Development of Cognition and Language: Vygotsky

EDU 330: Educational Psychology

Daniel Moos

Procedure

Sort the following words into whatever categories make sense and provide a label or rationale for each category.

males, females, figs, kangaroo, meat, dogs, honey, bees, the moon, cigarettes, water, sun, spear, wine, wind, fish, mud, fire, birds, rainbow

Compare

Compare your categories with the following created by aborigines in Australia…

CategoriesBayi: males, kangaroo, the moon, rainbow, fish, spear

Balan: females, dogs, birds, fire, water, sun

Balam: figs, honey, wine, cigarettes

Bala: meat, bees, wind, mud

myths and beliefs: rainbows are believed to be mythical men

experience: water extinguishes fire; myths and beliefs: birds are believed to be female spirits; dangerous and exceptional things are put in a minimally contrasting category: dogs are considered exceptional animals, so they appear in the second class instead of with men

experience: wine is made from fruit

Internalization

“Any higher mental function necessarily goes through an external stage in its development because it is initially a social function.”

Lev Vygotsky

2. CRITICAL ROLE OF LANGUAGE

3. IMPORTANCE OF ASSISTED LEARNING

1. HUMAN LEARNING CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD

INDEPENDENT OF THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FORCES THAT

INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS**

LEV VYGOTSKY

SOCIAL-HISTORICAL THEORY OF COGNITIVE

DEVELOPMENT

• SOCIAL AND CULTURAL INTERACTIONS ARE CRITICAL TO LEARNING

• INDIVIDUALS CREATE PSYCHOLOGICAL TOOLS TO LEARN AND TO MASTER THEIR BEHAVIOR

“The central fact about psychology is the fact of mediation.”

Lev Vygotsky

Intervention that focuses on experience during the processes of thinking and learning (metacognition); goal is to facilitate effective learning behavior

“Learning how to learn” (self-regulation)Translating student’s language

Two mothers take their sons to the science museum. One of the mothers encourages her son to go on his own. He goes to various work stations, punches buttons, gets lights and noises and then runs to another station where he punches more buttons. He has a good time, exploring on his own.

The other Mother goes with here son to a work station and before they push any keys asks him, "What do you think will happen if we push this key?" Then they push it and discuss the result. She encourages him to form hypotheses as to why one result or another is obtained. They try to improve their predictive ability, together. Together they monitor the child's improving capacity to predict.

“The central fact about psychology is the fact of mediation.”

Lev Vygotsky

“The central fact about psychology is the fact of mediation.”

Lev Vygotsky

Self-regulation and private speech Private speech: phenomenon in young children in which they

spontaneously articulate commands, descriptions and reminders to themselves (self-talk) Private speech is a powerful clue to the linguistic character of

human thought.

Can you think of examples where you have used “private speech”/ self-talk for a new task?

How can you support students’ “private speech”/ self-talk? Why do you think it is important as a teacher?

THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT

“ . . . is the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determinedthrough problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers”

Lev Vygotsky, 1935

POTENTIAL LEVEL

ACTUAL LEVEL

INSTRUCTION

LEARNING

ZPD

Vygotsky’s Theory: Summary of assumptions

Learning and Instruction with ZPD Learning

Natural byproduct of involvement in tasks with adults or more competent peers

Vicarious LearningPrivate Speech: Thinking aloud

Early years: End of task Later years: Beginning, during, and end of task

InstructionScaffoldingFading

Language: Suggestions for Teachers

Students cannot get too much practice in their use of language. Particularly true in math and science

Remind students that struggling to put understanding into words is a normal part of learning and development. We’ve all said at some point in our lives. I know

what I’m trying to say, I just can’t put it into words.

Provide students with scaffolding as they practice language. Provide technical terms Embellish students’ descriptions

Evaluation of the Theory

StrengthsAttention of social, cultural, and context

variables in learningSensitivity to diversity of developmentFocused on individual differences

(unlike Piaget) Weaknesses

Vagueness of notion of ZPDInsufficient attention to development issuesDifficulties of studying cultural-historical

contexts

CONCEPTUAL DIFFERENCES

BETWEENVYGOTSKY PIAGETand

1. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IS PRIMARILY A FUNCTION OF

SOCIO-CULTURAL INTERACTION Adult-child interaction

INDIVIDUAL CONSTRUCTION

Active agency

Comparison of Piaget and Vygotsky

Instruction important; zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Formal instruction does not have significant impact

Role of Instruction

More strongly influenced by those more intellectually advanced

More strongly influenced by peers

Role of Social Interaction

VygotskyPiaget