UNIVERSIDAD DE ESPECIALIDADES ESPÍRITU SANTO

FACULTAD ALBERT EYDE DE ARTES LIBERALES

TOPIC:

Implications of Vygotsky’s Zone of proximal Development (ZPD)

in Teacher Education: ZPTD and Self-scaffolding

SUBJECT:
Psychomotricity

NAME:
Jenniffer Cortez Tagle

TEACHER
Gabriela Castañeda Ortiz

SAMBORONDÓN, MARCH, 2021

 One of the most important events that occurs continuously is human development, it

never comes to an end during a person's life. It begins at conception and ends at death; that

is why it is fundamental in our lives. There are many stages in this growth process, but

childhood is the main period in which human beings develop skills that will benefit them in

the future.

In the early stages, education potentiates the stimulation of the main stages. It

helps and favors the neurological development of the child, improving her capacity.

Exploring and playing is a great way for children to learn, express themselves and

discover their world. Likewise, through literature such us tales and legends, infants will

discover new places and customs, creating critical, analytical and reflexive thoughts. Some

of the most important motor skills are developed through a variety of educational activities

at these crucial stages.

It's important to recognize the people that help infants improve their skills. These

people are the caregivers, they are the main support during the early stages because their

guidance helps the child learn and achieve his goals.

Caregivers definitely play a fundamental role during childhood, but how is this

possible? Why are caregivers necessary in the learning process? How many steps does this

process have? How can caregivers help children find success? Are the language and social

interaction part of this process? It's necessary to answer all of these questions in order to

analyze how scaffolding may help in the learning process.

 We already know that caregivers are very important, but there is one character in

particular, named Lev Vygotsky, who made fundamental contributions to child

development in the educational field. Vygotsky was a psychologist and social

constructivist. He is known for creating the concept for Zone of proximal development,

which refers to the difference between what a child can do without help and what the

learner can accomplish with guidance from a caregiver. (Vygotsky, 1978)

In order to learn, the teacher or caregiver has to present tasks that are just as suitable

for the children´s abilities as to their capacities. We have to know and always remember

that activities that are too simple or already within the child’s current abilities, do not

promote learning. Also, the teacher has to focus in the complexity of the task; very complex

tasks for children will cause frustration.

Therefore, it is necessary to measure the different activities that will be presented to

the child. As teachers, we should know the fact that every student has a different ZPD.

The appropriate tasks in the ZPD are those that the child can accomplish on his

own, but will still need a little help from others to do so. For example, a 4 years old child is

struggling to learn how to paint. By working with the teacher and reaching out to the other

kids for help, he will eventually learn.

In the previous example we can see that learning happens because we interact with

others. When the child looks for different ways of painting, he is expanding his painting

techniques while he is also improving other abilities such as cognitive, social and

emotional. Therefore, we do not learn because we have developed, we develop because we

learn.
 This learning acquisition can be done when the teacher or caregiver shows interest

in the topic and also teaches how the problem can be solved while the children watch to

imitate. Other ways to reach the goal is for the teacher to start solving the problem and ask

the students to complete the solution.

Vygotsky believed in the importance of Zone of Proximal Development, because he

was convinced that when a kid is in this zone, he will need assistance and a guide in order

to achieve what he is trying to reach.

It's important to know that if someone wants to help in this learning process, there

are three necessary facets required to do so efficiently:

● The attendance of someone with a lot of knowledge and skills, who helps to

solve the learner's doubts and knows different procedures to achieve the

objectives.

● The desire to help and a tutor with high social skills that allow the child to

observe and practice their skills.

● Scaffolding, that helps the students improve their skills as they go through

this ZPD.

According to Wood et al. (1976) Scaffolding is the process that allows a kid to solve

a task that would be impossible to do without help. For this reason, when we talk about

Scaffolding, we refer to a series of activities, provided by the educator or caregiver, that are

more knowledgeable than the learner. That will support the child while in this Zone of

Proximal Development.

Scaffolding joins two important processes, the structural and procedural. These two

combined supports and enable learners to work in their ZPD in order to develop their full

potential.
 The structural element of scaffolding refers to the planned ritualized structures that

involve the learning task. An example of this structural element is the step-by step

guidelines used in a Think, Pair and Share task (TPS).

The thinking process is when the teacher asks questions to the students in order to

see what they are thinking, this way the teacher can provide additional scaffolding as

needed.

One way is to record key elements of the answer using just words. Depending on

the complexity of the question, the teacher will establish several minutes to discuss the

ideas. The teacher will walk around the classroom while checking what students have

written. If one of the students did not write anything, it indicates that the student needs

support from the teacher.

Referring to pairing, we can start by making groups or pairs mixing the class based

on the abilities of the students. By making groups with students that have different strength,

the teacher will notice the presence of scaffolding. Those who know more will help those

who know less. There are many ways to apply this process, we just need available time,

questions and motivation.

Finally, the sharing process occurs when the whole class shares their answers and

what they did, giving the opportunity for the others to learn through this exercise too.

According to Billings and Walqui, this TPS provides a scaffolded structure for students to

orally request ideas from a partner, listen to their peers’ ideas, ask and respond to questions.

Therefore, the students will benefit and thus they obtain new points of view and better

methods to solve problems.

It's necessary to know that the scaffolding will disappear when the student is ready

to complete a task on his own.

 As we can notice this whole learning process begins with the students and the

curiosity that produces wanting to know more and being independent. Consequently, the

kids have to have a good tutor to help in the process of developing their cognitive and

physical capacities. At the same time, this tutor will be allowing them to be part of an

integrating system with the society that surrounds them.

So, if we want to integrate children into society, the presence of a good tutor who

has experience in the educational field is important, especially if he knows about

interpersonal relationship.

Having a good relationship with children, greeting each other, and learning

awareness of other kids, will benefit the scaffolding process. Interaction helps to enhance

the social skills of children. They learn that each child is valued as a member of the group,

for this reason they have to listen and analyze different points of view that will help them

achieve their goals.

Zone of proximal development is what a child can perform with the help and

guidance of others. This guidance process refers to Scaffolding and it’s useful because with

its kids have a better idea of what to do. During this process they will ask many questions

that will help them increase their knowledge and improve social skills.

The role of educators, caregivers and tutors in the early learning process is

important because they care about children on a daily basis. It is important that these people

are aware of how they can improve their plans to teach thinking skills. Knowing what they

can contribute to their plans will result in having autonomous children with analytical and

reflective abilities, capable of solving problems.

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