REX BARUIZ

• Who is Lev Vygotsky?

- His full name is Lev Simkhovich Výgodsky
- Born on November 17, 1896 at Orsha, Russian Empire, now in Belarus
- Born into a non-religious middle-class family of Russian Jewish extraction.
- Died last June 11, 1934 (aged 37) at Moscow, Soviet Union
- His was originally Lev Vygodsky and he later change the spelling to Vygotsky in early 1920’s
About his life
- Education
• Vygotsky first trained in medicine though wishing to be a teacher.
• Transferred to law, history, and Philosophy.
• Awarded a law degree from Moscow University in 1917
• Vygotsky studied a range of topics including sociology, linguistics, psychology, and philosophy.
•
- In 1925 he got a relapse of Tuberculosis, so he began researching topics such as language,
attention, and memory.
- He was a prolific writer, publishing six books on psychology topics over a 10-year period, he often
focuses on the issue of child development and education and explores the psychology of art and language.
About his work
- He believes that human development results from a dynamic interaction between individuals and
society.
• For this interaction children learn gradually and continuously from parents and teachers,
however, this learning varies from one culture to the next.

- It’s important to note that Vygotsky’s theory emphasizes the dynamic nature of this interaction;
Imitation, guided learning, and collaborative learning all play a critical part in his theory.
• Society does not impact people, people also affect their society.
• Vygotsky theory of social development argues that community and language play a central part
of learning, while Piaget concludes that children’s cognitive development happens in stages. Vygotsky
rejected the idea and believed that children develop independently of specific stages as the result of social
interaction.
• Contributions to Psychology
•
- He was considered a formative thinker in psychology.
- In the 1970’s Vygotsky’s theory became known in the west, since then his works have been
translated and have become very influential, particularly in the area of education.

Qoutes from Mind society “ Learning is more than the acquisition of the ability to think; it is the
acquisition of many specialized abilities for thinking about a variety of things”
KYLA ALEGADO

Social Interaction

- Piagetian's task focused heavily on how an individual's cognitive development became evident through
the individual's own processing of the task.
- Vygotsky, on the other hand gave more weight on the social interactions that contributed to the cognitive
development of individuals. For him, the social environment or the community takes on a major role in
one's development.

Cultural Factors

- Vygotsky believed in the crucial role that culture played on the cognitive development of children.
- Piaget believed that as the child develops and matures, he goes through universal stages of cognitive
development that allows him ro move from simple explorations with senses and muscles to complex
reasoning.

Language

- For Vygotsky, he describes language as "talking to oneself", an indication of thinking that goes on in the
mind of the child that will eventually lead to Private Speech.
- Piaget's theory describes children's language as "symbolic", allowing them to venture beyond the "here
and now" and to talk about such things as the past, the future, people feelings and events.

LOUISE AVYRL MONTALBAN

Zone of Proximal Development

When a child attempts to perform a skill alone, she may not be immediately proficient at it. So, alone she
may perform at a certain level of competency. We refer to this as the zone of actual development.
However, with the guidance of a More Knowledgeable Other (MKO), competent adult or a more advanced
peer, the child can perform at a higher level of competency. The difference between what the child can
accomplish alone and what she can accomplish with the guidance of another is what Vygotsky referred to
as zone of proximal development. The zone represents a learning opportunity where a knowledgeable
adult such as a teacher or parent or a more advanced peer can assist the child's development. See the
illustration on the next page..

The support or assistance that lets the child accomplish a task he cannot accomplish independently is
called scaffolding. Scaffolding is not about doing the task for the child while he watches. It is not about
doing shortcuts for the child. Unzipping the lunch bag, opening the food container and putting straw in the
child's tetrapack juice for him is not scaffolding. Scaffolding should involve the judicious assistance given
by the adult or peer so that the child can move from the zone of actual to the zone of proximal
development. When the adult unzips the zipper an inch or two, and then holds the lunch bag still so that
the child can continue to unzip the lunch bag is scaffolding. Loosening the food container lid just a bit and
letting the child open the lid himself is scaffolding. Leading the straw to the hole and letting the child put
the straw through the tetra pack hole is scaffolding.
The examples given above shows how a right amount of assistance can allow the child to accomplish the
task. The instructor should scaffold in such a way that the gap is bridged between the learner's current skill
levels and the desired skill level. As learners become more proficient, able to complete tasks on their own
that they could not initially do without assistance, the guidance can be withdrawn. This is called scaffold
and fade-away technique. Scaffolding, when done appropriately can make a learner confident and
eventually he can accomplish the task without any need for assistance.

