Vygotsky
Social Development Theory - Lev Vygotsky
In terms of popularity, Lev Vygotsky is one of the most utilized psychologist in the educational field. Stressing the importance of social learning, Vygotsky advocates a cognitive perspective that learning precedes development. According to Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory, the social interactions and experiences of an individual guides his/her development. Cognitive processes and thinking are therefore a product of socialization and one’s social behavior. One important byproduct of this is what Vygotsky termed private speech - children’s silent inner speech that guides their actions and thoughts. This inner speech is initially the incorporation of others’ speech, which children use to help themselves solve problems. Teachers often incorporate this in their teaching when they use the “I do, we do, you do” modelling instructional strategy. While this strategy is primarily used for teaching academic content, it is also a powerful tool for teaching children appropriate social interaction.
According to Vygotsky, the key to children actually learning a new skill or grasping new knowledge - academic or social - is a child’s readiness to learn that particular skill or knowledge. Vygotsky identified the point at which a particular child is ready to learn a new skill or concept the zone of proximal development (ZPD). This zone describes skills or concepts that a child has not yet learned, but is capable of learning with some help. However, in order to learn a new skill or concept, a child must have existing knowledge off which to build. That knowledge is provided via scaffolding, which is the process of continuously building upon a child’s existing knowledge and skills in order to better master a new, harder concept or skill. This typically entails educators providing a lot of support during the initial stages of learning while gradually decreasing that support and increasing the student’s responsibility he/she is ready.
Another large component of Vygotsky’s theories is peer interactions. He argued that cooperative learning is an effective tool to help children develop the skills and strategies they need to succeed by learning from each other. Peers often act as models for each other. Vygotsky saw cooperative learning as a way for struggling students to learn from their more skillful peers. Operating within each other’s ZPDs, peers provide models for slightly more advanced thinking. Cooperative learning provide students opportunities to glimpse their peers’ private speech and learn from their peers behavior. Furthermore, cooperative learning provides teachers with the opportunity to guide their students in the process of learning - via an educational approach called Constructionism.
Vygotsky and Fred
For Fred, a child that struggles with social norms, peer interactions, and classroom expectations, the larger social skills and know-how that are needed to succeed socially are likely outside his ZPD. That does not mean those skills and knowledge cannot be acquired via intentional, explicit teacher guidance and the creation of opportunities for him to learn from his peers.
Fred’s teacher provides her students with many opportunities for cooperative learning via group projects. However, Fred’s struggle to stay on task, complete his portion of group work, and communicate constructively- i.e. becoming defensively when his group members try to get him to complete his share of the work - during group projects are causing him and his peers much hardship. To begin addressing these issues, the Vygotskyian approach would advocate that Fred’s teacher begin explicitly building up Fred’s ability to focus and complete an assignment independently.
There are two Vygotskyian methods through which Fred’s teacher can begin addressing this concern. The first is by setting small incremental goals for staying on task with Fred. Once Fred meets each “staying on task” time goal, Fred and his teacher will agree on a new slightly harder goal for how long he must stay on task. Fred’s teacher could set a timer by him and together they could identify a specific, feasible goal for how long he must stay on task before taking a mini brain break. The first goal could be as easy as him staying on task for 1-minute. As Fred meets each goal, he and his teacher can set new slightly harder goals to increase the duration of his task focus. The second way for Fred’s teacher to address Fred’s problem staying on task is the development of a way for Fred to mentally refocus himself when he is off task. There are many people who have identified strategies for this. The key to Vygotsky’s approach is for Fred to identify the problem and purposefully work towards overcoming it.
In addition to addressing Fred’s difficulty staying on task and completing assignments, Vygotsky’s theories also offer suggestions on enhance his success on group projects. To this effect, Vygotsky would recommend the teacher more explicitly model group expectations and constructive communication strategies. Fred’s teacher could - and should - even have Fred’s group members participate in this modelling to provide him with peer examples to learn from. To ensure the success of this, Fred’s teacher and group members should vocalize their private speech as they do their modeling.
For Fred, a child that struggles with social norms, peer interactions, and classroom expectations, the larger social skills and know-how that are needed to succeed socially are likely outside his ZPD. That does not mean those skills and knowledge cannot be acquired via intentional, explicit teacher guidance and the creation of opportunities for him to learn from his peers.
Fred’s teacher provides her students with many opportunities for cooperative learning via group projects. However, Fred’s struggle to stay on task, complete his portion of group work, and communicate constructively- i.e. becoming defensively when his group members try to get him to complete his share of the work - during group projects are causing him and his peers much hardship. To begin addressing these issues, the Vygotskyian approach would advocate that Fred’s teacher begin explicitly building up Fred’s ability to focus and complete an assignment independently.
There are two Vygotskyian methods through which Fred’s teacher can begin addressing this concern. The first is by setting small incremental goals for staying on task with Fred. Once Fred meets each “staying on task” time goal, Fred and his teacher will agree on a new slightly harder goal for how long he must stay on task. Fred’s teacher could set a timer by him and together they could identify a specific, feasible goal for how long he must stay on task before taking a mini brain break. The first goal could be as easy as him staying on task for 1-minute. As Fred meets each goal, he and his teacher can set new slightly harder goals to increase the duration of his task focus. The second way for Fred’s teacher to address Fred’s problem staying on task is the development of a way for Fred to mentally refocus himself when he is off task. There are many people who have identified strategies for this. The key to Vygotsky’s approach is for Fred to identify the problem and purposefully work towards overcoming it.
In addition to addressing Fred’s difficulty staying on task and completing assignments, Vygotsky’s theories also offer suggestions on enhance his success on group projects. To this effect, Vygotsky would recommend the teacher more explicitly model group expectations and constructive communication strategies. Fred’s teacher could - and should - even have Fred’s group members participate in this modelling to provide him with peer examples to learn from. To ensure the success of this, Fred’s teacher and group members should vocalize their private speech as they do their modeling.
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