Cooperative Learning – Vygotsky
Lev Vygotsky developed many theories in cognitive development during his lifetime, which later became known as the Social Development Theory. He believed that social factors and interactions with the community played a vital role in cognitive development. One principal that Vygotsky developed into his theory was the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The concept behind ZPD is that there are developmental differences in a child who can achieve independently and a child can achieve with the guidance and support from a skilled helper. The Zone of Proximal Development is the concept that there are certain skills that are too difficult for a child to accomplish by his/herself, but with the task or skill can be mastered with the guidance from a knowledgeable person. Vygotsky saw the ZPD as the zone where children are most sensitive to instruction and guidance should be given. This would allow the individual child to develop skills that they can eventually use on their own, thus developing cognitive function (Doolittle, 1995).
On important factor that Vygotsky claimed to influence a child’s ZPD was cooperative learning, which is an educational approach that directs classroom activities to involve peer interaction and problem solving. Vygotsky suggested that educators should use cooperative learning to enhance child cognitive development, where peers teach each other and the less proficient children will benefit from more accomplished and skilled peers. However, the effectiveness of cooperative learning is dependent on which developmental limit the child is at. The ZPD lies in between the zone of actual development, which is defined by a child who is capable of independent problem solving, and the zon...
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The mean percentage of answers correct for the seventh graders was 73.5% with a standard deviation of 2.12%. The mean percentage of answers correct for the tenth graders was 90.5% with a standard deviation of 3.54%. A two-sample t-test was performed to determine if there was a significant difference in cooperative learning between the seventh graders and the tenth graders (see Appendix C for statistical representation of data). The null hypothesis for this experiment was that there was no significant difference between the two grade levels in cooperative learning effectiveness. A p-value of 0.04375 was obtained. At a confidence level of 0.05 (α > 0.05), the null hypothesis was rejected and the alternative hypothesis was accepted in that there is a significant difference between the two grade levels in effectiveness of cooperative learning.
Even though Piaget didn’t believe in the significance of inputs that could be acquired from the environment, but yet Vygotsky was very confident that children that children where very acknowledgeable of the inputs from their environment around them. Piaget’s cognitive development theory has four stages to it. His first stage was the sensorimotor stages which happens from birth until a child is two years old. This stages infants rely solely on their reflexes like rooting and sucking. Preoperational stage is the 2nd stage and it happen from the age of 2years old up until a child is 7 years of age, and during this stage children feel as if everyone thinks like they do. His 3rd stage is known as the concrete operational stage, that occurs when children are 7-11 years of age and during this stage children will start to feel a lot of improvement in their thinking. Piaget’s last stage was known as the formal operational stage, and at this stage children are able to understand and recognize symbols, and master abstract thinking. Children are also have the ability to solve intricate problems on their own. And even in contrast, Vygotsky assumed that there are no set of phases. And even in contrast Vygotsky thought that there was no set of phrase for children. But he felt that private speech was way more essential to the aid for children when they are thinking about an issue they are having/ going through. Private speech can be internalized sooner or later, but it’s something that never goes away. Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky didn’t think that the development could be detached from social context while children can create knowledge and lead their
Lev Vygotsky and Jean Piaget are the two most influential developmental psychologists in history so one might think they would have very similar theories but this could not be more wrong. Piaget (1896-1980) Piaget 's theory stems from the idea that children develop in mostly solitary and are unable to see others perspective and progress through four stages of development(book). A major challenge to Piaget’s theory is Lev Vygotsky’s (1896-1934) sociohoristic theory which suggests that children acquire the tools of thinking and learning through social interacrtion with family and peers (seans book). Both of these psychologists’ theories are very similar in a number of ways but have a few crucial differences which separate them. (BOOK)
In considering Lev Vygotsky’s learning theories and thinking about their implications in my own future teaching as an early childhood and primary teacher, I know that Vygotsky’s connections between social interaction and cognitive development give a strong argument against the industrial methods of schooling we can see in the classroom today. My feelings as a teacher about how I want my classroom to work and how I see my role and involvement in my students’ learning mesh well with Vygotsky’s theory, especially with regard to providing meaningful, social learning experiences. I plan to work hard to apply his theories in my classroom.
