Running head: VYGOTSKY AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 1

Vygotsky and Cognitive Development

Laura Mauck

EDU 312a

February 10, 2016

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Lev Vygotsky is a prominent theorist of cognitive development. His theories are known

for showing the importance of social interaction on how children develop cognitively. Vygotsky

believed that we could not look at an individuals development without first understanding their

social and cultural background. (McLeod, 2007) One key element of Vygotskys theory is what

he calls the zone of proximal development. This zone of proximal development is the area in

which a child can learn and accomplish a task with some assistance or support of some form.

There is a level below this zone in which a child can fully complete a task without assistance or

support but they do not learn from these tasks. A level exists above this zone as well in which a

child cannot perform a task no matter the amount of assistance or support and will not learn from

this tasks as well. (Ormrod, 2015) Vygotskys zone of proximal development explains why he

would feel that cooperative work will help children to learn. Students can work together on tasks

that would be in their zone of proximal development. As students work together then they can

push their learning further and aid in each others understanding of various tasks.

I have been placed into a Kindergarten class for observation. Children who start

kindergarten can range from four to six years old. (Kelmon, 2014) Piagets four stage theory of

cognitive development would place the students at this age level in between the Preoperational

and Concrete Operations stage. At the preoperational stage, children can think and talk about

events or ideas that they have not experienced themselves yet they cannot reason in the same

logical way that an adult can. (Ormrod, 2015) At the concrete operations stage, children begin to

showcase logic similar to adults but only about concrete, real-life circumstances. (Ormrod, 2015)

Class inclusion begins to develop as children can begin to understand more than simple

classifications. For example, one class of objects would be roses and another class would be

flowers. Students at this level could understand that roses are a type of flower so the class of
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flowers would also include the class of roses. Conservation of simple tasks can be seen surfacing

at this level and should be worked with at this age. This would show the understanding that

objects or a set of objects remains the same even when they are made to look differently. For

example, water is poured into two equal sized cups in an even amount and then poured each cup

is poured into two different sized cups. A student at this level should begin to understand that the

water in the two different sized cups are still equal.

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References

Kelmon, J. (2014). When should kids start kindergarten? Retrieved from

http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/redshirting-kindergarten/

McLeod, S. (2007). Lev Vygotsky. Retrieved from

http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

Ormrod, J. E. (2015). Essentials of educational psychology: Big ideas to guide effective teaching

(Fourth ed.). Boston: Pearson.