Vygotsky's theory CD Flashcards
What is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)?
The gap between a child’s current level of development and what they can potentially do with the right help from a more expert other.
Define scaffolding in the context of cognitive development.
The process of helping a learner cross the ZPD and advance as much as they can, given their stage of development.
Who was Vygotsky?
A Russian psychologist influenced by Piaget’s work, who viewed cognitive development as a social process.
What major aspect did Vygotsky emphasize in cognitive development?
Language is a big part of cognitive development and cognitive development is a social process.
How do cultural differences affect cognitive abilities according to Vygotsky?
Reasoning abilities are acquired from more experienced individuals, leading to cultural differences in cognitive development.
What did Vygotsky believe about higher mental functions?
Higher mental functions, such as formal reasoning, could only be acquired through interaction with more advanced others, which allows them to cross the ZPD
What is the Vygotsky-Bruner model?
A theory influenced by Bruner and his colleagues, emphasizing the process of scaffolding in learning.
What happens to the level of help given by an expert as a learner crosses the ZPD?
The level of help declines.
Bruner, wood and ross
True or False: Evidence supports the existence of a gap in reasoning abilities when comparing children working alone versus with an expert.
True.
What did Roazzi and Bryant’s study demonstrate regarding the ZPD?
Children aged 4-5 working alone failed to estimate well, while those receiving expert help from older students succeeded.
ZPD is a valid concept
What did Conner and Cross’s longitudinal study reveal about scaffolding?
Study of 45 children found that mothers used less intervention and more hints as children gained experience, thus showing that Adult assistance in children’s learning is well described by scaffolding.
Fill in the blank: Children learn more with appropriate _______.
[scaffolding].
What did Keer and Verhaeghe find regarding tutoring?
RWA
7 year olds tutored by 10 year olds progressed further in reading than those who had whole class teaching.
What did Alborz et al conclude about teaching assistants?
RWA
Teaching assistants are very effective at improving the rate of learning in children.
What counterpoint for RWA is made about the universality of Vygotsky’s applications?
Liu and Mathews found that In China, large classes of 50 learn effectively in lecture-style classrooms with few social interactions.
