1. Development of Cognition and Language: Vygotsky
EDU 330: Educational Psychology
Daniel Moos

2. 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

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

4. Categories Bayi: 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

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

6. 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**
2. CRITICAL ROLE OF LANGUAGE
3. IMPORTANCE OF ASSISTED LEARNING

7. SOCIAL-HISTORICAL THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
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

8. “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

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

10. Self-regulation and private speech
“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?

11. 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 determined
through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers”
Lev Vygotsky, 1935

12. POTENTIAL LEVEL
ACTUAL LEVEL
LEARNING
ZPD
INSTRUCTION

13. 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 Learning
Private Speech: Thinking aloud
Early years: End of task
Later years: Beginning, during, and end of task
Instruction
Scaffolding
Fading

14. 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

15. Evaluation of the Theory
Strengths
Attention of social, cultural, and context variables in learning
Sensitivity to diversity of development
Focused on individual differences (unlike Piaget)
Weaknesses
Vagueness of notion of ZPD
Insufficient attention to development issues
Difficulties of studying cultural-historical contexts

16. VYGOTSKY PIAGET CONCEPTUAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
and
1. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IS PRIMARILY A FUNCTION OF
SOCIO-CULTURAL INTERACTION Adult-child interaction
INDIVIDUAL CONSTRUCTION Active agency

17. 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
Vygotsky
Piaget 9