Situated

• Situated Learning Theory


  Creating meaning from the real activities of daily living where learning occurs relative to the teaching environment
• Situated Learning Theory

  • Involves students in cooperative activities
  • Challenged to use critical thinking and kinesthetic abilities
  • Places students in authentic learning situations
  • Actively immersed in an activity
  • Using problem-solving (critical thinking) skills
• Field trips


  • Students actively participate in an unfamiliar environment
• Cooperative education and internship experiences


  • Students are immersed and physically active in an actual work environment
• Music and sports (physical education) practice

  • Replicate actual setting of these events, e.g., orchestras, studios, training facilities
• Laboratories and child-care centers used as classrooms


  • Students are involved in activities which replicate actual work settings
• Lev Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist who made a great contribution in the fields of child development and cognitive psychology
• Lev Vygotsky was known as the “Mozart of Psychology” for his ingenuity in coming up with several different theories in a short span of time
• Lev Vygotsky graduated with a degree in law in 1917 from Moscow State University
• Lev Vygotsky studied psychology, sociology, and philosophy
• Lev Vygotsky formally started his career in psychology as a research fellow at the Psychological Institute in Moscow
• Lev Vygotsky's life was cut short by tuberculosis, and he died at the age of 38, leaving many of his theories incomplete
• When Lev Vygotsky began working on his theories, Marxism had just replaced dictatorship
• Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory stressed the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition
• The two main principles of Vygotsky’s theories are MKO (More Knowledgeable Other) and ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development)
• MKO refers to someone who has a greater understanding or a higher skill level than the learner
• ZPD refers to the distance between the two development levels and emphasizes what a person could be taught
• Scaffolding in education refers to a process of teaching where a teacher helps a student master a new concept
• Lev Vygotsky's scaffolding is a method of teaching that helps learners understand educational content by working with someone who has a better understanding of the material
• Students learn more when working with people who have a broader scope of knowledge
• Lev Vygotsky's scaffolding involves educators or students teaching learners in smaller chunks to expand their understanding of the material
• Two important aspects to consider in scaffolding in education are a child’s development level and potential development level
• Educators assist students to move through the zone of proximal development
• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) concentrates on what a learner can do by themselves versus what they can do with the help of someone else
• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)


  Focuses on what a learner can do by themselves versus what they can do with the help of someone else
• Zone of Proximal Development


  • The smallest circle represents what the student can learn on their own. The circle surrounding the smaller one describes the skills a student can do with the help of an educator. The largest circle represents skills that the student can't do yet, even with the help of others
• Vygotsky scaffolding


  A process used in the classroom where a teacher or capable student helps a student within their ZPD. The teacher models most of the work initially, explaining how and why they do things to help the learner comprehend the content. As the learner becomes more comfortable, the assistance lessens until the student can work independently
• Advantages of Vygotsky’s Scaffolding

  • Challenges students to learn past their current knowledge with the help of others
  • Promotes engagement & discussion between students to expand comprehension
  • Increases the likelihood for students to meet instructional objectives
  • Provides differentiated learning by adapting instruction based on each student's ZPD
• Guidelines for using Vygotsky’s Scaffolding in the classroom

  1. Choose tasks that match curriculum goals and students' needs

  2. Allow students to create their own instructional goals based on their ZPD

  3. Use a variety of instructional supports to guide learners

  4. Encourage learners to use less instructional support as they become more comfortable with new content
• Tips for applying Vygotsky Scaffolding effectively

  1. Know each student's ZPD before beginning a lesson

  2. Encourage group work

  3. Combine students with varying skill levels to maximize learning from each other
• Encourage group work


  This is a great opportunity for students who have a better grasp of the material to help students who have less experience with it and are still trying to understand it
• Applying Vygotsky's Scaffolding Effectively

  1. Try to combine students with varying skill levels

  2. Use visual aids

  3. Have students think aloud

  4. Pre-teach vocabulary

  5. Teach material in chunks
• Visual aids


  Graphic organizers help students visualize concepts such as how to compare and contrast, determine cause and effect or understand the steps in a process
• When students who have been using visual aids become more comfortable with the material, they then begin using less until they're able to complete the tasks on their own without the guidance of the visual aid
• Have students think aloud

  Consider asking a student to talk about why they're making certain decisions on an assignment or project, what they are going to do next and if they have any questions about that assignment
• Pre-teach vocabulary


  Introducing students to the vocabulary before the start of the lesson provides them with a chance to become familiar with it
• Teach material in chunks

  Chunking the material into smaller fragments to make it more manageable for the students can help them process information more clearly and focus on one task at a time
• Jean Lave is a social anthropologist and learning theorist who believes that learning is a social process, as opposed to a cognitive one
• Jean Lave received a Bachelor's from Stanford University and completed her doctorate in social anthropology at Harvard University in 1968
• In 1988, Jean Lave published her first book, Cognition in Practice: Mind, Mathematics and Culture in Everyday Life