Transcript VYGOTSKY AND THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT (ZPD)

VYGOTSKY AND THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL
DEVELOPMENT (ZPD)
21 January 2010
A S IMPLE HIS TO RY OF
THEO RIES O F EDUC ATIO N
P lat o 400B.C
.
Arist ot el 350 B.C.
Descart es1641
Spinoza 1677
Locke 1685
Hegel 1816 A.D
Marx 1845 A.D
P avlov 1889
Dewey 1910
Miller 1956
INFO RMATION
PRO C ES S ING
P iaget 1966
T horndike 1903
Skinner 1938
Vygot sky 1978
C O NS TRUC TIVIS M
S O C IAL
C O NSTRUC TIVIS M
BEHAVIO RIS M
Vygotsky: Revolutionary Scientist and Educator
Key Ideas
 Human behavior and cultural development take place in and
through activity with other people.
 To understand development, we must look at the history of what is
developing.
 Action is mediated by the use of tools, both material and symbolic.
 Language is the "tool of tools". It enables: coordination of joint
activity; consideration of past events and plans for the future;
representations of understanding.
 Activity always takes place within a social/cultural context that has
a history on different time scales: phylogenetic, cultural, ontogenetic,
and microgenetic.
 Knowledge is constructed through solving problems that arise in joint activity in
the present; knowledge is only meaningful and useful when it is used as a tool for
further activity.
 The development of individual intelligence and personal identity occurs through
appropriation of the culture's resources in the course of participation in joint
activity. Since activities vary, so do the competences that children and adults
develop.
 Artifacts function like “cultural genes;” by mastering the cultural skills involved in
their use, the individual becomes a fully human member of a particular culture.
 Learning is an active and constructive process; it involves a triple
transformation: of the learner's repertoire for action; of the tools used; and of the
object of the activity.
 Learning is greatly facilitated by guidance and assistance that is pitched in the
learner’s “zone of proximal development” (zpd).
 The zpd applies not only to experts working with novices, but also to
collaboration among peers, and to the influence of absent others by means of the
artifacts they created.
The Zone of Proximal Development
The zone of proximal development is the difference between what a child can
do alone and what s/he can do with help from a more expert other:
“What a child can do today with help, tomorrow s/he will be able to do alone.”
Learning in the zpd is what drives development. “Learning awakens a variety of
internal developmental processes that are able to operate only when the child
is interacting with people in his/her environment and in cooperation with his/her
peers.”
“Learning (& Teaching) is only good when it proceeds ahead of development …
[it then] awakens and rouses to life those functions which are in a stage of
maturing.”
(All quotes are from Chap. 6 of Thinking and Speech (Vygotsky 1934/1987)
Who we become depends on the company we keep and what we
do and say together.
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Three Planes of Activity
Activity
Cultural-Institutional
Motives / Ideology
Norms of Practice
Division of Labour
Operation
Artif acts (material
and ideal)
G oalPlanning
Joint Action
Reflection
Interpersonal
Personal
Action
Identity
B odily Acting
Thinking
Valuing
Learning Through Apprenticeship
There is a lot of apprenticeship education going on in
Southwestern Native communities, whether in farming,pottery or
jewelry There are still multigenerational families known for their
excellence in some of these crafts. The transmission of skills in
these domains requires observational as well as verbal
teaching/learning. The underdevelopment of observational skills in
most Westernized schools by their frequent exclusive focus on
verbal teaching is a questionable practice. It narrows the
curriculum, the role of parents as contributors to education and
learners' preparation for laboratory sciences.Including
observational learning in our theories and curriculum is hard to
achieve in these times of narrow, test-driven education, but these
limitations are part of the challenges that fuel the energy of xmca
participants.
Vera
Implications of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) for Education
 The Classroom is Constructed as a Collaborative Community:
Joint activity, by definition, requires us to think of the participants, not simply as a
collection of individuals, but also as a community that works towards shared
goals, the achievement of which depends upon collaboration.
 Purposeful Activities Involve Whole Persons:
Transformation of the participants occurs as a function of participation in
activities that have real meaning and purpose; learning is not simply the
acquisition of isolated skills or items of information, but involves the whole
person and contributes to the formation of individual identity.
