Contributions to Educational Learning, Feuerstein and Vygotsky - Essay Example

Introduction Lev Vygotsky and Reuven Feuerstein are notable contributors to the constructivist method of learning in educational theory. This method emphasises the active, dynamic and levelled nature of learning (Crowther, 1997), and these psychologists contributed by legitimising the employment of social interaction in the learning process. The result of this is that learning has become a more natural and interesting process in many classrooms, and it has led to an improvement of the match between teaching and learning (McDermott, 1993). Vygotsky was an advocate of Marx and socialism, and supported the theory of base and superstructure, which postulates man's socio-cultural setting as the substance from which all ideologies spring and upon which they must inevitably rest. Building therefore on this base, Vygotsky developed a theory in which society and culture contribute to the learning process of children and is in large part responsible for their learning. Feuerstein's great contribution has usually been to operationalize the concepts propounded by Vygotsky. Such components as sociocultural mediation and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), identified by Vygotsky, have been further developed and probed by the capable instruments created by Feuerstein for enhancement of mediated learning. The theories of social and cultural mediation as propounded by Vygotsky and Feuerstein will be explored in this essay. It will also consider the ZPD and the instruments that have been developed to enhance learning using these theories. Social Mediation Vygotsky argues that children develop higher levels of cognition through the mediation that occurs in a social context. Lower mental processes are genetic and instinctive; they come naturally to an individual. The higher mental processes, on the other hand, are definitive of a cognitive stage unique in man as a species through which he is able to distance himself from the world and, through the use of various symbols and in conjunction with other men, abstractly manipulate its contents to extract and develop his knowledge and understanding of them (Panofsky, 2003). Because of the meaning these higher mental functions have for society, and because they exist before (and independent of) the individual, they must be learned through mediation. This means that higher levels of cognition are necessarily mediated by society, and it is only once a lesson is learned on the societal level that it becomes internalised and manifests itself on a psychological level. Social agents of mediation take a variety of forms and provide the learner with access to what has been given a variety of names ranging from psychological, to cultural or cognitive tools (Smagorinski). How a human person acts within a given society is dependent on the forms and qualities of interactions available to him as a model. If adequate mediation is provided, learning occurs; if not, learning suffers. This theory then goes on to describe the child and/or learner as limited in his or her ability to acquire knowledge when left on his own. What a child is able to perform when placed in a social setting is almost invariably more than that which he or she is able to do alone, and this additional capability gives the educator an idea of the child's potential (Salomon and Perkins, 1998). This potential (denoted by Vygotsky as the Zone of Proximal Development) cannot be realised, however, unless learning is mediated by another in a social setting. Feuerstein also advocated the theory of mediation in learning. He developed the cognitive map which denotes the dimensions of cognition, and contributed to the mediation theory by formulating an operation that delineates the different stages and participants in the mediation process. The Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) he defined as "The quality of interaction directed towards ensuring meaningful learning by parents, teachers, caregivers and peers, interposed between the child and the stimuli they receive" (Feuerstein). It was his idea that these social mediators formulate problems whose main function is to test the cognitive methods employed by the learners during the process of meaning making. Three important aspects of the transaction have been noted: both mediator and learner collaborate and aid each other; the mediator facilitates the learner's understanding of the meaning, importance, and process of the activity; and the two establish a connection between what has been learned and other existing or upcoming situations (Fabio, 2005). He developed the Instrumental Enrichment (IE) programme as an outgrowth of his deconstruction of socially mediated learning. Through this method, specific tasks are taught to learners and then applied to different content areas (Feuerstein, et al., 1985). He also developed the Learning Potential Assessment Device (LPAD) to enhance the conventional IQ tests in assessing the areas in which learners need and warrant educational intervention through mediation. Both Vygotsky and Feuerstein agree in their belief that social mediation is essential to learning. Indeed, it was the idea of Vygotsky that such mediation is inevitable, and a teacher who attempted to work along with this fact and create opportunities of augmenting social mediation would