The Child and Adolescent

Learners and Learning

Principles
MODULE 9

Prepared by:: Larmaine Jane B. Plando, LPT

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
⚫ explain how scaffolding under Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural
Theory is useful in teaching a skill.
⚫ describe each of the layers of Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological
Model.
VYGOTSKY’S SOCIO-CULTURAL
THEORY
Introduction:

⚫ The key theme of Vygotsky’s theory is that social interaction

plays a very important role in cognitive development. He
believed that individual development could not be understood
without looking into the social and cultural context within
which development happens. Scaffolding is Vygotsky’s term
for the appropriate assistance given by the teacher to assist the
learner accomplish a task.
Social Interaction

⚫ Vygotsky gave more weight on the social interactions that

contributed to the cognitive development of individuals.

⚫ Vygotsky emphasized that learning happens through

participation in social activities, making the social context of
learning crucial.
Cultural factors

⚫ Vygotsky believed in the crucial role that culture played on the

cognitive development of children.

⚫ Vygotsky looked into the wide range of experiences that a

culture would give to a child.
Language
⚫ Language opens door for learners to acquire knowledge that
others have already.
⚫ Learners can use language to know and understand the world
and solve problems.
⚫ It helps the learners regulate and reflect on his own thinking.
⚫ Children talk to themselves. Observe preschoolers play and
you may hear, “Gagawin ko tong airplane (holding a
rectangular block), tapos ito and airport (holding two long
blocks).”
⚫ For Vygotsky, this “talking-to-oneself” is an indication of the
thinking that goes on in mind of the child. This will eventually
lead to private speech.
Private Speech

⚫ Is a form of self-talk that guides the child’s thinking and action.

Hand-on Activities

⚫ Help children acquire more knowledge than passive listening.

Zone of Proximal Development

⚫ When a child attempts to perform a skill alone, she may not be

immediately proficient at it.

⚫ It defines those functions that have not yet matured, but are in
the process.

⚫ The gap between what a child can do alone and what a child
can do with help from adults or peers who are more capable
than the child. (Papalia, et al, 2011)
Scaffolding

⚫ The support or assistance that lets the child accomplish a task

he cannot accomplish independently.

⚫ 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 the proximal development.

⚫ When done appropriately can make a learner confident and

eventually he can accomplish the task without any need for
assistance.
Scaffold and fade-away technique

⚫ 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.
“What a child can do in cooperation today, tomorrow she/he will
be able to do alone.”

-Lev Vygotsky
 Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory
Introduction:
⚫ Bronfenbrenner came up with a simple yet useful paradigm
showing the different factors that exert influence on an
individual’s development. It points out the ever widening
spheres of influence that shape every individual, from his/her
immediate family to the neighborhood, the country, even the
world!
⚫ Bronfenbrenner’s model also known as the Bioecological
theory presents child development within the context of
relationship systems that comprise the child’s environment.
 Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model: Structure of
Environment

Microsystem
⚫ It is the layer nearest the child.

⚫ Includes immediate environments, where the child has the most

interactions.

⚫ In this layer, relationship effects happens in two directions-

both away from the child and toward the child. This means that
the child is affected by people with whom he interacts, and in
turn these people are also affected by the child.
Mesosystem

⚫ This layer serves as the connection between the structures of

the child’s microsystem.
Exosystem

⚫ This layer refers to the bigger social systems in which the child
does not function directly. This includes the city government,
the workplace and the mass media. The structures in this layer
may influence the child’s development by somehow affecting
some structure in the child’s microsystem.
Macrosystem

⚫ This layer is found in the outermost part in the child’s

environment. The macrosystem includes the cultural values,
customs, and laws. The belief systems contained in one’s
macrosystem permeates all the interactions in the other layers
and reaches the individual.
Chronosystem

⚫ The chronosystem covers the element of time as it relates to a

child’s environments. This involves “patterns of stability and
change” in the child’s life.
“Children need people in order to become human.”
-Urie Bronfenbrenner
Thank You!