 Activities are Situated and Unique:
Any activity is situated in place and time; although there may be common
features across activities and settings, each activity is unique, since it involves
the coming together of particular individuals in a particular setting with particular
artifacts, all of which have their own histories which, in turn, affect the way in
which the activity is actually played out.
 Curriculum is a Means not an End:
If the aim is to engage with particular students in productive activities that are
personally as well as socially significant, 'covering' the curriculum should not be
thought of as the ultimate goal of education. Instead, the specified knowledge
and skills that make up the prescribed curriculum should be seen as items in
the cultural tool-kit which are to be used as means of 'knowing in action' when
carrying out activities of personal and social significance.
 Outcomes are Both Aimed For and Emergent:
Outcomes of activity cannot be completely known or prescribed in advance;
while there may be prior agreement about the goal to be aimed for, the route
that is taken depends upon emergent properties of the situation - the problems
encountered and the human and material resources available for the making of
solutions.
 Activities Must Incorporate Diversity and Encourage Originality:
Development involves "rising above oneself", both for individuals and
communities. Solving new problems requires diversity and originality of possible
solutions. Without novelty, there would be no development; both individuals and
societies would be trapped in an endless recycling of current activities, with all
their limitations.
Your Questions
Why was Jeannie so “undeveloped”?
What is the best way to gauge a person’s ZPD?
Is “mentoring” always successful?
How can teaching be equitable for all students?
Does learning/knowing several languages help development?
How practical is Vygotsky’s theory in middle and high schools?
Dear Parents,
We spent much of November and December learning about how rocks are put together. We've
spent the first half of January learning about how rocks fall apart. Chemical weathering is fun
to watch in the classroom -- we have been mercilessly wearing down perfectly fine limestone
and marble with little drips of acid. The kids can do this at home with vinegar or lemon juice of
course, but teachers can demonstrate this type of chemical weathering with hydrochloric acid,
which is lots more fun. Acid causes immediate fizzing and bubbling when dropped onto rocks
which contain calcite, the mineral form of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Limestone and marble
are rich in calcite, because they are made of the crushed remnants of marine shells, the source
of the calcium carbonate. Large limestone deposits in the Earth's crust often develop extensive
cave systems as slightly acidic groundwater seeps through the rocks and dissolves them bit by
bit. Much of the Santa Cruz mountain system is rich in limestone, and not surprisingly, one can
find some great caves back in the hills on this part of the coast.
The kids learned two interesting chemical equations that are involved with chemical
weathering.
H2O + CO2 --> H2CO3 Carbonic acid is a mild acid which is always present in groundwater.
CaCO3 + 2HCl --> CaCl2 + H2O + CO2ﾊ This is one way to cause chemical weathering in
limestone and marble.
Another type of weathering is caused by physical forces such as water, wind, gravity, and ice.ﾊ
In this case, rocks are worn down into smaller versions of the same rocks. Boulders, pebbles,
sand, and mud are some of the results of physical weathering. Water is a powerful erosional
agent, and not only does it efficiently break down rock, but it transports the resulting sediment
for huge distances.
The sixth graders and I have been discussing in great detail the mechanics of
erosion and sediment transport over the last two weeks. We began by creating
three-dimensional paper models of rivers, showing the various morphological
features of rivers with regard to gradient and channel geometry. Fast rivers flowing
from snowmelt high in the mountains can carve out deep V-shaped valleys due to
the water's high energy. Rivers create deltas and floodplains as their gradients
flatten out towards the ocean: flow rate slows down, and channels become shallow
and sediment-filled. The accompanying photos show one of our stream days in the
classroom. We had eight stream tables going during each class, and the kids were
able to watch river valleys form as they manipulated variables such as gradient
and the rate of water flow. We also collected samples of sediment along the river
channels in order to observe whether our little streams showed "graded bedding,"
where sediment spreads out in order of size. As you can imagine, a day playing
with sand and water was a big hit. Everyone seemed to feel that we need many
more days like that in Room 37!
Now we have shifted our attention to beaches: how they are made, and what lives
on and near them. Do you know any surfers who might like to come talk to a class
or two about waves and what makes a good break? Let me know, and we'll clear a
spot in our schedule for a guest speaker. Thanks!
For further ideas, see How People Learn, chapters 6 & 7.