CD & ST PT 2

• Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

  A theory that emphasizes the role of social interactions and culture in cognitive development
• Vygotsky’s theory contrasts with Piaget’s theory

  Children acquire their culture’s values, beliefs, and problem-solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society
• Cognitive growth occurs in sociocultural context
• Child’s intellectual development is closely tied to their culture
• Lower mental functions


  • Attention
  • Memory
• Lower mental functions are developed during the first two years
• Language


  The most important psychological tool in cognitive development
• Egocentric approach


  Piaget's perspective on child development
• Private speech


  Vygotsky's perspective on child development
• Language is not only a means of communicating, but also for guiding thinking and behavior
• As children gain more experience with tasks, they internalize their self-directed speech
• Mediating tool


  Internalized self-directed speech used for thinking and planning
• • Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
  • Lower level (Actual level of development) - what a learner can do unassisted
  • Upper level (Potential level of development) - what they cannot do yet
  • Proximal development - Everything between these levels
• Vygotsky proposed that infants are born with a few elementary mental functions
• Elementary mental functions


  • Attention
  • Sensation
  • Perception
  • Memory
• Higher mental functions


  More sophisticated functions transformed by culture from elementary mental functions
• Many important discoveries occur

  Within the context of cooperative, or collaborative, dialogues
• Collaborative dialogues involve a skilful tutor and a novice pupil
• The tutor models the activity and transmits verbal instructions
• The novice pupil seeks to understand the tutor’s instruction and eventually internalizes this information
• The novice pupil uses internalized information to regulate his or her own performance
• • Scaffolding
  • Process where an instructor, responds contingently when instructing a novice, to increase his/her understanding to a problem
  • Scaffolding occurs not just in formal educational settings but any time a more expert person adjusts his input to guide a child to a level near the limits of her capabilities.