Theories of development 2 :Vygotsky

Question 1

Infant elementary functions

• define
• name 4
• what do they progress to?

Answer 1

attention, sensation, perception, memory
(born with these functions)

interaction with people and the environment and language enables children to develop higher mental functions

Question 2

Overview of Vygotskys theory

Answer 2

• importance of socio-culture - how we think is a function of the social and cultural world we grow up in. Childrens cog skills will develop to handle their surroundings
• inner speech - plays a critical role in promoting cog dev
• instruction at the heart of learning - cog dev occurs in situations where a childs problem solving is guided by an adult
• cultural context

Question 3

socio-culture effect on cog development
-play
study?

Answer 3

socio-culture determines the type of practical activity we engage in and the things we learn

• children often imitate in play so this will affect the play-based activity
  study: morelli et al(2003) observed toddlers in 3 different communities: african, Efe people(foragers in democratic republic of congo)and indigenous Mayan group
  found: 2 and 3 imitated adult work in play more than 1st group

Question 4

socio-culture effect on cog development
-problem-solving
studies?

Answer 4

socio-culture influences how familiar we are with thinking and reasoning about certain problems or topics
studies:
1) Cole et al(1971)- The Kpelle people of Liberia are better at estimating quantities of rice (common practice for them) than US p’s (US better at estimating lengths)
2) Luria(1979) - 2 groups of farmers in Uzbekistan 1group= traditional farmers, 2group= larger communities with formal schools due to marxist reform
-showed 4 pics and asked to choose 3 that went together
Found: - group 2 made ‘abstract category’, group 1 made practical situations (Eg.grouped tools to cut wood)
3) chinese and US students tested on 2 problems, 1 problem required solutions analogous to a strategy in a popular western tale = US students better
problem 2= analogous to chinese tale = Chinese better

Question 5

socio-culture effect on cog development
-language
study?

Answer 5

socio-culture determines the language we speak, and subtle differences in language can lead to noticable differences in cognition
study:
1) -in 2 amazonian languages there are no number words for quantities larger than 5 = this culture can only solve problems with numbers less than 5
+ supports idea that lang can influence numerical skills
2) Zuber et al - english express numbers with decade first then units eg forty-seven, German say opposite way round eg. seven-forty = german children have problems learning to convert spoken numbers

Question 6

Self speech and inner speech
-def?
studies

Answer 6

self speech= a transition from language as a tool for communicating as a tool for thought (Essential for cog dev.)
-childrens behaviour is first controlled by adults instruction, then private speech aloud, then inner speech(7yrs old)= thought
+Berk - children engage in more self speech if a task is challenging, if they’re making mistakes or if they’re confused
+Behrend et al - children who use speech when facing a challenging task = more attentive and perform better on cog. tasks

Question 7

Scaffolding and the zone of proximal development

Answer 7

cognition improves with others, especially those who are more experienced than child

• ZPD = increase in development a child can reach via assistance
• Scaffolding (Bruner, 1983) - how childrens learning is enhanced when more competent people provide a framework that supports childrens thinking at a higher level than they can manage alone (adjusted as child becomes more capable)
• who? - parent/teacher/peer
• how? - modelling an action, suggesting a strategy to solve a problem/ restructuring task to make it more managable
  evidence: Behrend et al - parents who provide supportive learning have children who generate more private speech = more successful

Question 8

5 important aspects of scaffolding

Answer 8

1 - recruitment - engage child’s interest
2 - reduction of degrees of freedom - reduce no.of acts needed to arrive at solution
3 - direction maintenance - need to maintain a childs motivation
4 - marking critical features - highlight important features
5 - demonstration - model the solution or parts to stimulate the learner to imitate

Question 9

Applications in education

Answer 9

• Peers as tutors - interaction with peer who is slightly ahead eg. cooperative groups work
  evidence: Bennett and Dunne(1992) - jigsaw method - computers can also be peers = structured guidance
• vygotskian classroom features - structured learning, helpful hints tailored to a childs ability, monitoring progress, collaborative learning

Question 10

Educational methods successful?

evidence from Freund(1995)

Answer 10

3-5yr olds furnish a doll house(from a view of a puppet) - worked on similar task with and without mother, then performed furniture sorting task
Found: kids with mothers help = performed better

Question 11

Why does collab learning help?

Answer 11

-enhances motivation
-means child has to explain ideas, persuade and resolve conflicts
-increases self-speech which supports learning(Teasley, 1992)
However, peers need to modify behaviour for less skilled peers, if not it doesn’t work

Question 12

Group learning = poor memory

evidence?

Answer 12

Rather, Foley, Gimpert(2002) - 5 year olds to do doll house study
found: they made attribution errors eg. thought they has made decisions when it was actually the adult –> this helped learning though as they remembered locations of furtniture better
so, collaboration = greater learning as young childrens poor memory leads hem to make attribution errors

Question 13

Piaget vs. Vygotsky

-similarities and differences

Answer 13

similarities:
- children are active learners
- interaction with world is important in development = both constructivists - idea that kids construct their understanding of world via experience and interaction
Differences:
-piaget - children are like scientists (own efforts)
-vygotsky - children as social learners

Question 14

Key differences with piaget and vygotsky

• cog development
• nature vs. nurture
• social environment
• culture
• self-speech

Answer 14

-cog dev:
P - progresses in distinct, discontinuous stages; qualitative shifts; order doesn’t differ between children
V - progresses more flexibly and continuously; gradual quantiative improvements; influenced by various factors
- nature vs. nurture:
P - maturation is important = stronger emphasis on nature
V - social environment and culture is important = stronger emphasis on nurture
- social environment
P - no interaction is necessary for development, child determines development
- culture
P - does not influence development
V - plays an important role
- self-speech
P - self speech suggests child is self-centred: they are unable to consider the point-of-view of others and engage in meaningful exchanges
V - transition between the childs language learnt in social context and attempting to internalise as private or inner speech