Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development Flashcards
Vygotsky’s theory
Vygotsky believed that social interaction, language and culture played an important role in the cognitive development of children.
He suggested that children’s interaction with teachers, parents and other adults or older children allowed them to learn from the experienced others.
Zone of proximal development (ZPD)
The gap between the child’s current level development as well as the tasks they can do alone and what they can understand and achieve with the help of a more knowledgeable other.
Scaffolding
The help given by a more knowledgeable other to the child is called scaffolding (Wood, Bruner and Ross 1976)
Wood and Middleton (1975)
12 mothers were asked to teach their 4 year old son children to put together a tower made of interlocking wooden pieces, until they were able to do so on their own.
They found that the most effective way of teaching was to increase or lessen the support given to the child depending on how well they are doing until they eventually can do it on their own. This supports Vygotsky’s claim that social interaction and scaffolding is important in the child’s cognitive development.
Strengths
Supported by a number of studies claiming that cognitive skills are heavily influenced by context, culture and language. An example is Greenfield and Lave (1982) who observed young Mexican girls learning how to weave. They started off by watching the more experienced people do it, then the young girls began to weave alongside them and eventually they were capable of doing it by themselves with no support or supervision. This is a strength because it supports scaffolding.
Population validity - Vygotsky emphasized the importance of culture and context and took into account cultural differences, whereas Piaget did not take this into consideration and perhaps assumed that children experience the same development despite being from different backgrounds and cultures.
Limitations
His work is criticized for not providing as many hypotheses to test as Piaget’s theory did.
It is also simplistic
