Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky December 18, 2008

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Research Paper

Dwight Farris

University of Arizona South

University of Arizona

ETCV 510 Learning Theory In Instructional Design

Dr. Rosemary Rosser

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky December 18, 2008

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Lev Vygotsky

(1896-1934).

Vygotsky was born in Russia in the same year as Piaget. Vygotsky was not

trained in science but received a law degree from the Moscow University. He went on to

study literature and linguistics and became his Ph.D. for a book he wrote on the

psychology of art (Vasta,R., Haith, M.M., Miller,S.A., 1995).

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To understand Vygotsky´s theory, it is important to look at the political

environment of that time. Vygotsky began to work in psychology shortly after the

Russian revolution, where the Marxism replaced the rule of the czar. The new

philosophy of the Marxist emphasized socialism and collectivism. Individuals were

expected to sacrifice their personal goals and achievements for the improvement of the

larger society. Sharing and co-operation was encouraged, and the success of any

individual was seen as reflecting the success of the culture. Marxists also placed a

heavy emphasis on history, believing that any culture could be understood only through

examination of the ideas and events that had shaped it (Vasta,R., Haith, M.M.,

Miller,S.A., 1995).

When the Cold War ended, Vygotsky's works were revealed. Vygotsky has

written several articles and books on the subject of his theories and psychology,

including Thought and Language(1934). His research in how children solve their

problems that surpassed their level of development led Vygotsky to create the Zone of

Proximal Development theory. That is one reason why Vygotsky's developmental

psychology has influenced education profoundly in Russia.

Vygotsky incorporates these elements in his model of human development that

has been termed as a sociocultural approach. For him, the individual‘s development is

a result of his or her culture. Development, in Vygotsky´s theory, applies mainly to

mental development, such as thought, language and reasoning process. These abilities

were understood to develop through social interactions with others (especially parents)

and therefore represented the shared knowledge of the culture.

He states:

Every function in the child‘s cultural development appears twice: first, between

people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This

applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of

ideas. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between

individuals (Vygotsky, 1978, p.57).

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Mental abilities and processes similarly were viewed in terms of the historical

sequence of events that produced them. Whereas Piaget believed that all children‘s

cognitive process follows a very similar pattern of stages, Vygotsky saw intellectual

abilities as being much more specific to the culture in which the child was reared

(Vasta,R., Haith, M.M., Miller,S.A., 1995). Culture makes two sorts of contributions to

the child‘s intellectual development. First, children acquire much of their thinking

(knowledge) from it. Second, children acquire the processes or means of their thinking

(tools of intellectual adaptation) from the surrounding culture. Therefore, culture

provides the children with the means to, what to think and how to think.

Vygotsky viewed cognitive developments as a result of a dialectical process,

where the child learns through shared problem solving experiences with someone else,

such as parents, teacher, siblings or a peer. Originally, the person interacting with the

child undertakes most of the responsibility for guiding the problem solving, but gradually

this responsibility transfers to the child. Although these interactions can take many

forms, Vygotsky stresses language dialogue. It is primarily through their speech that

adults are assumed to transmit to children the rich body of knowledge that exists in their

culture. As learning processes, the child‘s own language comes to help as his or her

primary tool of intellectual transformation. Children can eventually use their own

internal speech to direct their own behavior in much the same way that their parents‘

speech once directed it. This transition reflects the Vygotsky´s theme of development

as a process of internalization. Bodies of knowledge and tools of thought at first exist

outside the child, in the culture of the environment. Development consists of gradual

internalization, primarily through language, to form cultural adaptation (Rogoff, 1990).

As highlighted in the introduction; the major theme of Vygotsky's theoretical

framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of

cognition. Vygotsky (1978) states: "Every function in the child's cultural development

appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between

people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies

equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All

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the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals." (p57). A

second aspect of Vygotsky's theory is the idea that the potential for cognitive

development depends upon the "zone of proximal development" (ZPD): a level of

development attained when children engage in social behavior. Full development of the

ZPD depends upon full social interaction. The range of skill that can be developed with

adult guidance or peer collaboration exceeds what can be attained alone. Vygotsky's

theory was an attempt to explain consciousness as the end product of socialization. For

examples, in the learning of language, our first utterances with peers or adults are used

for the purpose of communication but once mastered they become internalized and

allow "inner speech".