When the MKO scaffolds, the process moves in four levels:

1. I do, you watch. 2. I do, you help.

3. You do, I help. 4. You do, I watch.

Learning will depend in the skill of the MKO, and the learners readiness and ability to learn and the
difficulty of the skill being

learned.

Vygotsky defines the “More Knowledgeable Other” (MKO) as anyone who has a better understanding or a
higher ability level than the learner, particularly in regards to a specific task, concept or process.
Traditionally the MKO is thought of as a teacher or an older adult. However, this is not always the case.
Other possibilities for the MKO could be a peer, sibling, a younger person, or even a computer. The key to
MKO is that they must have more knowledge about the topic being learned than the learner does.
Teachers or more capable peers can raise the student’s competence through the ZPD.

JAN TRISHA LAPINORIA

ELEMENTARY MENTAL FUNCTIONS

Vygotsky's child development theory refers to four 'elementary mental functions' as the innate abilities
that we are born with. These are:
•Attention
•Sensation
•Perception
•Memory
These abilities are then developed into 'higher mental functions' through social interaction with our
community.
Vygotsky also coined the term 'tools of intellectual adaptation', which refers to problem-solving strategies
and ways of thinking that children internalise by observing and interacting with more knowledgeable
members of society. Different cultures exemplify different tools of intellectual adaptation because they are
affected by the beliefs and values of the individual culture.

SOCIAL INFLUENCE AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Vygotsky believed that learning was an active process rather than a natural or passive one. He said that
children were engaged in their own learning and discovery but that their development happened in the
context of social interaction, as opposed to independently or in isolation.
Vygotsky also highlighted the importance of learning that was guided by an educator or teacher.
Techniques used by the teacher to engage the child, such as performing the task themselves as an
example or providing verbal instruction was referred to as cooperative or collaborative dialogue by
Vygotsky theory. The process of learning would occur when the child understood the information,
absorbed it and then used it to guide their own performance.

DENIZA MUIT

Vygotsky's Theory and Language

Vygotsky's Theory says that social interactions helps children develop their ability to use language.

THREE STAGES OF LANGUAGE

.social speech - communication between children and others ( usually from the age of 2)
. Private speech - it is directed to the self but has not yet been internalised ( usually from the of 3
. Silent Inner speech- A child's Internal monologue ( usually from the age of 7)

Vygotsky and Private Speech in Young Children

Vygotsky was the first philosopher to describe the stage of private speech and explain it as the transition
between initial external speech and silent inner speech. He also stated that thought and language were
initially separate functions before they merge at around the age of 7. Vygotsky believed that this process
of internalising speech and language was essential to cognitive development.

ANGELINE TANGARO

JEAN DEANNE CAMPUGAN

Critical Evaluation of Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development

Vygotsky's claim that his theory of cognitive development and social interaction is universal across
cultures has drawn a great deal of criticism. He also doesn't offer any specific hypotheses that could be
tested to see if his theories are true or false. However, there is a lot of evidence to back up the claim that
group learning can be more effective than individual learning.

Criticisms of Vygotsky

• Lack of experimental tests

• Active participation in learning
• Social Interaction
• Language as the foundation of learning
• The zone of proximal development

Vygotsky vs. Piaget

• The way that culture affects cognitive development

— Vygotsky did not mention specific stages of cognitive development, instead emphasizing the role that
culture played in shaping cognitive development. Piaget, in contrast, identified universal cognitive
development stages that were consistent across all cultures.

• Learning as a social process

— Vygotsky emphasizes social interaction as a crucial component of learning and maintains that it cannot
be separated from its social setting. While according to Piaget's theories, learning is primarily an
independent process that each person engages in on their own.

• The role of language

— According to Vygotsky, thought and language both start early in development, but they initially function
separately before coming together when the child starts using inner speech. Contrarily, Piaget asserts that
thought comes before language and that language development follows this.

• Adult guidance
— Vygotsky emphasizes how crucial it is for adults to be involved in a child's cognitive development. On
the other hand, Piaget's theory of cognitive development emphasizes the importance of peers in fostering
a child's social awareness and negotiation abilities while also providing perspective.