21st Century Learning & Development
Lev Vygotsky's
Social Development Theory
Lev Vygotsky was deeply interested in the role that the social environment played on a learner’s development. He looked at things like tools and cultural objects as well as other people as agents that had an impact on the development of ones thinking (Bransford, Brown, Cocking, Donovan & Pellegrino, 2000). His life can be attribute to his contributions to his Social Learning Theory, which stresses the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition, as Vygotsky believed strongly that community plays a large role
in the process of “making meaning” (McLeod, 2007). Vygotsky studied how infants are introduced to certain things in life that influence how they will be when they grow up. He saw young children as curious beings, which through this curiosity became actively involved in their own learning and the discovery and development of new understanding (McLeod, 2007).
Although he did stress that social contributions which utilized other people, did play a large part in the child’s development process. Arguably one his most influential ideas on the developmental psychology was that of the zone of proximal development. This idea refers to the difference between what a child is able to accomplish independently, and what they are able to accomplish with the assistance, guidance and encouragement of a capable partner (Bransford et al, 2000). What a child is capable of doing with a skilled partner is even more suggestive of their mental development compared to what they are capable of doing on their own (Bransford et al, 2000). Going forth, what a child is able to do with assistance today, they will be able to do tomorrow independently.
Vygotsky sees the zone of proximal development as the area where sensitive instruction and guidance should be provided for the child (McLeod, 2007). This allows for the child to develop the certain skills they will use later on in life as adults, as well as developing a higher mental function at the same time. Interaction between a peer that has a set of skills and a peer that is lacking those skills is a highly effective way of developing skills and strategies in the partner that is lacking (McLeod, 2007). For this reason, Vygotsky’s social development theory is a theory that should be highly valued in the classroom, especially in those grades that are teaching younger children., as this theory suggests those students who are lacking necessary skills will learn them if placed with a student who have acquired those skills.
Teaching
Strategies
Here are a few strategies and techniques you can implement in your own classroom
1. Pair together students who have opposite strengths and weakness. For example, pair a student who excels in writing and a student who struggles with writing. The student who is the strength of the two will assist and guide the student who is the weaker of the two.
2. Hold an after school “Helpers” workshop. Students who are older, grade 8 for example, can help younger students, who are in grade 2, with reading, writing, etc. after school. By doing this, those younger students are paired with an older capable student who will be able to help the younger students development, as Vygotsky states.
3. Set up the classroom into Tribes. There will be 4-5 students in each Tribe, with those students sharing an array of strengths and weakness with each other. If a student is experiencing difficult with an assigned worksheet or they are having troubling grasping a concept that is being taught in class, they wont’ always have to raise their hand and have you, the teacher, come over and help them. Instead, they can turn to their tribe members and see if the problem can be resolved through their assistance.
4. Act as a Guide on the Side. Offer assistance to the student when needed, but don’t directly give them the answers. Instead ask questions such as, “what can I do to help?” or, “what are you not understanding?” From here, you can assess exactly where the student is struggling and provide the necessary assistance to help the student get over that obstacle without giving them the answer. Offer encouragement when the student does something well and be encouraging when they are hesitating about a question on a worksheet, for example. From here, you can encourage the student to continue to practice that skill so it becomes one of their “strengths” rather than a weakness.
Technology Tools
With techology being a regular part of children and teens lives, here are a few ways to incorporate technology with the teachings of Lev Vygotsky
1. Learning Vygotsky’s Social Learning Theory through the use of iPads. Going back to the teaching strategy of the “Helper” workshop, this after school club could utilize iPads as a means of older students helping younger students. The older
students could get a series of words that the younger has difficult with, and place them in a slideshow format on the iPad. Each word would be given its own page on the slideshow and be big enough for the younger student to be able to see the word clearly, and go forth in sounding it out. When the younger student gets the word correct, then they go use there fingers to slide to the next word on the slide show. This would demonstrate Vygotsky’s learning theory because the older, more capable student would be helping the younger, less capable student succeed using technology that would make learning more appealing to the younger student.
2. Use a Youtube video created using PowToon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Im_GrCgrVA. This video is an animated Youtube video that highlights the important aspects of Lev Vygotsky’s Zone Proximal Development. It is a fun way for students to learn about the zone of proximal development because it uses a character that is named Lev Vygotsky, fun colours to catch the student’s attention and does not have an abundant amount of text on the screen that would overwhelm students.