Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)

Importance of culture and social interaction

Starter
Give 3 positive evaluations of Piagets work. How did Piaget influence early years education? Give 3 negative evaluations of Piagets theory, methodology and research.

Introduction

Vygotsky was a Russian developmental psychologist who was a contemporary of Piaget. His work wasnt published in English until well after his death.

What Piaget missed out.

He believed that Piagets theory ignored the influence of culture on cognitive development. Vygotsky suggested that an important part of development was a childs acquisition of cognitive tools developed by their culture. Such as Language, Number, Writing and Scientific Concepts.

Social Learning and Teaching

Rather than developing through discovery learning, Vygotsky emphasised the importance of interactions with other children and adults. This was through social learning and direct support and instruction (teaching)

Skills

Vygotsky pointed out that skills acquired during cognitive development are those that are needed for the culture in which the child is raised. Today our culture requires the ability to process numbers and to read and write, to plan and co-operate. This hasnt always been the case so there must be support for social learning over biological processes.

Example by Richardson (1994)

A child attends nursery for the first time and wants to play with all the new toys. The problem of sharing is raised that the child doesnt have to face at home. Through the responses of adults and peers the child begins to accept systems of turn taking and queuing. Or rules about who can play with what and at what time.

Cont.
This understanding of regulation becomes internalised and the child learns to wait for what they want. This is important in cultures that use money. Ideas of saving so they can spend later, or to delay having children to make progress in a career.

Unaided play

According to Vygotsky, children can acquire some concepts through their own unaided play, but most concepts are acquired with the help of others. This support is important when dealing with abstract concepts. Vygotsky claimed that abstract thought occurred most in technologically advanced societies where formal education was used.

Internalisation

This is a key aspect in Vygotskys theory. He believed that children learn through social experiences. The example of pointing can be used to illustrate this point. Initially a baby will reach for an object by extending arm and fingers towards it. When the parent sees this the parent will point towards the object and perhaps ask, Do you want teddy? Through observing the parents behaviour and understanding the meaning of the action, the child will then acquire the pointing behaviour, imitating the parents action and using the newly acquired behaviour as a deliberate communication in other similar situations.