Professional Documents
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Vygotsky Group Project
Vygotsky Group Project
Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was well known for his learning theory
Constructivism includes three main points: Social Interaction, The More Knowledgeable Other,
Vygotskys theory of development has three central pieces. Social Interaction, The More
Knowledgeable Other, and the Zone of Proximal Development. Vygotskys Social interaction
aspect of the theory states that social learning precedes development, that community plays a
central role in learning, and that social interactions along with guided learning will affect
reading a book with a parent. Vygotsky believed that play allows children to bolster cognition.
The More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) piece states that cognition is developed with
others- not alone. Surrounding children with those that are more knowledgeable (teachers,
mentors, parent) helps them to develop cognition. This MKO does not even need to be a human.
In many cases, this can be a technology platform or other electronic support resource.
The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) states that children can perform more difficult
activities with the help of a more knowledgeable individual. Scaffolding is the key to success.
There are 2 levels. Present level of development is what they can do alone. Potential level of
development is what the child would be able to accomplish with the help of others. The Zone
of Proximal Development are the tasks that children can complete with the help of others, but not
Vygotskys theory states that speech is developmental. Speech is used in the beginning
as a way to communicate needs. As the child gets older, the speech is then used as a tool for
thinking. There are four stages- preintellectual speech, autonomous speech (12 months), naive
There are classroom applications for Vygotskys theory. For example, Reciprocal
teaching is a method where students play an active role in learning. This model is collaborative
between teacher and student. Summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting are directly
taught to students and as time progresses the teachers role diminishes. This is much like a
whole group mini lesson, that evolves into a small group situation, and then to tutoring as
necessary. Scaffolding and heterogenous group work are important techniques that can be used
Vygotsky defines intelligence as the capacity to learn from instruction (Lev Vygotsky
Cognitive Development, 2013) and believed that cognition was the end product of
socialization (McLeod, 2014). He argued that the factors of society promote learning.
Vygotskys Social Development Theory states that culture and social environments establish the
cognitive growth and development in both speech and reasoning. With that knowledge, educators
can apply classroom techniques and resources to ensure student success in both critical thinking
The key element of the Social Development Theory is social interaction and how it
encourages cognitive development. 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
http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-development.html
Compare and Contrast - Social Development Theory vs Social Learning Theory
Knowledge is created through interactions with other people and objects in culture
Social Learning Theory
Observational Learning - Observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes, and emotions of
others (duplicating)
The focus is not whats going on inside a person (traits), but whats going on outside the
person (environment).
Similarities
Student Expectations:
Reading 5th Grade (3a): Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Theme and Genre. Students
analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about theme and genre in different cultural,
historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their
understanding. Students are expected to: compare and contrast the themes or moral lessons of
Social Studies 5th Grade (22a): Culture. The student understands the contributions of people of
various racial, ethnic, and religious groups to the United States. The student is expected to:
identify the similarities and differences within and among various racial, ethnic, and religious
Objective:
Students will make text to self connections, text to text connections, and text to others
Product:
Student will use a Venn Diagram to brainstorm similarities and differences among two cultures
with a partner. Student will then write an essay describing the similarities and differences among
two cultures.
Lesson:
Teacher will explain to students that we will be learning about different cultures and home lives
in America. Teacher will tell students to listen to the read aloud and think about if they have
anything in common with the authors story. Teacher will then read Let's Talk About Race by
Julius Lester and Karen Barbour. After the story, students will work in pairs and discuss how
their life is similar or different to each others and to the text. The teacher will have resources
available to the students such as; Hairs by Sandra Cisneros, From Miss Idas Porch by Sandra
Belton, Grandfathers Journey by Allen Say. Students will switch partners and fill in their Venn
Diagram. Students will be asked to use one of the following books and compare to either; their
life, partners life or another resource. After the Venn Diagram, students will
Materials:
Pencils
Lined Paper
Research Study
Doctoral Student Judith Rollins Burch at LSU completed a study showing the teacher/student
dialogue and conversations are integrally important in supporting students as they work to
become literate problem solvers who are competent and independent learners.
Title 1 school
leveled texts selected at students instructional reading level to deliver strategic reading
instruction
explicit, direct teacher language to support student acquisition of reading and writing
strategies
writing instruction to support and expand students reading knowledge, skill, and
strategies
Results with the use of scaffolding during reading and writing instruction:
impacted the students by fostering the internalization of new concepts and strategies
which in turn improved each of the pilot and case study students academic performance
and writing problem solving. These students came to internalize their own self image as a
reader and writer. Each became more confident and independent. They began to self
monitor and self regulate their own reading and writing. (Burch p.141)
Scaffolding allowed the students to gradually acquire the skills they needed to become
independent readers and writers. Nine out of the 10 students made progress to on or above grade
level in reading and writing. The last student did make progress, but did not reach the desired
level of independence.
Citations
Burch, J. R. (2007). A study examining the impact of scaffolding young children's acquisition of
Chen, M. (2015, June & july). Social Development Theory [Scholarly project]. In
Https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/learningdesign/wp-content/uploads/sites/1178/
McLeod, S. (1970, January 01). Saul McLeod. Retrieved April 02, 2017, from
https://simplypsychology.org/bandura.html
Riddle, E. M. (1999, March 08). Lev Vygotskys Social Development Theory [Scholarly
project]. In
Http://members.iinet.net.au/~aamcarthur/4_Mar_2008_files/Vygotskys_Social_Develop
Saul McLeod published 2010, updated 2012. (1970, January 01). Zone of Proximal
https://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html
Social Development Theory. (2016, September 08). Retrieved March 28, 2017, from
https://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Social Development Theory Notes and Links
https://www.powtoon.com/online-presentation/dhmKUucalVD/?mode=movie#/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaMFMdVlraw
Group projects
Each group will be assigned a learning theory and/or instructional design model to research and
present their findings to the rest of the class. Presentations can take any form as long as they
include all required elements, can be shared with the rest of the class and are ADA compliant.
Some examples might be web pages, wikis, slide presentations, multimedia presentations, etc.
3. Comparison and contrast with at least one other learning theory or instructional design model
4. At least one example of an activity or lesson plan element using the learning theory or
Each team will appoint one person to post the link or upload the presentation on this forum
presentation/organization/submission