Educational Relevance of Vygotsky's Theory - Essay Example

Educational Relevance of Vygotsky’s Theory Cognitive development suggests how an individual perceives, thinks, and gains understanding of his or her world by the interaction of genetic and learned factors (Wagner, 2005). Even though there are various theories of cognitive development but one of the most illustrious and leading theory of cognitive development is that of Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist, who presented the Sociocultural Theory of Development which became a major influence in the field of psychology and education (Wagner, 2005). He suggested that social interaction deeply influences cognitive development. The main idea in Vygotskys theory is his principle that biological and cultural development does not take place in isolation. Vygotsky held that development is a procedure that has to be examined, instead of a product to be attained (Social Development Theory, No date). This theory acknowledged that individuals learn through social interactions and their culture. They gain knowledge through dialogues in which individuals socially interact and communicate with others to discover the cultural values of the society. Vygotsky also believed that human activities take place in cultural settings and cannot be understood separately from these settings (Woolfolk, 2004). The second belief in Vygotsky’s perspective is that all superior mental functions begin in social activity, that is, the real formation of relations among humans. Development entails mental processes initially on the social level, among individuals, and after that on the individual basis, within the child. Thus, through these social interactions, an individual moves in the direction of more individualized thought process. The co-constructed progression consists of individuals interacting through common activities, typically to resolve a problem. When the child gets assistance through this process, he or she may be able to use enhanced strategies in the future, should a similar difficulty occur. The co-constructed dialogues directs to internalization, which then results in independent though process (Social Development Theory, No date). The development of language is considered to be the chief aspect of Vygotskys sociocultural theory. The language of a certain group of people signifies their cultural beliefs and value system. This suggests that children learn language in a similar fashion as learning of cognitive skills. Vygotsky affirms that individuals might have fabricated prejudices, regulations, and restrictions about language that limit the amount of possibilities considered. A childs thought process in relation to these language constraints is extremely significant in language development (Woolfolk, 2004). He investigated the role of speech further and defined the procedure of children moving ahead from outer speech to egocentric speech to internal speech. This process is a result of an extended series of developmental occurrences, resulting in mental functioning keeping a quasi-social nature. The internal speech talks to the individual, preserving social activity inside the individual. This aspect of language development entails private speech which is self-talk children (and adults) might use to direct events and help in thought process. Private speech is thought to be self-directed regulation and communication with the self (Chi, Bassok, Lewis, Reimann & Glaser, 1989). Scaffolding is another Vygotskian belief which suggests giving the learner with suggestions or clues for problem solving to permit the child to improved understanding of the problem in the future. Vygotsky offered support or techniques, in the shape of scaffolding, for the child to attempt the difficulties. For Vygotsky, the process of social interaction and that social learning result in cognitive development. This fact is known as the Zone of Proximal Development. Vygotsky describes it as the distance between a student’s capabilities to execute a task under adult guidance and/or with peer alliance and the child’s ability of solving the problem without anyone’s help (Bransford, Brown & Cocking 2000). In other words, a student can do a task under a grown person’s direction or with peer cooperation that could not be accomplished single-handedly. It connects the space between what is known and what can be known. According to Vygotsky, there are four stages in the zone of proximal. These stages vary between the lower boundary of what the student has knowledge of and the upper boundary of what the student has the possibility of achieving. In the first stage of ZPD the child is provided with assistance by the more capable others (MKOs) like coaches, experts and teachers. The next stage includes the assistance for self. The third stage suggests the internalization automatization; and lastly de-automatization or recursiveness through prior stages (Riddle, No date). Therefore, Vygotsky laid emphasis on the association between individuals and the cultural context in which they do something and interact. Vygotsky also highlighted the implication of cultural tools in cognition. Cultural tools can be any technological tool or any representative tool which helps in communication. Language, the media, television, computers, and books are some of all the cultural tools accessible for solving a problem or learning. According to Vygotsky, sophisticated processing is done through psychological instruments, such as language, signs, and symbols. After getting co-constructed help, children internalize the utilization of the cultural tools, and acquire an enhanced ability to use the tools in the future. Vygotsky viewed this egocentric speech as a shift from social speech to internalized thoughts (Ellis, Larkin & Worthington, No date). Usually, schools have not encouraged environments in which the students play a vigorous role in their own education as well as their peers. Vygotskys theory, however, necessitate the teacher and students to take part in unconventional roles as they work together. Instead of a teacher dictating the meaning to students for future performance, a teacher should join forces with the students to generate sense in ways that students can formulate their own. Learning turns into a reciprocal occurrence for the both students and teacher. According to Vygotskys theory, the physical classroom would offer clustered desks or tables and work area for peer co-ordination and group effort. Like the surroundings, the instructional design of matter to be learned would be planned to