Vygotsky's theory is complementary to the work of Bandura on social learning and a key component of situated learning theory. Because Vygotsky's focus was on cognitive development, it is interesting to compare his views with those of Bruner and Piaget . A comparison of Vygotsky and Piaget can be found at http://www.simplypsychology.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/vygotsky.html

Scope/Application:

This is a general theory of cognitive development. Most of the original work was done in the context of language learning in children (Vygotsky, 1962), although later applications of the framework have been broader (see Wertsch, 1985).

Example:

Vygotsky (1978, p56) provides the example of pointing a finger. Initially, this behavior begins as a meaningless grasping motion; however, as people react to the gesture, it becomes a movement that has meaning. In particular, the pointing gesture represents an interpersonal connection between individuals.

Principles:

1. Cognitive development is limited to a certain range at any given age.

2. Full cognitive development requires social interaction.

References:

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Vygotsky, L.S. (1962). Thought and Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Wertsch, J.V. (1985). Cultural, Communication, and Cognition: Vygotskian Perspectives. Cambridge University Press.

Relevant Web Sites:

For more about Vygotsky and his work, see:

http://www.kolar.org/vygotsky http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky http://mathforum.org/mathed/vygotsky.html

The second aspect of Vygotsky´s theory is the idea that the potential for cognitive

development is limited to a certain time span which he calls the ― zone of proximal

development‖. ZPD refers to the gap between what a given child can achieve alone,

their ´potential development as determined by independent problem solving´, and what

they can achieve ‗through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with

more capable peers‘ (Wood, D., Wood, H., 1966).

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Vygotsky refers to what children can do on their own as the ‗level of actual

development‘. In his view, it is the level of actual development that a standard IQ test

measure. Such a measure is undoubtedly important, but it is also incomplete. Two

children might have the same level of actual development, in the sense of being able to

solve the same number of problems on some standardized test. Given appropriate help

from an adult, still, one child might be able to solve an additional dozen problems while

the other child might be able to solve only two or three more. What the child can do

with the help is referred to as the ‗level of potential development‘ (Vasta, R., Haith,

M.M., Miller, S.A., 1995).

The full development during the ZPD depends upon full social interaction and the more

the child takes advantages of an adult‘s assistance, the broader is its ‗Zone of Proximal

Development‘.

In 1976 Wood, Bruner and Ross invent the term ‗scaffolding‘ to describe tutorial

interaction between an adult and a child. The metaphor was used to explore the nature

of aid provided by an adult for children learning how to carry out a task they could not

perform alone. Burner‘s ideas of spiral curriculum and scaffolding are related.

A parallel has been drawn between the notion of scaffolding and ZPD theories of

Vygotsky (Hobsbaum,A., Peters,S., Sylva,K., 1996). If adults wish to provide learning

opportunities, they must evaluate the child‘s present developmental level and estimate

the ‗length‘ of the ZDP. But, the child must be able to make use of the help of others; it

needs the competence to benefit from the give-and-take activities and conversations

with others (Bruner, 1983). Vygotsky acknowledged the maturational limits of the ZPD,

but most psychological research has emphasized the role of the environment: parents

and other adults who are ‗expert‘ models and guides for a young learner.

It is interesting here to go back to the chapter of Kellers Plan and look at the role

of proctors and compare it to the role of adults in the ZPD. In the PSI courses the

proctors have the job to assist the students with their problems they have in a given

course so they can carry on within the course.

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For Vygotsky, language has a particular role in learning and development by

acquiring a language, a child is provided the means to think in new ways and gains a

new cognitive tool for making sense of the world. Language is used by children as an

additional device in solving problems, to overcome impulsive action, to plan a solution

before trying it out and to control their own behavior (Jones, 1995). Nevertheless, the

main purpose of language for children is social. They use the language to obtain the

help of others and to solve problems. The child, in it process of development, begins to

practice the same forms of behavior that other formerly practice with respect to the

child. The significance of such behavior is only understood in a social context.

The language is also crucial and interrelated with the action, providing an

additional tool used both to reflect on and direct behavior. Vygotsy´s work is therefore

viewed as particularly relevant to those who are concerned with the use of language.