produce more positive results in the classroom setting. Feuerstein believed that despite the importance and prevalence social mediation, it is possible for such processes to become disrupted for reasons such as removal or deprivation of society and culture, which leads to a deprival of the opportunity to learn valuable interpretative skills (Feuerstein, 1997). Yet while Vygotsky's approach was mainly theoretical, Feuerstein built on that theory and operationalised it in his construction of the Instrumental Enrichment programme and Learning Potential Assessment Device. Through these mediators are given specific methods of enhancing the learning process for those children (or learners) whom they serve as educators. Cultural Mediation The sociocultural theory of Vygotsky presents culture as a central factor in the mediation process. His idea that in order to understand a child's development his society must be examined dictates that societal differences on a cultural scale affect the ways in which a child learns, appropriates, and adapts knowledge gained. Mediators of culture inevitably interpret the actions and expressions of learners according to the culture in which they reside. In turn, the learner acquires those meanings through social interaction, and then internalises them as they become a part of his or her psyche (Adamson & Chance, 1989). The mediator therefore apprehends all the subject's expressions and through reinforcement, censure or other means translates what it means in the culture of which both mediator and learner are subjects. Repeated instances of this constitute the translation of learning through sociocultural mediation. The natural result of this is that cognitive processes are also culturally mediated, and it is almost invariably the case that the individual learns only those cognitive strategies that are available and practised in his or her culture. Therefore, since in formal learning decontextualisation of symbols occur, students (minorities or immigrants, for example) might have trouble if the psychological tool necessary for operations are absent in their original culture and therefore not mediated (Kozulin, 2001). Feuerstein places significant emphasis on culture as well. Building once again on Vygotsky's theory of cultural mediation, he focuses on the transplantation of ethnic groups and their assimilation into other cultures. The nature of cultural mediation is complicated as translation between two cultural systems becomes necessary. Feuerstein argues that "the process of adaptation of an immigrant group to a new culture depends more on the group's ability to preserve cultural transmission under the new conditions, rather than on the 'distance' between the original and the new culture" (Kozulin, 2001). The difference between the ways in which this knowledge is transmitted in the two cultures may be great, yet the real problem (and challenge) lies in the ability of the primary culture to remain cohesive in the midst of the second. If fragmentation of the primary culture occurs, then the accustomed mode of cultural mediation becomes lost to the learner. Feuerstein notes a difference between cultural difference and cultural deprivation. The scenario outlined above defines cultural deprivation. One who is merely culturally different possesses the ability to adapt and modify learning behaviours, and will therefore quickly overcome any cognitive deficiencies. Culturally deprived persons who have lost the potential for primary (proximal) mediation tend to show persistent problems in their cognitive development. Kozulin then goes on to delineate a "four-fold matrix of interaction" among those psychological tools and Mediated Learning Enrichment programme developed in conjunction with the work of Feuerstein. They are matrices combining the existence of either positive or deficient MLE coupled with the availability or unavailability of the psychological tools. Four such matrices exist. Normal cognitive development occurs in a scenario where the tools are available and properly mediated through an intact and immediate culture. Another exists in which the culture has succeeded in mediating some information to the learner, but not those of higher order cognition. Therefore, learner might be endowed with the prerequisites of learning, but perhaps without such semiotic tools as writing or reading skills. Another condition exists in which exposure to tools has occurred, but with improper mediation to the learner. Therefore the individual operates at pre-literate levels, and though he or she might have received formal schooling, does not fully integrate the tools into everyday life. Finally, a situation may (and often does) occur in which no cultural mediation has taken place and no higher order psychological tools have been imparted. Kozulin highlights the dynamism of these "matrices," however, and the possibility to move from one to another is emphasised, and this is where the Instrumental Enrichment programme becomes involved. Again the correlation between the Vygotskian and Feuersteinian models of cultural mediation appears to be one of theory versus practice. According to Alex Kozulin, the Vygotskian model presents cultural differences in the light of providing the individual with a specific set of tools for cognitive development. He cites the example of learning through written versus oral tradition. The