the people around them think about those objects and events.
Dialogue with others is an essential condition for promoting cognitive development.
The process through which social activities evolve into mental activities is called internalization.
Mental processes also develop as children interact with their peers.
Children first talk about objects and events with adults and other knowledgeable individuals; in the process, they discover how the people around them think about those objects and events.
Dialogue with others is an essential condition for promoting cognitive development.
The process through which social activities evolve into mental activities is called internalization.
Mental processes also develop as children interact with their peers.
Thought and language initially develop independently of each other; the two become interdependent when children are about two years old.
Thought and language are separate functions for infants and young toddlers. Thinking occurs independently of language, and when language appears, it is first used primarily as a means of communication rather than a mechanism of thought. But sometime around age two, thought and language become intertwined: Children begin to express their thoughts when they speak, and they begin to think in terms of words.
Self-talk – Children talk to themselves out loud.
Inner speech – Children “talk” to themselves mentally rather than orally.
Purpose of self-talk and inner speech: By talking to themselves, children learn to guide and direct their own behaviors through difficult tasks and complex maneuvers in much the same way that adults have previously guided them.
Self-talk and inner speech, then, are examples of the internalization process.
Gradually, self-talk is used more as a tool for self-directed and self-regulating behavior. Because speaking has been appropriated and internalized, self-talk is no longer present around the time the child starts school. Self-talk "develops along a rising not a declining, curve; it goes through an evolution, not an involution. In the end, it becomes inner speech"
3. Through both informal conversations and formal schooling, adults convey to children the ways in which their culture interprets the world.
Adults share with children the language of their culture, including the specific concepts and terminology used in various academic disciplines.
Although Vygotsky, like Piaget, saw value in allowing children to make some discoveries themselves, he also saw value in having adults describe the discoveries of previous generations.
There are two levels of attainment for the ZPD:
Zone of proximal development (ZPD) - the range of tasks that children cannot yet perform independently, but can perform with the help and guidance of others; includes learning and problem-solving abilities that are just beginning to develop within a child – abilities that are in an immature, “embryonic” form.
Naturally, any child’s ZPD will change over time; as some tasks are mastered, other more complex ones will appear to provide more challenges.
It is the challenges in life – not the easy successes – that promote cognitive development.
A scaffold is an external structure that provides support for the workers (a place where they can stand) until the building itself is strong enough to support them. As the building gains stability, the scaffold becomes less necessary and is gradually removed.
After the session, the child was assessed on whether they could construct the pyramid on their own. Results showed that when children were given varied support from mothers (low levels of support when the child was doing well, and high levels when the child struggled) they were able to construct the pyramid on their own. However, when the mother consistently provided the same support, they seemed to make the child conclude the activity was beyond their comprehension and the child soon lost interest in constructing the pyramid. This shows the importance of providing the correct level of scaffolding when teaching a learner
Adults and other more competent individuals provide some form of guidance or structure that enables students to perform tasks that are in their zone of proximal development.
After the session, the child was assessed on whether they could construct the pyramid on their own. Results showed that when children were given varied support from mothers (low levels of support when the child was doing well, and high levels when the child struggled) they were able to construct the pyramid on their own. However, when the mother consistently provided the same support, they seemed to make the child conclude the activity was beyond their comprehension and the child soon lost interest in constructing the pyramid. This shows the importance of providing the correct level of scaffolding when teaching a learner.
The Woods & Middleton (1975) pyramid puzzle.
As a final point, Vygotsky looked at the role of egocentric/private speech. This is, for example, when a child will sit on their own and speak their thoughts out loud as they play. He suggested a child is regulating and planning their behaviour at this point: “Where is the block? I can’t find it. Oh well, I’ll use this block.” He called these ‘monologues’.
By 7 years, these monologues become internalised and the child becomes a “verbal thinker”, which is what most adults can do with no problem. When we are faced with a problem, and we’re alone, we quite often think through the problem – but in our heads. Children before 7 will do this out loud. This verbal thinking forms the basis for higher level, more abstract thinking (planning, reasoning, memorising, evaluating).
Giving students the assistance they need as they perform adult-like activities
A learner works intensively with an expert to accomplish complex tasks that he or she could never do independently.
The expert provides considerable structure and guidance throughout the process, gradually removing scaffolding and giving the learner more responsibility as competence increases.
Cognitive Apprenticeship – a student learns not only how to perform a task but also how to think about a task.
Working together rather than working alone; providing scaffolding for one another’s efforts; interactive approach