Journal #6: Lev Vygotsky's Social Development Theory

Lev Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist that agreed with some of the ideas of Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. But Vygotsky put more emphasis on the social factors and he came up with a Social Interaction Development theory. Vygotsky thought that when children played that they learned self regulation. With that he believed that kids learned best by playing and watching their parents or adult and their actions. He also concluded that in imaginary situation that they still have rules within their play with has to do with the what the parent does and says.

Zone of Proximal Development

The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is the different levels of a child’s independent performances (what can I do), performances with the help of other (what can I do with help of others), and what they can not do. Vygotsky believed that children will have the most effective instruction that is not within the child's independent performance, but within the other levels of the ZPD. These learned in these levels with not only increase their skills and understanding, but will also produce a gain in the child’s development.

http://www.innovativelearning.com/educational_psychology/development/zone-of-proximal-development.html

Scaffolding

The whole idea of the ZPD is called Scaffolding. Scaffolding is the process of building a concept or a skill. The idea shows that if a child is able to do something on their own, they could start to become bored with doing that. But if the child is unable to do something, even with the help of others, they may fall into a zone of anxiety, and if the child is able to complete something with the help of another, that child is in the zone of proximal development. In that level they are able to learn how to do things that they were not able to do before.

http://t1g2ass3.wikispaces.com/Early+years+teaching+practices

Sources:

http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

http://www.toolsofthemind.org/philosophy/glossary/#scaffold

http://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html#scaff