Vygotsky's theory

 

Vygotsky's theory is demonstrated in those classrooms where social interaction, where teachers talk with children and use language to express what they are learning, where children are encouraged to express themselves orally and in writing and be favored in those classes where favors and dialogue among group members is valued.

 

The major theme of Vygotsky's theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. Vygotsky (1978) 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).

 

A second aspect of Vygotsky's theory is the idea that the potential for cognitive development depends upon the "zone of proximal development" (ZPD): a level of development attained when children engage in social behavior. Full development of the ZPD depends upon full social interaction. The range of skill that can be developed with adult guidance or peer collaboration exceeds what can be attained alone.

 

The concept of ZPD (zone development power) allows us to understand the following:

 

1. That children can participate in activities that do not fully understand and are unable to perform individually.

 

2. That in real situations troubleshooting, no defaults for the solution or fixed roles of the participants, ie the solution is distributed among the participants and that is the change in the distribution of activity with respect to steps which is the task of learning.

 

3. That the real ZPD, the adult does not act only according to its own definition of the situation, but from the interpretation of the gestures and speech of children as indicators of the definition of the situation by the latter.

 

4. That the situations that are "new" to the child are not in the same way to other present and the missing knowledge of the child comes from a socially organized environment.

 

5. The development is closely related to the range of contexts that can be negotiated by an individual or social group.

 

Therefore, it is crucial change in the ways of working of the educators and teachers in first grade; they are responsible to provide the necessary support so that, not only in the transition from one level to another, but consistently, children can continue to develop their full potential.

 

Vygotsky's theory was an attempt to explain consciousness as the end product of socialization. For example, in the learning of language, our first utterances with peers or adults are for the purpose of communication but once mastered they become internalized and allow "inner speech".

 

Vygotsky's theory is complementary to Bandura's work on social learning and a key component of situated learning theory as well. Because Vygotsky's focus was on cognitive development, it is interesting to compare his views with those aconstructivist (Bruner) and a genetic epistemologist (Piaget).