Both Piaget and Vygotsky viewed pre-school children in problem solving situations

talking to themselves. When Piaget labeled the self directed behavior as egocentric

and believed it only minimum relevant to children‘s cognitive growth, Vygotsky referred

to it as a private speech. He argued that private speech grows out of the children‘s

interaction with parents and other adults and through such interactions, they begin to

use their parent‘s instructional comments to direct their own behavior.

The socio-cultural aspects in Vygotsy´s theories are interesting when analyzing

the learner in the information age society. How do we educate the child raised in a

world of instant information, where interactive technologies have led them to believe

they can act on the world with the press of a button?

Theory

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory: Vygotsky is best known for being an

educational psychologist with a sociocultural theory. This theory suggests that social

interaction leads to continuous step-by-step changes in children's thought and behavior

that can vary greatly from culture to culture(Woolfolk, 1998). Basically Vygotsky's theory

suggests that development depends on interaction with people and the tools that the

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culture provides to help form their own view of the world. There are three ways a

cultural tool can be passed from one individual to another. The first one is imitative

learning, where one person tries to imitate or copy another. The second way is by

instructed learning which involves remembering the instructions of the teacher and then

using these instructions to self-regulate. The final way that cultural tools are passed to

others is through collaborative learning, which involves a group of peers who strive to

understand each other and work together to learn a specific skill (Tomasello, et al.,

1993).

His theory combines the social environment and cognition. Children will acquire

the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a culture by interacting with a more

knowledgeable person. Vygotsky believed that social interaction will lead to ongoing

changes in a child's thought and behavior. These thoughts and behaviors would vary

between cultures (Berk, 1994).

The sociocultural theory consists of several elements to help implement it. The

chart to the left outines the core priciples of Vygotsky's Sociocultural theory of

development. Consider private speech, where children speak to themselves to plan or

guide their own behavior. This is most common among preschoolers, who have not yet

learned proper social skills but rather explore the idea of it. Children often use private

speech when a task becomes to difficult and the child doesn't know how to proceed.

Private speech helps the child accomplish a task. Vygotsky believed private speech

changes with age, by becoming softer or being just a whisper.

Comparison of Vygotsky and Piaget: Vygotsky's ideas and theories are often

compared to Jean Piaget, especially his cognitive- developmental theory. They had a

conflict explaining that development concepts should not be taught until children are in

the appropriate developmental stage. Opposing Vygotsky's zone of proximal

development, Piaget believed that the most important source of cognition is the children

themselves. But Vygotsky argued that the social environment could help the child's

cognitive development. The social environment is an important factor which helps the

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child culturally adapt to new situations when needed. Both Vygotsky and Piaget had the

common goal of finding out how children master ideas and then translate them into

speech.

Piaget found that children act independently on the physical world to discover

what it has to offer. Vygotsky, on the other hand, wrote in Thought and Language that

human mental activity is the result of social learning. As children master tasks they will

engage in cooperative dialogues with others, which led Vygotsky to believe that

acquisition of language is the most influential moment in a child's life.

Piaget emphasized universal cognitive change and Vygotsky's theory leads us to

expect highly variable development , depending on the child's cultural experiences to

the environment. Piaget's theory emphasized the natural line, while Vygotsky favored

the cultural line of development.

Vygotsky and Social Cognition

Definition

The social cognition learning model asserts that culture is the prime determinant

of individual development. Humans are the only species to have created culture, and

every human child develops in the context of a culture. Therefore, a child's learning

development is affected in ways large and small by the culture--including the culture of

family environment--in which he or she is enmeshed.

Discussion

1. Culture makes two sorts of contributions to a child's intellectual

development. First, through culture children acquire much of the content of

their thinking, that is, their knowledge. Second, the surrounding culture

provides a child with the processes or means of their thinking, what

Vygotskians call the tools of intellectual adaptation. In short, according to

the social cognition learning model, culture teaches children both what to

think and how to think.

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2. Cognitive development results from a dialectical process whereby a child

learns through problem-solving experiences shared with someone else,

usually a parent or teacher but sometimes a sibling or peer.

3. Initially, the person interacting with child assumes most of the

responsibility for guiding the problem solving, but gradually this

responsibility transfers to the child.

4. Language is a primary form of interaction through which adults transmit to

the child the rich body of knowledge that exists in the culture.

