Lev Vygotsky

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Lev Vygotsky

• MSU Billings

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Lev Vygotsky Archive, Retrieved Online on June
22, 2004 from http//www.marxists.org/archive/Vyg
otsky/
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Biography

• Born in Russia in 1896
• Graduated from University of Moscow in 1917
• Lectured on psychology and taught literature
• Became interested in language and cognitive
  development
• Developed Social Development Theory
• Died of Tuberculosis in 1934 at the age of 38

Lev Vygotsky Archive, Retrieved Online on June
22, 2004 from http//www.marxists.org/archive/Vyg
otsky/
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Social Development Theory

• Social interaction fundamental in the development
  of cognition
• Personal and social experience cannot be
  separated
• Example Pointing a finger
• Social and cultural institutions , technologies,
  and tools, are the driving force behind
  interpersonal interactions.
• A function in the cultural development of a child
  develops on two planes
• Socio-cultural plane
• Psychological plane

Lev Vygotsky Archive, Retrieved Online on June
22, 2004 from http//www.marxists.org/archive/Vyg
otsky/
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Zone of Proximal Development

• Range of skills that can be developed with the
  guidance of a knowledgeable adult that exceeds
  what can be attained alone.
• Depends on full social interaction
• Four levels of learning for ZPD
• Student needs assistance from other to do skill
• Student needs assistance, but he/she is in
  control
• Student masters the skill and can work on their
  own
• Recursive (disrupted) Child sometimes must go
  back to other stages

Gardhart, C. Theories of Childhood. (2000) St.
Paul, MNRedleaf Books
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ZPD continued

• Teacher needs to teach at level where there is a
  minimum amount of assistance, but the student is
  still not on his/her own yet.
• When children are guided by explanation,
  demonstrations, and work, they can attain higher
  levels of thinking
• Example IQ testing
• Scaffolding helping a child to understand
  difficult concepts (like using a scaffold to
  reach the top part of the house when painting)

Gardhart, C. Theories of Childhood. (2000) St.
Paul, MNRedleaf Books
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Vygotsky and Language

• The relation between word is a living
  process thought is born through words. A word
  devoid of thought is a dead thing, and a thought
  unembodied in word remains a shadow. The
  connection between them, however, is not a
  performed and constant one. It emerges in the
  course of development and itself evolves.
  -Vygotsky

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Collaborative learning

• Influenced by Vygotskys work
• Collaborative classrooms have four major
  characteristics
• Shared knowledge among teachers and students
• Shared authority among teachers and students
• Teachers as mediators
• Heterogeneous groupings of students
• Assessment in a collaborative classroom

Tinzmann, B.F.What is the Collaborative
Classroom? North Central Regional Educational
Laboratory (1990). Retrieved Online on June 22,
2004, from http//www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/rpl_esy
s/collab.htm
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Applying Vygotskys Ideas

• Observe children carefully and plan curriculum
  that encourages childrens emerging abilities.
• Plan Challenging Curriculum to stretch a childs
  competence
• Encourage conversations and social interaction
• Provide opportunities for children to work
  together
• Pair children up to learn from each other

Gardhart, C. Theories of Childhood. (2000) St.
Paul, MNRedleaf Books
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Vygotskys Works

• The Psychology of Art, 1925Consciousness as a
  problem in the Psychology of Behavior,
  1925Educational Psychology, 1926Historical
  meaning of the crisis in Psychology, 1927The
  Problem of the Cultural Development of the Child,
  1929The Socialist alteration of Man,
  1930Primitive Man and his Behavior, c. 1930Mind
  and Society, 1930Adolescent Pedagogy, 1931Play
  and its role in the Mental development of the
  Child, 1933Thinking and Speech, 1934

Lev Vygotsky Archive, Retrieved Online on June
22, 2004 from http//www.marxists.org/archive/Vyg
otsky/