Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development AO3

• +Support for ZPD.

  Roazzi and Bryant asked one group of 4-5 year olds to estimate the number of sweets in a box. Most failed to give a close estimate. A second group of 4-5 year olds were guided by older (expert) children and most then mastered the task. This means that children can develop more advanced reasoning with help from a more expert individual.
• +Support for the idea of scaffolding.

  Conner and Cross observed 45 children at age 16, 26, 44 and 54 months, finding that mothers used less direct intervention as children developed. The mothers also increasingly offered help when it was needed rather than constantly. This means that adult assistance with children's learning is well-described by the concept of scaffolding.
• +Real world application.

  Educational techniques such as group work, peer tutoring and individual adult

  assistance are all based on Vygotsky's ideas. Increasingly used in the 21st century. Van Keer and Verhaeghe found that 7 year olds tutored by 10 year olds, in addition to their whole-class teaching, progressed further in reading than a control group who only had class teaching. This means that Vygotsky's theory has real-world value in education.
• +-In China classes of 50 children learn effectively in lecture-style classrooms with few individual interactions with peers or tutors (Liu and Matthews). This means that Vygotsky may have overestimated the importance of scaffolding in learning.
• Vygotsky vs Piaget

  There is evidence to support Vygotsky's idea that interaction with a more experienced other can enhance learning (Conner and Cross). However, if Vygotsky was right about interactive learning, we would expect children learning together to learn the same things. However it varies a lot. This means that Piaget might have described learning better than Vygotsky, in spite of Vygotsky's useful emphasis on interaction.