Lecture 3 - Theories of Development (Vgotksy)

Question 1

Overview of theory

Answer 1

• Prioritises the social nature of learning and the co-construction of knowledge and understanding
• Infants are born with 4 functions (attention, sensation, perception and memory) that become higher mental functions through interaction with other people and the environment

Question 2

Socioculture

Answer 2

• Brings together how society and the social world of a child and the culture in the child’s world impact development
• Each culture provides tools to help children use their basic mental functions more efficiently
• Can influence play, problem solving and language

Question 3

Play

Answer 3

-[Morelli et al. 2003] observed toddlers in 3 communities (American, the efe people and an indigenous Mayan group) They found that the efe people and the indigenous Mayan group imitated adult work more.

Question 4

Problem Solving

Answer 4

• [Luria,1979] studied 2 groups of farmers in Uzbekistan. One group were traditional farmers in a small village and the other lived in larger communities and had had some formal schooling. They were shown 4 pictures and asked to pick the 3 that went together (saw, wood,axe and a shovel.)
• The farmers with formal schooling selected the 3 tools to go together to form an abstract category (saw, axe, shovel) whereas the unschooled farmers based their choice on practical decisions where objects could be used
• Schooling changes the way people form concepts and draw conclusions
• The cave problem [Chen,Mo and Honomich,2004) treasure hunter goes to explore a cave but suspects they may get lost - US students better at solving problem as they used the ‘Hansel and Gretel’ strategy of leaving a trail

Question 5

Language

Answer 5

• [Gordon,2004] in 2 Amazonian languages there are no number words for numbers larger than 5 so individuals can only easily solve math problems when working with numbers less than 5.
• [Zuber et al., 2009] in English numbers are expressed with the degree first then the unit (forty-seven) but some language such as German do this the other way round (seven-forty) so these children often have problems converting spoken numbers.

Question 6

Self-speech

Answer 6

Transition from language as a tool for communicating to a tool for thought

Question 7

The zone of proximal development

Answer 7

• Refers to the increase in development that a child can reach through assistance by a more competent person compared to development without this help
• E.g. learning to walk = children may only be able to take 1 or 2 steps (their ZPD) and adults often assist by holding children as they walk until they eventually let go

Question 8

Scaffolding

Answer 8

• Describes how children’s learning is enhanced when more competent people provide a framework that supports children’s thinking at a higher level that they could manage themselves
• Modelling an action, suggesting a strategy to solve a problem or reconstructing it into more manageable parts

Question 9

5 important aspects of scaffolding [Wood et al.,1976]

Answer 9

1 - Recruitment = engage child’s interest
2- Reduction of degrees of freedom = you should reduce the number of acts that are needed to arrive at a solution
3- Direction maintenance = maintain child’s motivation
4- Marking critical features = highlighting important features
5- Demonstration = model solution to stimulate the learner to imitate