5. As learning progresses, the child's own language comes to serve as her

primary tool of intellectual adaptation. Eventually, children can use internal

language to direct their own behavior.

6. Internalization refers to the process of learning--and thereby internalizing--

a rich body of knowledge and tools of thought that first exist outside the

child. This happens primarily through language.

7. A difference exists between what child can do on her own and what the

child can do with help. Vygotskians call this difference the zone of

proximal development.

8. Since much of what a child learns comes form the culture around her and

much of the child's problem solving is mediated through an adult's help, it

is wrong to focus on a child in isolation. Such focus does not reveal the

processes by which children acquire new skills.

9. Interactions with surrounding culture and social agents, such as parents

and more competent peers, contribute significantly to a child's intellectual

development.

How Vygotsky Impacts Learning:

Curriculum--Since children learn much through interaction, curricula should be designed

to emphasize interaction between learners and learning tasks.

Instruction--With appropriate adult help, children can often perform tasks that they are

incapable of completing on their own. With this in mind, scaffolding--where the adult

continually adjusts the level of his or her help in response to the child's level of

performance--is an effective form of teaching. Scaffolding not only produces immediate

results, but also instills the skills necessary for independent problem solving in the

future.

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Assessment--Assessment methods must take into account the zone of proximal

development. What children can do on their own is their level of actual development and

what they can do with help is their level of potential development. Two children might

have the same level of actual development, but given the appropriate help from an

adult, one might be able to solve many more problems than the other. Assessment

methods must target both the level of actual development and the level of potential

development.

The Educational Theory of Lev Vygotsky: an analysis

Vygotsky's investigations of child development and educational psychology were

influenced by his own Marxism – a philosophy that emphasizes the importance of one's

social origins and place in the scheme of production. Vygotsky's works, consisting of

more than one hundred books and articles, were not published until after his death in

1934. Just two years later they were suppressed. This suppression endured for two

decades during which time his works were held in a secret library that could only be

accessed by permission of the Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs — commonly

known as the NKVD. Despite this prolonged attempt to suppress his ideas, Vygotsky's

work survived and, particularly after the Cold War, came to wield considerable influence

in the field of educational psychology.

I. Theory of Value: What knowledge and skills are worthwhile learning? What are the

goals of education?

Vygotsky's stresses the importance of looking at each child as an individual who

learns distinctively. Consequently, the knowledge and skills that are worthwhile learning

varies with the individual. The overall goal of education according to Vygotsky is to

"generate and lead development which is the result of social learning through

internalization of culture and social relationships." He repeatedly stressed the

importance of past experiences and prior knowledge in making sense of new situations

or present experiences. Therefore, all new knowledge and newly introduced skills are

greatly influenced by each student's culture, especially their family environment.

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Language skills are particularly critical for creating meaning and linking new ideas to

past experiences and prior knowledge. According to Vygotsky, internalized skills or

psychological tools "are used to gain mastery over one's own behavior and cognition."

Primary among these tools is the "development of speech and its relation to thought."

Vygotsky maintained that language plays a central role in cognitive development.

He argued that language was the tool for determining the ways a child learns "how" to

think. That is because complex concepts are conveyed to the child through words.

"Learning, according to Vygotsky, always involves some type of external experience

being transformed into internal processes through the use of language." It follows that

speech and language are the primary tools used to communicate with others, promoting

learning. Vygotsky promoted the development of higher level thinking and problem

solving in education. If situations are designed to have students utilize critical thinking

skills, their thought processes are being challenged and new knowledge gained. The

knowledge achieved through experience also serves as a foundation for the behaviors

of every individual.

II. Theory of Knowledge: What is knowledge? How is it different from belief? What is a

mistake? A lie?

According to Davydov and Kerr, it was a momentous occasion in the history of

psychology when Vygotsky asserted "...specific functions are not given to a person at

birth but are only provided as cultural and social patterns." Vygotsky saw "intellectual

abilities as being much more specific to the culture in which the child was reared."

Through observation and study Vygotsky came to understand that people adapted to

their surrounding environment based on their interpretations and individual perceptions

of it. Thus, humans are not born with knowledge nor are knowledge independent of

social context. Rather, one gains knowledge as one develops by way of social

interactions with peers and adults. Vygotsky does not make as drastic a distinction

between knowledge and belief as some other theorists do. For him, knowledge is

obtained through past experiences, social situations, as well as ones general

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environment. In similar manner, beliefs are instilled into an individual via culture and

parental upbringing.

