vygotsky's cognitive development

• vygotsky's theory

  vygotsky was a russian psychologist who took a sociocultural approach to development

  • emphasised the importance of language and play in the development of cognitive thinking
  • we learn from more knowledgeable others
  • knowledge is at first intermental (shared between experts and learners) and becomes intramental (internal to individuals)
  • heavily influenced by piaget and agreed with many of his theories and stages
  • however was able to explain cultural differences as social processes develop reasoning abilities based o those you are in contact with
• zone of proximal development

  learning through more knowledgeable others is hugely important in cognitive development, and we are able to reach much harder cognitive abilities with the help of more experienced others

  • zone of proximal development - the gap between current level of development and what they have the potential to understand through interactions with more knowledgeable others
  • expert assistance allows children to cross the zone of proximal development to reach maximal understanding for their developmental stage

  A) zone of proximal development

  
• scaffolding

  scaffolding - 'an instructional process in which the more knowledgeable partner adjusts the amount and type of supports he offers to the child to fit with the child's learning needs over the course of the interaction'

  • it is the process of helping someone cross the zone of proximal development through more knowledgeable others giving help to learners
  • wood, bruner + ross - vygotsky-bruner model suggests there are 5 main levels used by experts that become less supportive
  • demonstration
  • preparation for child
  • indication of materials
  • specific verb instructions
  • general prompts
• strengths

  + practical application - van keer + verhaeghe - 7 year olds with a 10 year old tutor progressed much further in reading than controls

  • however liu + matthews - in china students learn best in lecture-style classrooms with no interaction - overestimated scaffolding

  + connor + cross - longitudinal study of 45 children foound that mothers used less direction during problem-solving tasks over time - proof of scaffolding

  + roazzi + bryant - 4-5 year olds completed estimation tasks alone or with older child and found older child condition was much more successful - proof of zpd
• limitations

  - individual differences - fails to account for personality and other traits that may impact how effective scaffolding or more knowledgeable others are

  • suggests piaget's view of stages is more correct as it is able to explain children developing at different speeds despite the same social interactions

  - children's unique experiences - howe - in groups of 4 investigating movement all children came to different conclusions and different levels of understanding
• piaget v vygotsky

  • piaget underestimates the importance of language compared to vygotsky, who suggests it is key to learning and precedes all other skills
  • however fails to apply to autistic people who may be non-verbal but extremely sophisticated in cognition otherwise
  • piaget underestimated the importance of others compared
  • piaget is better able to explain individual differences better through the idea of unique schema and people differently moving through stages
  • piaget is better able to explain cultural differences eg. school in china as doesn't overemphasise role of others