Vygotsky's Theory Of Cognitive Development Essay

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Cognitive Development in Adolescents When children reach a certain age in their life, their mental thought process shifts into a more logical or adult form. "Beginning with the adolescent period, however, children become increasingly less dependent upon the availability of concrete-empirical experience in meaningfully relating complex abstract propositions to cognitive structure." (Ausebel, 1966) The way in which they learn is shifted also. Vygotsky's System to Learning Russian psychologist, Lev Semionovich Vygotsky, had a powerful influence in the area of development. His work consisted of two main ideas: a) development depends on signs, b) development is measured based upon the outlook of a problem. "Intellectual development can be understood only in terms of the historical and cultural contexts of children experience." (Slavin, 2015) Two followers of Vygotsky, Margaret Gredler and Carol Shield, explained Vygotsky's theory more in depth in their article Does No One Read Vygotsky's Words? "[He]...defined the instrumental act as including (a) the problem to be solved, (b) one's …show more content…

When a disability is thrown into the mix, it becomes a daunting task for both the educator and the student. With certain elements of teaching, creating a more approachable environment is easily obtained. "Anthropological evidence has shown that, in many cultures, observational learning and imitation are the major ways by which behaviors unique to that culture are transmitted from one generation to the next." (Salkind, 2006) Using this skill is a part of Vygotsky's teaching tools: mediation. Mediation is a good skill used for older children and adolescents because of the peer to peer environment. Although, some students have a more difficult time adjusting to these situations due to a certain disability. "Children with autism, for example, have imitative deficits and imitate much less frequently than typically developing children." (Salkind,

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