"Mistakes are crucial in Vygotsky's theory of learning. In the course of

development, mistakes are made during the process of "concept formation." They are

important in that they impact future learning. From Vygotsky's perspective, "A concept

emerges and takes shape in the course of a complex interaction aimed at the solution of

a problem...[A] concept is ...an active part of the intellectual process."We see, then that,

for Vygotsky, concept formation is a dynamic, ever-changing activity during which "...

the child relies on their own perception to make sense of objects that appear to them to

be unrelated ... the child creates his or her own subjective relationships between objects

and then mistakes his or her egocentric perspective for reality." This stage of

development is known, paradoxically, as "incoherent coherence." During this stage, the

making of mistakes is an integral part of a child's development. Also at this time, the

child's organization schema becomes less egocentric and begins to incorporate

additional information gained from experience into his or her thought processes. In this

way, mistakes can be corrected and new knowledge gained. Therefore mistakes are

developmentally necessary, resulting from the "...role of social interaction in

transformation of prior knowledge. Tentatively one might infer that Vygotsky would view

a lie as something that occurs as a result of the desire to conform to social norms. For

example one might feel one way but report a more socially acceptable reality.

III. Theory of Human Nature: What is a human being? How does it differ from other

species? What are the limits of human potential?

According to Marxist theory, "The essence of man is no abstraction inherent in

each single individual. In its reality it is the ensemble of the social relations." Vygotsky

would agree that we develop as humans through the ways we interact with those

around us. His view of human nature fits with his Marxist ideology. Human beings can

only be understood within the context the time period and the part of the world in which

they live. Human nature cannot be understood as never-changing and universal, but as

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always depending on its specific social and historical formation. This principle does not

leave out biological factors. To be human, however, means that you have surpassed a

level of functioning that your biological traits would otherwise dictate. Although some

animals have the ability to create and use material tools, humans have the ability to

utilize psychological tools. In other words, human beings are differentiated by their

ability to develop psychological tools that are "used to gain mastery over one's own

behavior and cognition" that other forms of life are not capable of developing. Some

psychological tools include: "language, different forms of numeration and counting,

mnemotechniques, algebraic symbolism, works of art, writing, schemes, diagrams,

maps, blueprints, etc."

In his theories, Vygotsky placed great emphasis on the importance of spoken

language, arguably the most critical tool that sets us apart from other species. He

asserts that "speech is a very powerful psychological tool that lays the foundation for

basic structures of thinking later in one's development." Vygotsky further explains that

speech is the first psychological tool used by children to communicate with others who

share the environment. Naturally, this is continued through adulthood, as speech is a

primary tool used for learning. Vygotsky insists that "humans learn best in cooperation

with other humans." Vygotsky contended that, unlike animals - who react only to the

environment, humans have the capacity to alter the environment for their own purposes.

It is this adaptive capacity that distinguishes humans from lower forms of life. ...The

animal can only be trained. It can only acquire new habits. It can through exercises and

combinations perfect its intellect, but are not capable of mental development through

instruction in the real sense of the word." Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal

development (ZPD) posits that human potential is theoretically limitless; but the practical

limits of human potential depend upon quality social interactions and residential

environment. This zone of proximal development is "the distance between the actual

developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of

potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or

in collaboration with more capable peers." In theory, then, so long as a person has

access to a more capable peer, any problem can be solved.

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IV. Theory of Learning: What is learning? How are skills and knowledge acquired?

According to Piaget, learning is what results from both mental and physical

maturation plus experience. That is, development preceded learning. In contrast

Vygotsky observed that learning processes lead development. Vygotsky maintained

that "learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally

organized, specifically human, psychological functions." In other words, learning is what

leads to the development of higher order thinking.