support and encourage student communication and collaboration. Hence the classroom turns into a community of learning (Woolfolk, 2004). Because Vygotsky affirms that cognitive change takes place in the zone of proximal development therefore, instruction would be structured to attain a developmental level that is slightly above the students present developmental point. Vygotsky declares that learning which is inclined towards developmental levels that have previously been attained is unproductive from the perspective of the childs development on the whole. It does not intend for a novel stage of the developmental procedure but somewhat lags behind this process (Lev Vygotsky Archive, No date). Appropriation is essential for cognitive development in the zone of proximal development. Individuals taking part in collaboration with the peers or guided teacher instruction have to share similar focus to enter the zone of proximal development. Combined attention and shared problem solving is required to produce a process of cognitive, social, and emotional transaction. In addition, it is necessary that the partners be on diverse developmental stages and the superior level partner be conscious of the lowers level. If this does not happen, or if one partner dictates, the communication is less successful (Lev Vygotsky Archive, No date). Scaffolding and reciprocal teaching are successful techniques to enter the zone of proximal development. Scaffolding needs the teacher to give students the chance to expand their existing capabilities and understanding (Woolfolk, 2004). The teacher should keep students attention, make simpler tasks so they are controllable, and inspire students to follow the instructional objective. Furthermore, the teacher has to find for inconsistency between students efforts and the answer, manage frustration and risk, and produce a perfect version of the operation. Reciprocal teaching permits creation of a dialogue among students and teachers. This joint communication turns into an instructional approach by inspiring students to go further than answering questions and engage in the discussion. Cognitively Guided Instruction is yet another approach to apply Vygotskys theory. This approach entails the teacher and students discovering math problems and then sharing their diverse problem solving techniques in an open dialogue (Woolfolk, 2004). Conceptual change instruction in science similarly starts with drawing out students’ ideas and then jointly scaffolding student notions with systematic concepts in solving problems. Being particularly responsive to the students’ point of view is stressed as the teacher discusses the gaining of new information with students. As the teacher generates situations where theoretical clash confronts students’ alternative conceptions, students are inspired to be lively participants in collaboratively reforming their comprehensions of scientific occurrences (Lev Vygotsky Archive, No date). Thus, a teacher using Vygotskian techniques for teaching would be an extremely active member in her students education. The teacher would implement the method of scaffolding by giving aid and offering response when proving new information. Teachers should also make certain that students are given proper tools for learning. Teaching in the Vygotskian method would also integrate group or peer learning. By making students instruct each other through dialogues and scaffolding, the students can start to internalize the novel information and come to an improved understanding of the material (Ngeow &Yoon, 2001). Vygotskys social development theory defies conventional teaching methods. In the past, schools have been structured around recitation teaching. The teacher circulates knowledge to be learnt by heart by the students, who then deliver the information back to the teacher. On the other hand, the methods explained above present empirical proof that learning based on the social development theory makes possible cognitive development over other instructional techniques (Jaramillo, 1996). The structure of schools does not mirror the rapid transformations the society is experiencing. On the other hand, social interaction, the chief aspect of the social development theory has transformed due to the introduction and incorporation of computer technology in civilization. Therefore, the social context for learning is revolutionizing as well. While collaboration and peer instruction was once only achievable in shared physical area, learning interaction can now be shaped from distances through cyberspace. Thus, the advent of computers as a technology has provided students with a powerful cultural tool that can be utilize to mediate and internalize their learning (Riddle, No date). Thus, Vygotsky provided educators with significant knowledge on cognitive development in the child. REFERENCES Bransford, J., Brown, A., & Cocking, R. (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, and Experience & School. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Chi, M. T. H., Bassok, M., Lewis, M. W., Reimann, P., & Glaser, R. (1989). Self-explanations: How students study and use examples in learning to solve problems. Cognitive Science, 13(2), 145-182 Ellis, E., Larkin, M ., & Worthington, L. (No date). Executive summary of the research synthesis on effective teaching principles and the design of quality tools for educators. University of Alabama, AL. Retrieved November 13, 2009, from http://idea.uoregon.edu/~ ncite/ documents/techrep/tech06.html Jaramillo, J. (1996). Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and contributions to the development of constructivist curricula. Education 117(1), 133-140. Lev Vygotsky Archive. (No date). Retrieved November 13, 2009, from http://www.marxists. org/archive/vygotsky/ Ngeow, K.K., &Yoon, S. (2001). Learning to learn: preparing teachers and students for problem-based learning. ERIC Digest. Retrieved November 13, 2009, from http://www.ed.gov/ databases/ERIC_Digests/ed457524.html Riddle, E. M. (No date). Lev Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory. Retrieved November 13, 2009, from http://www2.yk.psu.edu/~jlg18/506/LevVygotsky.pdf Social Development Theory. (No date). Retrieved November 13, 2009, from http://tip. psychology.org/vygotsky.html Wagner, K. V. (2005). Cognitive theories of development. About.com: Psychology. Retrieved November 13, 2009 from http://psychology.about.com/od/development ecourse/a/dev_cognitive.htm Woolfolk, A. (2004). Educational Psychology. (9th ed). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Read More