SOCIO-CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

OF LEARNING

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 By the end of the session the
students will be able to
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Learn the Social and Cultural
Influences on Learning.
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Differentiate the concepts of
socio-cultural dimensions of
learning.
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 Learning
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Can be inhanced when the
learner has an opportunity to
interact and to collaborate with
others on instructional tasks.

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 Social and Cultural Influences on
Learning
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Interactive and collaborative
instructional contexts.
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Lead to higher levels of cognitive,
social, and moral development as
well as self-esteem.
4
●
Quality personal relationship provides
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Stability
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Trust
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Caring
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Caring increase the learners
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Sense of belonging
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Self respect
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Self acceptance
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Provide a positive climate for learning.
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 Culture
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Refers to characteristics of the
individual/ society or of some
subgroups within the society. It
includes
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Values
–
Beliefs
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 –
Notions about acceptable and
unacceptable behavior and other
socially constructed ideas that
members of the culture are taught
are true. (Garcia 1944).

●
Culture also governs how we think and
feel. It shapes our beliefs about what
is important in life and our
interpretations of what events mean. 7
 3 central concepts of Socio-cultural
dimensions of learning and development
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Zone of Proximal Development
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Scaffolding
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Socio-cultural context of
knowledge

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●
Zone of Proximal Development
=>This refers to an area in which
a child or adolescent would have
trouble solving a problem alone,
but can succeed with help from
someone more knowledgeable.
=> A child or adolescent is ready
to master new concepts or ideas,
but simply needs help in doing so.
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●
Scaffolding
=> Is a technique that involves
changing the level of support for
learning.
=> Is tailored to the needs of the
student with the intention of
promoting deeper level of learning.
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●
Socio-cultural context of knowledge
=> Vygotsky emphasizes the
important role of culture in
influencing how individuals learn
and think.

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 Situated learning
=> Is a general theory of
knowledge acquisition.
=> Learning as it normally occurs
is a function of the activity,
context and culture in which it
occurs. (Lave 1998)
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 4 major premises of situated learning
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Learning in grounded in the actions
of everyday situations.
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Knowledge is acquired situationally
and transfers only to similar
situations.
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Learning is the result of a social
process encompassing ways of
thinking, perceiving, problem- solving,
and interacting in addition to
declarative and procedural
knowledge.
●
Learning is no separated from the
world of action but exist in robust,
complex, social environments made
up of actors, actions, and situations.14
 Elements of Situated Learning
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Content
=> Situated learning emphasizes higher- order
thinking processes rather than the acquisition of
facts independent of the real lives of the
participants (Choi and Hannafin, 1995).
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Context
=> Learning in context refers to building an
instructional environment sensitive to the tasks
learners must complete to be successful in
practice. 15