According to Vygotsky the two primary means of learning occur through social

interaction and language. Language greatly enhances humans' ability to engage in

social interactions and share their experiences. "The most important fact uncovered

through the ... study of thought and speech is that their relationship undergoes many

changes." Initially, a child's new knowledge is interpsychological, meaning it is learned

through interaction with others, on the social level. Later, this same knowledge becomes

intrapsychological, meaning inside the child, and the new knowledge or skill is mastered

on an individual level. The previously mentioned idea of the zone of proximal

development (ZPD) is central to Vygotsky's view on how learning takes place. He

described this zone as, "the distance between the actual development level as

determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as

determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more

capable peers." Vygotsky maintained that learning occurs just above the student's

current level of competence. It follows then, that the copying student will have a higher

performance when working with a more capable student. The zone of proximal

development works in conjunction with the use of scaffolding. "Scaffolding is a six-step

approach to assisting learning and development of individuals within their zone of

proximal development." Knowledge, skills and prior experiences, which come from an

individual's general knowledge, create the foundation of scaffolding for potential

development. At this stage, students interact with adults and/or peers to accomplish a

task which could possibly not be completed independently. The use of language and

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shared experience is essential to successfully implementing scaffolding as a learning

tool.

V. Theory of Transmission: Who is to teach? By what methods? What will the

curriculum be?

Vygotsky defined those who are to teach as the "More Knowledgeable Other."

The MKO is 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 zone of proximal development (ZPD). Vygotsky's

findings suggest methodological procedures for the classroom. "In Vygotskian

perspective, the ideal role of the teacher is that of providing scaffolding (collaborative

dialogue) to assist students on tasks within their zones of proximal development."

During scaffolding the first step is to build interest and engage the learner. Once the

learner is actively participating, the given task should be simplified by breaking it into

smaller subtasks. During this task, the teacher needs to keep the learner focused, while

concentrating on the most important ideas of the assignment. One of the most integral

steps in scaffolding consists of keeping the learner from becoming frustrated. The final

task associated with scaffolding involves the teacher modeling possible ways of

completing tasks, which the learner can then imitate and eventually internalize.

Vygotsky recommended a social context wherein a more competent learner

would be paired with a less competent one, so that the former can elevate the latter's

competence. This social context promotes sustained achievement and cognitive growth

for less competent students." Accordingly, students need to work together to construct

their learning, teach each other so to speak, in a socio-cultural environment. In-class

opportunities for collaboration on difficult problem-solving tasks will offer support to

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students who are struggling with the material. By interacting with more capable students

who continue to mediate transactions between the struggling students and the content,

all students will benefit.

The implications of Vygotsky's theories and observations for educators are

several and significant. In Vygotsky's view, the teacher has the collaborative "task of

guiding and directing the child's activity." Children can then solve novel problems "on

the basis of a model he [sic] has been shown in class." In other words, children learn by

solving problems with the help of the teacher, who models processes for them and his

or her peers, in a classroom environment that is directed by the teacher. In essence,

"the child imitates the teacher through a process of re-creating previous classroom

collaboration." It is important to note that the teacher does not control the class with rule

and structure; rather, the teacher collaborates with the students and provides support

and direction. Assignments and activities that can be accurately completed by a

student without assistance indicate that the student has previously mastered the

necessary prior knowledge. In the majority of classrooms this would be the conclusion

of a unit; however, this is Vygotsky's entry point. However, as previously mentioned, the

teacher must carefully group the student that "can potentially develop in collaboration

with a more capable person."

During this research, there were limited references to Vygotsky's specific views

on curriculum content. One exception involves the teaching of writing to preschoolers.

According to Garton and Pratt, Vygotsky argued for shifting the teaching of writing to

preschool. They explain that Vygotsky differentiated between two forms of speech:

spoken and written. Vygotsky, as cited by Garton and Pratt, asserts that a child

develops an understanding that spoken speech can be symbolized in writing by

progressing from "drawing things to drawing speech." Vygotsky suggested then that the

preschool curriculum should be designed so that it was organized to "ease child's

transition from drawing things to drawing speech."

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Learning to master tools and technologies should also be included in the

curriculum. "Students should be taught how to use tools such as the computer, resource

books, and graphs in order to better utilize these tools in the future. In this way, students

will benefit as these tools and technologies influence the individual's thinking (along with

the development of language).

In sum, Vygotsky's findings suggest that the curriculum should generally

challenge and stretch learner's competence. The curriculum should provide many

opportunities to apply previous skills, knowledge and experiences, with "authentic

activities connected to real-life environment." "Since children learn much through

interaction, curricula should be designed to emphasize interaction between learners and

learning tasks."

