Upgrade to remove ads
Only $2.99/month

Ch 6 Cognitive Development Part 3

Terms in this set (12)

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory
Key Concepts
Social interaction
Zone of proximal development
Scaffolding
Guided participation
Mental tools
Private speech
Role of culture
Make-believe play
Vygotsky and Education
Evaluation
Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory
of Cognitive Development
Viewed children as active seekers and constructors of knowledge
Same as with Piagetian theory
Cognitive development results from social interaction
Provides children with opportunities to experience problem solving that they would not be able to do on their own
Language is the key mental tool that supports social interaction and learning
Piaget - constructivist theory (learning thru physical world)
Vygotsky - social-constructivist theory (learning thru social world)
Social Interaction
Adults translate their own understanding in ways that the child can grasp

What is social interaction?
Intersubjectivity/sharing - two participants arrive at a shared understanding from different understandings!
Learning is a process wherein one internalizes the shared activity into individual ability.
The child stretches to understand the adult and internalize what the adult is conveying → child understands the situation in a more mature way
Zone of Proximal (near) Development
ZPD = a range of tasks too difficult for the child to do alone but possible with the help of adults or more skilled peers
Going for a manageable level of difficulty for the child; "not too slow" (easy, uninteresting), "not too fast" (hard, frustrating) but "just right" (challenging but within the child's ZPD).
Scaffolding and Guided Participation
Deliberately teaching

Scaffolding: Adult adjusts the support offered to fit the child's current level of performance.
e.g., break task into steps; direct instruction, including discussion/questioning/metacognitive teaching strategies; suggestions
For example, Andrew's father provided some suggestions and adjusted his language so Andrew could understand.
Guided participation: Broader concept than scaffolding; refers to shared endeavors between more expert and less expert participants, without specifying the precise features of communication.
e.g., during everyday activities; through play; in a mixed-age classroom, younger children learn from conversations/interactions with older children
Without deliberately teaching
Language and Development
Mental tools
Just as humans use physical tools (hammer, forklift, etc.) to increase our physical capacities, mental tools (e.g., language) help us increase our mental capacities.
Two functions: externally, help us to solve the problem/learn something new; internally, help us to organize our thoughts and construct our understandings/mind/intellect
Language is an important mental tool for communicating, interacting, thinking, and learning.
Private Speech: Piaget vs. Vygotsky
Same phenomenon, different interpretation...
Vygotsky believed...
Language is the tool to manipulate one's thought.
Children talk to themselves while thinking - and thereby guide themselves through language.
Private Speech: Piaget vs. Vygotsky cont.
Same phenomenon, different interpretation...
Egocentric speech:
Piaget believed
Egocentric speech reflects the child's inability to take other's perspective
Egocentric speech serves no real purpose
Private speech:
Vygotsky believed
Private speech supports self-guidance - helps with problem solving
Eventually private speech becomes inner speech
Make-Believe Play
Key zone of proximal development for young children - they "put their whole selves in" and strive to use their most mature language, thinking
Vygotsky emphasized how the rule-based nature of play (e.g., the child pretending to be the "mom" strives to act parental, even though it is tempting to wail loudly with the "babies") strengthens children's capacity to think before they act (aka self-regulation)
Vygotsky (as well as Piaget) recognized make-believe play as a profound cognitive accomplishment - the ability to conjure that which is not there - to pretend - manipulate abstract ideas, e.g., the stick is a horse, and act accordingly, e.g., gallop away
However, make-believe play does not always arise spontaneously, which is different from Piaget's theory
We need to facilitate toddlers' make-believe play and intentionally support preschool-age children's sociodramatic play (e.g., by providing time, space, props, open-ended materials)
Role of Culture
During the interaction, adults naturally convey the meaning attached to the respective objects, events, and experiences. The meaning is culturally-based.
Symbolic and material tools are culturally-based
Example: the cultural tool of literacy facilitates your learning
Therefore, through social interactions, caregivers transmit culture to their children.
Without considering cultural context, we may underestimate children's abilities.
Vygotsky and Education
Reciprocal teaching - teacher and students take turns leading dialogue on the content.
Four strategies: questioning, summarizing, clarifying, and predicting
Enhances conversational exchanges, a form of scaffolding
Cooperative learning - Small groups of classmates work toward common goals.
Actively learning with and from peers- very powerful
Evaluation of Vygotsky's Theory
Right: helps explain cultural diversity in cognition, Emphasizes importance of teaching, play, and self-regulation in cognitive development
Wrong: Focus on language de-emphasizes observation , other learning methods, says little about biological contributions to cognition, vague in explanation of change
THIS SET IS OFTEN IN FOLDERS WITH...