vygotsky's theory of cognitive development

• who was Vygotsky influenced by

  Piaget

  they agreed on many of the basic ideas regarding cognitive development
• difference between Piaget and Vygotsky's ideas

  the difference is that Vygotsky saw cognitive development as a social process of learning from more experienced others
• cultural differences in cognitive abilities

  a child will acquire reasoning abilities from the people they have contact with

  children will pick up the mental tools that will be most important for life within their culture
• zone of proximal development


  this is the gap between a child's current level of development and what they can potentially do with the right help from a more expert other

  emphasis on the role of learning through interaction
• scaffolding

  the process of helping a learner cross the zone of proximal development and advance as much as they can
• the Vygotsky-Bruner model

  an adult is more likely to use a higher level of help strategies when first helping a child then to gradually withdraw the level of help as the child advances
• strength of Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development

  practical application in education

  highly influential in the 21st century education

  raised expectations of what children can achieve

  more group work and peer tutoring
• limitation of Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development

  the application in schools might not be universal

  Liu and Matthews - point out that in China classes of up to 50 children learn very effectively in lecture style classrooms