VI. Theory of Society: What is society? What institutions are involved in the

educational process?

According to Vygotsky, "society is the bearer of the cultural heritage without

which the development of mind is impossible." This 'society' allows the learner to

develop cognitively through social interactions. As a result, the use of language makes it

possible for a child to communicate and share the environment from within their society.

"Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social

level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and

then inside the child (intrapsychological)." Perhaps Vygotsky was comfortable

generalizing about 'society' in this way because he was living in post-revolutionary

times. The revolution had been accomplished in Russia, and the "New Soviet Man",

was emerging in the Soviet Union, and the dictatorship of the proletariat" was at hand.

So far as the institutions involved in the educational process are concerned, Moll

reports that Vygotsky "considered school the best laboratory of human psychology." He

noted: "At first glance, it may be easily seen that no special educational environment is

needed, that education may be accomplished in any environment whatsoever. ... It is

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky December 18, 2008

Page | 20

not very hard to conclude that no sort of artificial educational environment has to be

created, that life educates better than any school. ... This view is wrong, however."

For Vygotsky, society (and therefore social interaction) happens in schools.

"Schools are incorporated into the larger society and have that as their context, so that

some of their activity settings are determined by this larger contextuality." "For

Vygotsky the classroom is also a social organization that is representative of the larger

social community ... it is the social organization ... that is the agent for change in the

individual. This statement was not meant to "imply that informal education was not

important." Rather, as we stated before, for Vygotsky informal education is used by

children through speech and language to develop higher mental functions. He stressed

that "children's learning begins long before they attend school. ... Any learning a child

encounters in school always has a previous history."

VII. Theory of Opportunity: Who is to be educated? Who is to be schooled?

Vygotsky repeatedly asserts that it is within the "social environment" that learning

takes place. Since no individual is able to escape their social surroundings, all within a

society are inadvertently being educated.

Vygotsky writes:

"...In this sense, education in every country and in every epoch has always been social

in nature. Indeed, by its very essence it could hardly exist as anti-social in anyway. Both

in the seminary and in the old high school, in the military schools and in the schools for

the daughters of the nobility ... it was never the teacher or the tutor who did the

teaching, but the particular social environment in the school which was created for each

individual instance."

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky December 18, 2008

Page | 21

Every person is socialized in the society in which they are enveloped.

Socialization is the process of cultural transmission, both unintentional and deliberate.

According to Vygotsky, this process is central to education. We have already

established that Vygotsky was a Marxist and, so far as we know, a supporter of the

revolution; and further that socialization, education, and schooling are in a symbiotic

relationship. So it seems likely that he would have favored reform of the entire

socialization and educational process up to and including schooling, in order to create

"The New Soviet Man."

Schooling, while similar to education, involves formalized teaching by a specialist

in a specific place designated for instruction, such as a traditional school. Vygotsky's

Russia of the late 1920's and early 1930's was populated by millions of illiterate

peasants and workers, and it is difficult to imagine that he would have regarded them as

unworthy of the opportunities that schooling affords. Indeed, Vygotsky probably

understood his theories to be, in part, a response to the need to solve the urgent and

practical problems of schooling the new socialist state. When referring to the education

of children with disabilities, Vygotsky pointed out that "changes in the context of

education may have profound consequences for the developmental processes." He

went on to say that children with disabilities should be included in the general education

classroom, and not be separated into self-contained classrooms, because he felt that

those children who were educated separately from "normal" children "would proceed in

a totally different, and not beneficial, manner". If he were alive today, Vygotsky would

call this the model of full inclusion. Vygotsky also "considered the capacity to teach and

to benefit from instruction a fundamental attribute of human beings". He noted that "a

child whose development is impeded by a disability is not simply a child less developed

than his peers; rather, he has developed differently." Given this, one can see that

Vygotsky thought all children should be schooled side-by-side in a regular education

classroom.

VIII. Theory of Consensus: Why do people disagree? How is consensus achieved?

Whose opinion takes precedence?

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky December 18, 2008

Page | 22

To contemplate Vygotsky's theory of consensus, one must consider his Marxist

perspective. Though Marxism is a very broad and diverse theory with many variations,

certain commonalities exist. The Encarta Reference Library defines Marxism as "a

theory in which class struggle is a central element in the analysis of social change in

Western societies."

