Vygotksy's theory of cognitive development

Question 1

Who was Vygtosky and what did he think about child development?

Answer 1

• Russian psychologist, influenced by Piaget
• Agreed children’s reasoning abilities develop in a particular sequence
• Saw cognitive development as a social process of learning from experts
• Knowledge is first instrumental (between both) and later intramental (in mind of less experienced individual)

Question 2

What does research show about cultural differences in cognitive abilities?

Answer 2

• If reasoning abilities are acquired from experienced individuals, it follows that the child will acquire the reasoning abilities of this particular individual
• Means there may be cultural differences in cognitive development
• Children pick up on mental ‘tools’ that are important for life within physical, social, work environments of their culture
• Include hand-eye coordination, evaluation skills

Question 3

What is the zone of proximal development (ZPD)?

Answer 3

• The gap between a child’s current level of development, and what they can potentially do with the help of an expert
• Emphasises the role of learning through interaction with others

Question 4

What does expert assistance do for a child?

Answer 4

• Allows a child to cross the ZPD and understand as much of a situation/subject as they are capable of (this is still partially limited by their developmental stage)
• Children develop a more advanced understanding of a situation, so have more advanced reasoning abilities to deal with them, by learning from others
• Acquire advanced reasoning abilities

Question 5

What is scaffolding?

Answer 5

• Refers to all kinds of help adults/advanced peers give a child to help them cross the ZPD
• Vygotksy-Bruner model explains scaffolding

Question 6

What did Wood, Bruner, Ross find in relation to scaffolding?

Answer 6

• Noted particualr strategies experts use when scaffolding
• As a learner crosses the ZPD, the level of help given declines from level 5 (most) to level 1 (least help)
• Adults are more likely to use higher levels when first helping, then gradually withdraw the level of help as the child understands the task

Question 7

What are the 5 levels of help in scaffolding?

Answer 7

5- Demonstration
4- Preparation for child
3- Indication of materials
2- Specific verbal instruction
1- General prompts

Question 8

Strength-
I- Research support for the ZPD

Answer 8

D- Roazzi and Bryant gave 4-5 year olds the task of estimating the number of sweets in a box. Condition 1= worked alone, condition 2= worked with the help of an older child. Most working alone failed to give a good estimate, but those in condition 2, received prompts from experts and most successfully mastered the task
E- Shows that children can develop additional reasoning abilities when working with an ‘expert’ individual

Question 9

Strength-
I- Research support for scaffolding

Answer 9

D- Research shows the level of help given declines during learning process. Conner and Cross used a longitudinal procedure to follow 45 children engaging in problem-solving tasks with their mothers’ help (at ages 16, 26, 44, 54 months). Mothers used less direct intervention, more hints/ prompts and increasingly offered help when needed as children gained experience
E- Means adult assistance with children’s learning is well described by scaffolding

Question 10

Strength-
I- Real world application

Answer 10

D- Influential in 21st century education. The idea that children learn more and faster with scaffolding raised expectations of what they should achieve. Social interaction (i.e. group work, peer tutoring, individual adult assistance from teachers/TAs) used to scaffold children through the ZPD. Van Keer and Verhaeghe found that 7 year olds tutored by 10 year olds, in addition to whole class learning, progressed further in reading than controls. Albroz’s review of the usefulness of TAs concluded they are very effective at improving rate of learning
E- Provides practical value to ideas

Question 11

Limitation-
I- Practical application may not be universal

Answer 11

D- Liu and Matthews point out that in China, clases of up to 50 children learn very effectively in lecture-style classrooms with few individual interactions with peers/tutors
E- Means Vygotsky may have overestimated the importance of scaffolding

Question 12

Evaluation extra-
I- Vygotsky vs Piaget

Answer 12

D- Much evidence to support Vygotksy’s idea of expert assistance. However this only supports part of his theory. If he was correct about learning being an interactive process, we would expect all children learning together to pick up similar skills and mental representations of material. Howe found that what kids learn varies between individuals, even in group learning situations
E- Suggest both theories are partially correct