Cognition + Development - Vygotsky's theory Flashcards
What is the difference between Vygotsky’s theory and Piaget’s theory?
Piaget believed that children drive their own learning while Vygotsky believed that learning is facilitated by social interaction.
Vygotsky saw the child as an apprentice to a more knowledgable other; Piaget saw the child as a scientist, discovering things for themselves.
What is scaffolding?
A supportive framework to aid learning.
A more knowledgable other - the expert provides a supportive framework of instruction and guidance.
This support is gradually withdrawn.
What features may scaffolding use?
- Play: to maintain interest and participation
- Demonstration: to show the child clearly what to do
- Talking: by the expert talking, the child is encouraged to do more of the process alone - verbal support/prompt/encouragement.
What is the goal of scaffolding?
Independence
Eventually the child will be able to do this alone without any support.
With each step, if the child is successful, support is reduced, if the child fails, the support is strengthened.
What is the zone of proximal development?
The area between what a child can do unaided and what the child can learn to do with help - the difference between actual current ability and potentially ability.
How can scaffolding help the learner move through the zone of proximal development?
Scaffolding extends the child’s abilities and allows the child to travel faster and further from their current ability level. Eg. demonstration from an expert.
What is the special role of language?
Through social interaction the child develops the tool of language.
Language enables a shift from elementary mental functions to higher mental functions:
external language of expert > inner speech > internalised thought
What are the similarities of Piaget and Vygotsky?
Both children are seen as active learners
- Piaget: child drives their own learning
- Vygotsky: child interacts with experts
Both children learn increasingly complex skills as they get older
- Piaget: children master concepts such as conservation as they progress through stages
- Vygotsky: children are continually learning while moving through ZPD
Both emphasis nature and nurture (cognitive theories)
Biological drive to learn, what we learn and how fast depends on our experiences in the environment
What are the differences between Piaget and Vygotsky?
- Piaget: readiness (must be at right stage) / Vygotsky: acceleration (scaffolding by expert helps child move more quickly through ZPD)
- Piaget: stages / Vygotsky: continual (movement through ZPD)
- Piaget: child as scientist (‘constructivist’, child builds own understanding) / Vygotsky: child as apprentice (learning from expert, ‘social interactionist’)
How is support for scaffolding a strength of Vygotsky’s theory?
Vygotsky’s theory states that an expert provides scaffolding to enable the learner to move through the ZPD and then reduces the support gradually.
Support is reduced because the goal is independence.
Evidence: Conner and Cross illustrated the gradual reduction of support from the expert in a longitudinal study of 45 children.
The children were studied at 16, 26, 44 and 54 months. Over time less direct intervention and more prompts were used and help was offered when needed rather than constantly. This supports Vygotsky’s theory that scaffolding is reduced by the expert as the learner becomes more independently able to do the task.
What support is there to support the Zone of Proximal Development?
Roazzi and Bryant gave children aged 4-5 some sweets in box and asked them to estimate how many there were.
In condition 1 the children worked alone and in condition 2 they worked with an expert older child.
Most children working alone failed to give a good estimate. In condition 2, the expert was shown to prompt the child, pointing them in the right direction. Most of the children in condition 2 mastered the task.
This supports Vygotsky’s theory because children in condition 1 could not do the task, it is not something they can do unaided. However, with support children in condition 2 could do the task, showing there is a gap and the expert helped them cross it.
What eveidence is there that application in education is a strength of Vygotsky’s theory?
Scaffolding is formalised in lessons and resources.
A review of usefulness of teaching assistants found that they are very effective at improving the learning rate of children providing they are trained.
This supports Vygotsky’s theory because is shows that the learner benefits from interaction with an expert, which the trained TAs would be.
Why is ignoring individual differences a limitation of Vygotsky’s theory?
Some children may not learn best through social interaction so the theory will not fit all children.
(Some introverts or people on the autism spectrum may not learn well this way)
It means the theory can’t explain learning for everyone, it can’t be fully generalised.
How is determinism/free will debate linked to this theory?
- Determinism factors determining behaviour: learning - prescence of an expert scaffolding helps learner move faster through ZPD biological drive to learn