Depending on one's views, society can be seen in its natural or normal state as

either a society of conflict or a society of consensus. Being a Marxist, Vygotsky would

have looked at the world through the same lens as Karl Marx, who "...described all

advanced....societies in conflictual terms." However, it should be remembered that

Vygotsky was living in the post-revolutionary Soviet Union. Consequently, at least some

of the conflict mentioned above would be ameliorated by revolutionary attempts to build

a classless and conflict-free society. Anyway, the primary conflict that Marx saw was

based on the "...conflict between the material forces of production and social relations of

production." Material forces of production "... can be considered society's capacity to

produce ..." and has been somewhat continuous throughout time. Social relations, on

the other hand, can be seen as the "...distribution of income generated by the material

forces of production" and tend to change only abruptly and violently. As written in Marx's

Communist Manifesto, "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class

struggles." Marx added, however, that conflict was normal due to social structures and

not due to human nature. Keeping his Marxism in mind, Vygotsky would probably have

said that, at least prior to the revolution, people disagree ultimately because they are

engaged in class struggle for dominance among competing social groups - classes,

genders, races, religions, etc. When conflict theorists such as Marx look at society, they

see the social domination of subordinate groups through the power, authority, and

coercion of dominant groups. In the conflict view, the most powerful members of

dominant groups create the rules for success and opportunity in society, often denying

subordinate groups such success and opportunities; this ensures that the powerful

continue to monopolize power, privilege, and authority.

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky December 18, 2008

Page | 23

Since Vygotsky was involved in mutual consultation with other theorists and was

clearly aware of the social context in which learning takes place, one can safely assume

he appreciated that the evolution of consensus among experts was central to learning

about learning, as well as to learning in general. His theories all were influenced by the

other learning theorists of his time.

Consider Vygotsky's evaluation of Piaget's theories and findings. After detailed

examination, Vygotsky concluded that Piaget had developed a clinical method that

revolutionized the study of children's language and thought. Vygotsky admired Piaget's

detailed pictures of children's thinking, his assertion that development occurs in distinct,

measurable, and observable stages, his focus on what children have, not what they

lack, and his finding that the difference between adults' and children's thinking is

qualitative, not quantitative. However, he also believed that there were flaws in Piaget's

methods. Vygotsky clearly was willing to work with and learn from others. But he was

not intimidated by the official consensus of party ideologues. For example, Vygotsky

opposed the Marxist reflexologists (behaviorists), who were politically if not

intellectually, ascendant at that time." He did so at great personal risk considering the

nature of the Stalinist regime. Also Vygotsky took on the man who had hired him R. N.

Kornilov, director of the Kornilov Institute,. "One year after joining the Institute, Vygotsky

saw fit to reject Kornilov's attempt at a compromise solution to the consciousness

problem (i.e., "reactology"), subjecting it to...a devastating philosophical criticism."

We see, then, that Vygotsky did not put consensus building above what he

regarded as truth seeking. On the other hand, Cole explains that "... it was characteristic

of both Vygotsky and his close colleague Luria that they attempted to place their

research within the general circle of contemporary scientific ideas influencing

psychology. In order to be maximally persuasive, they sought to demonstrate both the

correctness of their own approach and the points where it made contact with (and then

diverged from) the ideas of their contemporaries." We see, then, that Vygotsky was

aware of and sensitive to the professional consensus that he respected.

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky December 18, 2008

Page | 24

Unfortunately Vygotsky contracted tuberculosis from his younger brother, whom

he was caring for and died in 1934 at the age of 37. Vygotsky's students, family and

colleagues have remained loyal to him and have been responsible for continuing his

work, publishing his works both in Russia and in the West. Exhorting educators and

psychologists to work together (1997) claims Vygotsky work has deep significance for

both Russian and Western educational theory and practice. He encourages the West to

collaborate with colleagues in Russia, as their focus on constructivism and socio-

cultural and historical processes offers a valuable addition to the thinking of the West.

Warning that to isolate ourselves and ignore the developments in Russian Education

will be to our detriment, Kerr (1997) makes it clear, we still have a lot more to learn from

Vygotsky.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky December 18, 2008

Page | 25

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