Amber Boling, Kacey Quinn, Kristie Hancock,

Gabrielle Buchman, and Michelle Ciancio

EDU305

November 3, 2014

Michelle Raible

Vygotsky’s Theory of Social Development

In his book, Mind in Society (1978), Lev Vygotsky states “Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals." (p57).

Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development

Vygotsky identified the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), and determined that "the ZPD contains skills and concepts that are not yet fully developed but are "on the edge of emergence" emerging only if the child is given appropriate support" (Leong & Bodrova, 2014).

Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development [image]. Retrieved October 30, 2014, from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-development.html

Application of Vygotsky’s TheoryVygotsky felt that development occurs through social interaction, and that children learn best when they use their imaginations while engaging in learning activities, and are given the proper support for development. Staging a grocery store shopping activity supports Vygotsky’s social development theory by providing children with the opportunity to enhance their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development through play.

Groceries and cash register [image]. Retrieved October 30, 2014, from Clipart

Let’s Go Grocery Shopping

Learning Activity: Let’s Go Grocery Shopping

The children will take turns playing the roles of customer and cashier. The customer will be provided a list of groceries to buy, and a specific amount of money. It will be the customer’s responsibility to buy all the groceries needed within the allowance provided. The cashier will be responsible for tallying the groceries and verifying the total, as well as performing the proper calculation to provide the correct change. For smaller children, every item can be one dollar so they just have to count out the items and give a total. For older children, items will have varying amounts and they will have to use pen and paper to do the calculations.

Let’s Go Grocery Shopping (cont.) Example: A customer buys 4 apples for $2.00/each, 2

gallons of milk at $3.50/each, and a box of trash bags for $4.23. The cashier will need to perform the multiplication and addition in order to determine the total cost of the groceries, which in this scenario is ((4*2.00)+(2*7.00)+4.23)=$19.23. The cashier will then need to take the money from the customer and perform the subtraction to make proper change. These skills will be age appropriate for all different grades.

Grocery shopping [image]. Retrieved November 1, 2014, from comicscure.blogspot.com

Playing to Learn

Learning Activity: Stocking the Shelves

Concept: Students will be in charge of stocking the shelves of the grocery store. They will first receive a list of items that need to be restocked onto the shelves. The students will then take the items and the quantity needed to be restocked and go to the shelves and add them. They will do this with multiple items of food and inventory. Students will then be asked some questions of varying difficulty depending on age.

Playing to Learn (cont.)

Examples:

How many apples are there in total on the shelves once you restocked them?

If each apple costs $1.25 how much would it cost to buy all the apples on the shelf?

How much would it cost to buy half of them?

How much would it cost to buy a ¼ of them?

These questions will promote addition and fraction skills as well as understanding money in a way that is very hands-on and easy to understand.

Developing Teamwork and Responsibility

Learning Activity: Customer Service

Concept: Just like in any good business there is always someone available to help. Our grocery store is no different! Customer service will help the students to interact in a new way. It is an educational take on “playing store”. The customer service representatives will be students. They will help “customers” with finding their products, assist them with carrying items, and help with pricing questions. This activity can be played simultaneously with any of our other activities. It’s a way of getting more of the students involved. It pushes teamwork and responsibility.

Examples:

If a student cannot find a green leafy vegetable they can ask customer service for assistance.

If a student is stuck on determining the price of a product, they can ask for help from customer service.

Nutrition and More Learning Activity: Meal planning

Concept: Our concept during this activity is geared toward “making smarter choices”. The student will be taking on the role of the shopper. They will be given random guidelines in creating their shopping list and then have to find the foods based off of their instructions. This is a way for the students to learn about different food groups and how to incorporate them into a balanced diet. Each list will specify the occasion you are shopping, as well as quantity.

The goal: Our goals in this activity are to teach students about what foods belong to which category, how to make healthy choices, planning, organization, and moderation. Students will have to explain why they made their choices after they are done “shopping”

Nutrition and More (cont.) List details: The students will enter the “food store” and pick a list. The

list will give a random scenario that explains what the student is shopping for. For example: The list for a birthday party gives instructions on how many people will be there and what kind of treats to choose from. It will be up to the student to decide what they will buy and how much of it. This activity is designed to teach students how to read nutrition labels for health facts and serving quantities

Examples for names of shopping lists Birthday Party! Dinner at Grandma’s BBQ Packing for the beach Pancake Breakfast Eating on the go Meal for one!

Kingswood preschool children open play grocery store [photo]. Retrieved November 3, 2014, from http://www.triblocal.com/buffalo-grove/community/stories/2011/03/kingswood-preschool-children-open-play-grocery-store/

Supporting Cognitive Development

All three stages of development, cognitive, emotional/social, and physical, are covered with the grocery store activity. To engage cognitive development during this lesson, children will have to complete simple mathematics, organize lists, and learn about the food pyramid and nutrition. All these tasks during the activity will broaden the mental thinking of the child and give them a hands-on experience while learning.

Child nutrition [image]. Retrieved October 31, 2014, from medindia.net

Supporting Social/Emotional Development

Emotional/social development has a vital role to play throughout this activity as students have to communicate with one another. The children will communicate with other shoppers, stocking clerks, and the cashiers. This activity will get the students comfortable with terms associated with mathematics, organization, and nutrition. The students will be encouraged to use the terms during this experience to help aid in their social development.

Social/emotional development [image]. Retrieved October 31, 2014,

from raisingarizonakids.com

Supporting Physical Development

Lastly, the children will be enabling their physical development with this activity as the students will not be confined to their desks while doing these tasks; they will be up moving around the room. Depending on the role that a child has during this activity they could be stocking shelves, shopping, or being a cashier. These different roles get the children moving, walking, and using their hands, supporting their physical development.

Physical development [image]. Retrieved October 30, 2014, from blogs.brighthorizons.com

ReferencesChild nutrition [image]. Retrieved October 30, 2014, from http://www.medindia.net/patients/lifestyleandwellness/nutrition-and-cognitive-development-in-young-children.htm

Groceries and cash register [image]. Retrieved October 30, 2014, from clipart

Grocery shopping [image]. Retrieved November 1, 2014, from http://comicscure.blogspot.com/2009/09/fog-pop-revisited-junejuly-2009-pop-on.html

Kingswood preschool children open play grocery store [photo]. Retrieved November 3, 2014, from http://www.triblocal.com/buffalo-grove/community/stories/2011/03/kingswood-preschool-children-open-play-grocery-store/

Leong D. & Bodrova B,. (2014). Pioneers in our field: Lev Vygotsky-Playing to learn. Scholastic, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/pioneers-our-field-lev-vygotsky-playing-learn

ReferencesPhysical development [image]. Retrieved October 30, 2014, from http://blogs.brighthorizons.com/familyroom/tips-for-surviving-the-grocery-store-with-kids/

Social/emotional development [image]. Retrieved October 30, 2014, from http://www.raisingarizonakids.com/2012/06/seize-the-play/

Tools of the Mind. (2014). Vygotskian Approach. Retrieved from http://www.toolsofthemind.org/philosophy/vygotskian-approach/

Trip clip [video]. Retrieved October 30, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UImpVKscSv0

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press (p57)

Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development [image]. Retrieved October 30, 2014, from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-development.html