Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development Flashcards
Vygotsky’s theory
Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
Vygotsky & Piaget agreed on many basics of cog development & that children’s reasoning abilities develop in particular sequence
Major diff is that Vygotsky saw cog development as social process learning from more experienced others
Knowledge is first intermental, between more & less expert individuals, then intramental, w/in mind of less expert
Cultural differences in cog ability
Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
Reasoning abilities are acquired from more experienced individuals a child has contact w/, so child will acquire reasoning abilities of those people
May be cult diffs in cog development w/ kids picking up mental ‘tools’ that are important for life in physical, social & work environments of their culture
Zone of proximal development (ZPD)
Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
The gap between a child’s current level of development and what they can potentially understand after interaction w/ more expert others
Expert assisstance allows child to cross ZPD & understand as much of subject as possible
Children develop more advanced understanding of situation & hence more advanced reasoning abilities needed to deal w/ it by learning from others
Higher mental functions could only be acquired through interaction w/ more advanced others
Scaffolding
Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
Kinds of help more advanced individual gives a child to help them cross ZPD
Noted particular strats that experts used when scaffolding
As learner crosses ZPD, level of help given declines
Evaluation: Support for ZPD
Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
Strength - research support for ZPD
Roazzi & Bryant (1998) gave kids aged 4-5 task of estimating number of sweets in a box
In one condition, they worked alone and in another they had help from older child
Most kids alone failed to give good estimate but when older kids prompted them, most were able to master the task
There4, kids can develop additional reasoning abilities when working w/ more expert individuals so ZPD is valid concept
Evaluation: Support for scaffolding
Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
Strength - research support for scaffolding
Conner & Cross (2003) used longitundinal procedure to follow up 45% kids, obersving them engaged in prob-solving tasks w/ help of mum at ages 16, 26, 44 & 54 mnths
Changes in help observed over time
Mums used less direct intervention & more prompts as child gained experience and would only prompt when nessecary
There4, adults assistance w/ children’s learning is well described by scaffolding
Evaluation: Real-world application
Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
Strength - practical application in education
Idea kids can learn more & faster w/ scaffolding has raised expectations
Social interaction in learning has been used to scaffold kids through their ZPD
Van Keer & Verhaeghe (2005) found that 7 yos tutored by 10 yos, in addition to whole class teaching, progressed further in reading than CG
Alborz et al (2009) reviewed usefulness of teaching assistants & found them to be very effective at improving rate of learning in children
There4, Vygotsky’s ideas have value in real world settings
Evaluation - Real-world application (Counterpoint)
Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
However, Vygotsky’s ideas about role of social interaction may not be universal
Liu & Matthews (2005) point out that in China classes of 50 learn very effectuvely in lecture-style classes w/ few individual interactions w/ peers or tutors
There4, Vygotsky may have overestimated importance of scaffolding
