Lev Vygotsky
(1896-1934)
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Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)
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" What the child is able to do in collaboration today he will be able to do independently tomorrow."
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Russian psychologist
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Originally enrolled in medical school, then switched to law, then
literature
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Finally entered psychology at age 28
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Taught literature for a brief period
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1925 ~ The Psychology of Art – first significant research
project, basis for his Ph.D. thesis in psychology at Moscow Institute of
Psychology
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No formal training in psychology
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Died of tuberculosis in 1934
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Originally the communist government opposed his ideas, but present
day his theories have great influence on Russian education
Vygotsky's constructivist theory, often called social constructivism, assumes that society has a great influence on the cognitive development of the child. He placed a great deal of emphasis on the social context of learning in which both teachers and older or more experienced children play very important roles. This affords much room for an active, involved teacher. Similar to Piaget's cognitive constructivist theory is the underlining notion that knowledge and skills cannot be given to a child that they will immediately understand, instead, skills and knowledge are "constructed" through the child's experiences.
The culture, or the environment in which the child develops, gives the child the cognitive tools necessary for development in that environment. These tools play an important role in what the child learns and how fast. The adults in the child's life provide the tools to the child and the tools provide the child include cultural history, social context, and language. Today, technology plays an important role as both a tool and a provider of tools for the child in a learning environment.
An important assumption with this theory is adults or other more advanced children help younger less knowledgeable students master concepts and ideas that they cannot understand on their own. Although this seems obvious to educators today, it is still an under-utilized tool and was ground breaking in the early 20th Century.
His best known concept is that of the zone of proximal development or ZPD. This concept stresses that problem solving and thinking skills are placed in three categories:
1. Those that can be performed independently by the child,
2. Those that are simply beyond the cognitive skills of the child,
3. Those that can be performed with assistance, or are within the zone of proximal development (ZPD).
A child who uses those skills that are in the ZPD, with the help of others with more knowledge will quickly develop those skills to the level of being used independently. " What the child is able to do in collaboration today he will be able to do independently tomorrow."
Scaffolding and reciprocal teaching are successful ways in which to access the child's ZPD. Scaffolding requires the teacher to provide students the opportunity to extend their current skills and knowledge. Reciprocal teaching requires the creation of a dialogue between student and teacher.
Although Vygotsky's theories are similar to those of Piaget, Piaget can be interpreted as allowing the student to learn in a "hands-off" environment, where the teacher allows the child to develop at an independent or "natural" pace. The teacher, in Vygotsky's model, is there to facilitate and guide the student at all times and must be active in the child's learning.
Traditionally, schools do not provide for students to play a role in their learning. With Vygotsky's theory, students and teacher must play a very non-traditional role. The classroom should be cluttered and filled with learning opportunities, challenging students to learn just above their developmental ability.
A classroom based on social constructivist theory would be one in which the teacher recognized that learning and development is a social, collaborative activity and would therefore develop classroom activities to support this. The teacher would also use the ZPD to guide the development of lesson plans and would ensure that learning would occur in a meaningful context and not be separated from learning and knowledge children develop in the "real world." Instruction in the social constructivist classroom would also relate the child's out-of-school experience with the classroom experience.
The teacher in this classroom would be an active participant in the child's learning and discovery and would act as a facilitator for the development of new skills. The classroom would utilize cooperative learning, group activities and advice from the teacher as students approached real world problems and challenges. The curriculum would evolve from what the child needed to learn and desired to learn to succeed in that particular social context.
The teacher must engage students' interest, simplify tasks so they are manageable, and motivate students to pursue the instructional goal. Students need to go beyond answering questions and engage in discussion, and the teacher must facilitate and motivate this discussion.
Technology can provide necessary skills and tools that will enable and empower the child in the social constructivist classroom. Piaget's influence has helped develop the use of the computer as it becomes of interest to the child at the appropriate developmental stage. Vygotsky's theories lead us to understand the Internet as a tool to assist the child in discovering new knowledge with a wider and broader body of experts. The peer base and the expert base has become much greater in volume and easier to access than ever before with the evolution of telecommunication via the Internet. Chat rooms, instant messengers, powerful search engines, email, access to university libraries and databases all contribute to the vast body of knowledge available via the world wide web.
The most significant limitation to Vygotsky's theories arise from the lack of vision and forethought of our current educational leaders. In the current trend, educational policy has been taken out of the hands of educators and placed in the hands of parent interest groups and politicians hoping to win their votes. Educational reform has become a movement to attain higher scores on standardized tests developed by organizations hoping to be funded by the politicians who are catering to the interest groups. This is a criticism worth it's own doctoral study.
With the pressure of parents and politicians placed on teachers shoulders to create success test takers out of their students, teachers have little time to develop classroom that are centered on Vygotsky's theories. These teachers are also unwilling to take risks that are not supported by their school boards.
However, even those teachers who are willing or who work in schools that do not cater to the standardized test movement, find it difficult to incorporate social constructivist theory. Teachers need the hardware, software and access to the Internet to be able to use the technology. Teachers also need the training and support to use the technology.
Ironically, students are highly motivated and interested and capable of using the technology that our society has available. As well, children today are much more comfortable and familiar with technology than their teachers and many teachers do not feel competent presenting this as an option in the learning environment. Many teachers allow students to use the computer or the Internet, but are not able to facilitate this learning opportunity because of their own limitation and are unable to utilize peer settings because of pressure from school administrators to maintain a "disciplined" environment.
Technology is evolving faster each day. Until the people in control of education either relinquish their power or begin to listen to educators needs, technology will not be any more use in the future than 30 years ago. We are failing to empower our children with the skills to succeed in the future. We are sacrificing this for the sake of better test scores, and yet, test scores have not improved significantly in recent reform years. Those in our society who can afford to use technology, will continue to develop strong skills in writing, communicating and problem solving. The others, well... hopefully they will do well on their tests.
Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky by Pam Petty of Western Kentucky University - a good page for links, although some dead links here. Good source for Children's Literature and Social Constructivism. Thanks for the picture of Vygotsky.
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