individual will master the tool that is culturally mediated to him and exhibit awkwardness and ineptitude in the one that has not been so mediated. Here Feuerstein introduces the ability to overcome this deficiency of higher order psychological tools. This can occur when an intact primary culture exists within the secondary culture. Vygotsky's theory adds a significant tool to the fund of resources possessed by an educator, as an understanding of the deficiency being experienced by a child gives the mediator a chance to provide that missing link. If, for example, the educator realises that the learner lacks the higher order psycho-semiotic tools of numerals in his culture, he or she can begin the process of mediating those new cultural tools to the students. If the undeveloped tool happens to be syllogistic reasoning, it too can be properly mediated as a method of alleviating the burden of cognitive deficiency. Feuerstein's model (enhanced by the matrix developed by Kozulin) goes beyond theory, as it provides the educator with models of psychological development, probable reasons for the existence of deficiencies, and tools for rehabilitating the student who suffers in each category. The cognitive ramifications of cultural displacement are explored, and this offers insight into the contemporary phenomenon in Education of minorities' perceived underachievement in educational settings. Understanding of these variables as propounded by Feuerstein and Kozulin (who extended the cultural ideas of Vygotsky) shows educators concrete steps toward the remediation of minority students suffering according to the model in each matrix. The Zone of Proximal Development and the Learning Potential Assessment Device The Zone of Proximal Development has been defined by Vygotsky as "the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978). It can be seen that this ZPD is heavily rooted in social mediation and is dependent upon it for the progressive cognitive development of the learner. Vygotsky disliked forms of learning and testing that emphasised the individual types of learning, as those inevitably focused on the concepts that had already been psychologically mastered and were apt to neglect those within the proximity of mastery (Cheyne & Tarulli, 1999). In contrast to this, the ZPD was formulated precisely to detect the presence of these areas in which certain levels of competence have been mastered though full mastery has not yet taken place. This Zone gives the assessor an idea of the upcoming levels of mastery that the student will exhibit, presenting a preview of the next step that instruction and mediation should take for the student. The social collaboration that occurs within the ZPD is also significant as through this can occur the very development that is promised by the outcome. Therefore, if a child demonstrates the ability to grasp a certain concept during social activity, the performance of that activity lays the foundation for his or her grasping the concept. Scaffolding as is widely used in contemporary educational settings is a concept that is relevant in this ZPD, as it is described as a "process that enables a child or novice to solve a problem, carry out a task, or achieve a goal that would be beyond his unassisted efforts" (Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976; qtd. in Cheyne & Tarulli, 1999). This operation has proven itself to be effective in today's education field, and demonstrates the immense effect of Vygotskian theory on education. The Learning Potential Assessment Device (LPAD) developed by Feuerstein represents another of the ways he has effected the operation of the theoretical concepts of Vygotsky and widely disseminated them in the educational field. As Kozulin in his research paper "Cognitive enrichment of culturally different students: Feuerstein's theory," states: "the LPAD constitutes the first fully operationalized system of cognitive assessment that focuses on the individuals' learning potential rather than on their manifest level of performance" (2003). The purpose of this tool is not to assess merely the student's skills already acquired, but the potential of the student to learn. It takes account of the dynamic nature of learning, and aids in the identification of the cultural matrix of a child so that proper mediation can be developed for him or her. The LAPD works alongside the Instrumental Enrichment programme, which is concerned mainly with the mediation of those cognitive strategies that might have been neglected in the students' culture. These tools have been used in many school and in many countries, and made remarkable strides, such as the successful reintegration of culturally deprived students into mainstream education within 36 weeks (Kaufman and Kozulin, 1999). Conclusion The psychologists Vygotsky and Feuerstein have constructed a theory and system in which the mode of learning can be adopted from everyday societal learning and adapted to the classroom setting. The theory highlights the strengths of cultural and societal learning, pinpointing the role of mediator played by other persons within the sociocultural setting. Vygotsky visualised an educational setting in which social and cultural mediation is readily utilised to facilitate the acquisition of higher cognitive and psychological tools for learning. 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