Vygotsky Flashcards
What Is Vygotsky Theory Of Cognitive Development
In contrast to piaget, Vygotsky did not suggest children develop the ability to think in specific, age-related stages. Instead Vygotsky emphasised the importance of social interaction, context and cutlure, language and ZPD and scaffolding to cognitive delvelopment.
Vygotsky’s Belief on Social Interaction, Context and Culture
Vygotsky believed that the ability to think and reason was the outcome of a fundamentally social process in which cognitive skills developed as the child interacted with other people such as teachers/pupils at school, in the home with family/ siblings/friends.
The key to cognitive development was interaction this enabled children to see older people using problem-solving skills and cognitive tools and to ‘internalise’ these mental skills to use themselves. This vital interaction enabled children to develop mental skills and to learn to think.
Cognitive development comes from the ‘interplay between spontaneous natural development and the social interaction of children with adults and peers’
Discuss Brazilian Street Study By Nunes
Vygotsky also emphasised that the cognitive skills developed by the children are heavily influenced by context and culture. Example shown of this is of the Brazilian street children study by Nunes where despite not having no formal schooling, children who have jobs as street vendors have very well-developed mathematical skills which they have ‘internalised’ through working alongside adults and older children from an early age demonstrating the vital connection between context, culture and learning seen by Vygotsky
Vygotsky’s Belief on Language
Vygotsky believed that children were born with elementary mental functions such as attention and memory which developed into higher mental functions or complex thinking skills. The transition from simple to complex thinking was made possible by language.
Vygotsky argued that language itself became internalised at around age seven enabling the child to think and perform complex reasoning tasks. Young children use monologues as they have not yet developed internalised speech
One Function of language is social speech, using words to communicate with others. Another is called intellectual speech (develops around 7-8 years old). This type of inner speech is used to regulate, plan and think and is the basis of higher mental functions. As it becomes internalised as an inner voice.
Vygotsky’s Belief of ZPD
ZPD was defined as the distance between the child’s current development level, measured by the tasks they were able to achieve on their own, and their ability when helped by another person who was more knowledgeable or experienced than themselves.
Vygotsky’s Belief of Scaffholding
Scaffolding refers to the help and support a person is to the child by Gaining and maintaining the learner’s interest in the task. Making the task simple. Emphasizing certain aspects that will help with the solution. Control the child’s level of frustration.
Wood and Middleton ;Scaffholding Experiment - Aim
Provide empirical support for both the concept of scaffolding and the ZPD.
Wood and Middleton ;Scaffholding Experiment - Method
A 4-year-old child had to use a set of blocks and pegs to build a 3D model shown in a picture. Building the model was too difficult a task for a 4-year-old child to complete alone.
Wood and Middleton (1975) observed how mothers interacted with their children to build the 3D model. The type of support included:
*General encouragement e.g. ‘now you have a go.’
*Specific instructions e.g. ‘get four big blocks.’
*Direct demonstration e.g. showing the child how to place one block on another.
Wood and Middleton ;Scaffholding Experiment - Results
The study showed that no single strategy was best for helping the child to progress. Mothers whose assistance was most effective were those who varied their strategy according to how the child was doing. When the child was doing well, they became less specific in their help. When the child started to struggle, they gave increasingly specific instructions until the child started to make progress again.
Wood and Middleton ;Scaffholding Experiment - Conclusion
The study illustrates scaffolding is most effective when the support is matched to the needs of the learner. This puts them in a position to achieve success in an activity that they would previously not have been able to do alone.
Wood et al. (1976) named certain processes that aid effective scaffolding:
• Gaining and maintaining the learner’s interest in the task.
• Making the task simple.
• Emphasizing certain aspects that will help with the solution.
• Control the child’s level of frustration.
• Demonstrate the task
Wood and Middleton ;Scaffholding Experiment - A P F C
The following study provides empirical support the both the concept of scaffolding and the ZPD.
A 4-year-old child had to use a set of blocks and pegs to build a 3D model shown in a picture. Building the model was too difficult a task for a 4-year-old child to complete alone.
Wood and Middleton (1975) observed how mothers interacted with their children to build the 3D model. The type of support included:
*General encouragement e.g. ‘now you have a go.’
*Specific instructions e.g. ‘get four big blocks.’
*Direct demonstration e.g. showing the child how to place one block on another.
The study showed that no single strategy was best for helping the child to progress. Mothers whose assistance was most effective were those who varied their strategy according to how the child was doing. When the child was doing well, they became less specific in their help. When the child started to struggle, they gave increasingly specific instructions until the child started to make progress again.
The study illustrates scaffolding is most effective when the support is matched to the needs of the learner. This puts them in a position to achieve success in an activity that they would previously not have been able to do alone.
Wood et al. (1976) named certain processes that aid effective scaffolding:
• Gaining and maintaining the learner’s interest in the task.
• Making the task simple.
• Emphasizing certain aspects that will help with the solution.
• Control the child’s level of frustration.
• Demonstrate the task
Methodological Issues with Wood And Middleton’s Scaffholding Experiment
Use of observational method provides rich, detailed data. Use of video recording allows the play session to be watched many times by researchers.
The sample is small and so is not a representative sample and cannot be successfully generalised.
Ethical Issues with Wood And Middleton’s Scaffholding Experiment
This study took place with mothers present in the children’s own homes. The experience was unlikely to be stressful for children.
Discuss Moss (1992) Study
Examined mothers’ scaffolding of pre-school children on tasks such as building a tower of blocks. Moss found that mothers naturally used three strategies when playing with their young children.
These involved
*Staying one step ahead of the child, eg gathering a pile of large square suitable blocks
*inhibiting or gently discouraging ‘immature’ strategies such as putting bricks in their mouths
*Reinforcing or consolidating useful new strategies, such as giving praise when the child lines up the bricks correctly.
Discuss Pratt Et Al(1992) Study
Studied parents helping older children with maths homework using long division. They found that some variation in children’s performances were related to how successful parents helped and scaffolded them during homework periods.
