Vygotzky’s

Socio-Cultural Theory
 Vygotzky’s Socio-Cultural Theory
• Social Interaction – Effective learning happens through participation in social activities, making
the social context of learning crucial.
• Cultural Factors – Looked into the wide range of experiences that a culture would give to a child
• Language – Opens the door for learners to acquire knowledge that others already have
• Private Speech– A form of self talk that guides the child’s thinking and action
 Vygotzky’s Socio-Cultural Theory
• Social Interaction and Language are two central factors in cognitive development.

Piaget Vygotsky

Social Interaction More individual focus More social in focus

Cultural Factors Believed that there are Did not propose stages but
universal stages of emphasized on cultural
cognitive development factors in cognitive
development
Language Did not give much Stressed the role of
emphasis on language language in cognitive
development
 Language is the primary
Method adults transmit information
to children

Language becomes a powerful tool

in learning

Private Speech is form of a Self-Talk.

Cannot do even with help
from others
Examples of Scaffolding
 What is Situational Learning Theory and why is it important?

• Situated learning is an instructional approach developed by Jean Lave and Etienne

Wenger in the early 1990s, and follows the work of Dewey, Vygotsky, and others
(Clancey, 1995) who claim that students are more inclined to learn by actively
participating in the learning experience. Situated learning essentially is a matter of
creating meaning from the real activities of daily living (Stein, 1998, para. 2) where
learning occurs relative to the teaching environment.
• Situational learning places great emphasis on relationships and interactions with others in order to
build understanding. Students learn by making connections to their prior knowledge. And
third, situational learning works to develop the role of the individual within the greater community.
EXAMPLES OF SITUATED LEARNING
ACTIVITIES:
Field trips where students actively
participate in an unfamiliar
environment.

Cooperative education and Internship

experience in which students are
immersed and physically active in an
actual work environment.
Examples of Situated Learning Activities:
Music and sports (physical education)
practice which replicate actual setting of
these events, e.g., orchestras, studios,
training facilities
Laboratories and child-care centers used
as classrooms in which students are
involved in activities which replicate
actual work settings
Key features of Situated Learning:
It is based on Sociocultural Theory.
Learning should take place in Communities of Practice.
Learners start out as a Legitimate Peripheral Participants.
Learners slowly become full members of the Community of Practice.