The stages are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The phase that applies to these children at the age of 4 years old is the preoperational stage, which covers approximately ages 2 to 7 years old. During this stage, “ preschool children use symbols to represent their earlier sensorimotor discoveries,” (Berk, 2010) and the use of language. In this preoperational stage, children do not yet understand concrete logic, and cannot mentally manipulate information . Piaget and Vygotsky had different ways to explain cognitive development. Piaget’s roots were in biology and the evolutionary adaptation of humans, and Vygotsky in theory that focus on how people transform their world rather than adapt to it (Vianna, 2006). Vygotsky focused on the importance on the psychosocial aspect of cognitive development. Piaget believed cognition was a result of the of the child 's maturity. Vygotsky felt that learning was only as strong and powerful as the environment surrounding the child. Piaget’s felt that one stage of devlopment must be completed prior to moving forward, whereas Vygotsky’s cognitive development perspective has little dependence on time, but more emphasize on social
ZaretsKii, V. (2009, November–December). The Zone of Proximal Development: What Vygotsky Did Not Have Time to Write. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 47(6,), 70–93.
Furthermore, Vygotsky declares that knowledge is constructed by social interactions with people who surround the child. The author also presents the concept of “zone of proximal development” as the distance between what children do without any supervision and what they are not able to achieve unless a more knowledgeable person guides them through it. In other words, the zone of proximal development refers to activities children cannot do, though they manage to fulfill with certain level of difficulty by following their better skilled fellows' suitable guidance. In the educational field, teachers play an essential role on their learners’ developmental process. Educators serve as models and provide a vast range of learning opportunities that enable their students reach their next level of development and become more autonomous each
The emphasis on social interaction influencing cognitive development impacts on how students are taught. Class room environments need to allow social interaction as a key part of learning activities. This social interaction permits students to learn from both the teacher and their peers through collaborative activities. Teachers that encourage discussion will lead students to think critically and this will assist in providing meaning to new information. (Powell & Kalina, 2009 p245)
There are five ways in which Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Vygotsky’s theory of the Zone of Proximal Development. The very first way that teachers can use these theories to teach constructively is by providing scaffolded instruction within the ZPD for their students (292). In other words, a teacher must be able to assist children in achieving a goal that may be slightly too difficult for them to reach alone. An example of this would be if a teacher had decided that her class should do an experiment on how well plants grow based on the amount of water they receive, she could challenge her students to make a hypothesis about what they think will happen. This teacher could allow her students to individually plant their seeds and then guiding her students to predict or hypothesize what they believe will happen if one plant gets more water than another. This example directly correlates with Vygotsky’s idea of ZPD because
It is crucial for us to understand the fundamentals of the development of a child as there are countless ways to conduct a lessons and to understand why children would react differently at this timing to another timing when they are completing a certain task. Furthermore, children develop uniquely and their development milestones differs from one another. Thus, a teacher must be cognizant of each child’s progression before conducting the class. This will help the teacher to plan and organize the lesson materials and the lesson time appropriately. There are two theories I would like to share in regards to child development in peer social interaction and cognitive development.
Piaget and Vygotsky’s biggest differences is their assessments of a child’s progression of development. Piaget believes that development is individual; Vygotsky believes development heavily relies on social aspects. Piaget insisted that learning happens after development, while Vygotsky believed that learning takes place before development can occur. Piaget’s theory has four phases; Vygotsky assumed there were no set stages, only three components. Piaget and Vygotsky both believe that development can be a result of a cognitive conflict. They agree that children are active learners; children learn quickly and development declines with age. In both theories, teachers serve as facilitors and guides.
“Once a child is born we begin helping them with tasks that are too difficult to master alone but that can be learned with guidance and assistance which is the (ZPD) zone of proximal development.”(Morrison, 2009 sec 14.6.1) this is the major concept of Lev Vygotsky theory. As our children grow we will interact with them throughout their lives. We may feel that a child should be at a certain stage in life; which would fit perfectly into Piagets theory that a child develops in stages. However we have always helped them with task; we sit back, observe the child trying the task, and when they c...
The processes which explain how development transpires can be described as mechanisms of development. Although Piaget and Vygotsky both focused their theories on cognitive development, the mechanisms needed to develop cognition differ for each theorist. Piaget focused on the mechanisms of cognitive organization, adaptation, and equilibration. Vygotsky, on the other hand, focused on a dialectical process, cultural tools, Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), scaffolding, internalization, and private/inner speech. For Piaget, cognitive organization entails the tendency for thought to have structures in which information and experiences are then labeled into schemas (Miller, 2011). Schemas allow humans to organize categories of information they
This mentions that learning is likely to occur in an internal process isolated from the social environment. Nevertheless, it is prevalently seen that in PBL learners frequently employ the power of collaborative learning skills in groups to culminate the projects or partake in social interactions with others for mutual learning discussions, so PBL also lend some characteristics of social-constructivism of Lev Vygotsky (1980). The salient point of social constructivism is the significance of social interactions that influence on the individual cognitive development and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) as well as the role of scaffolding (Barge, 2010). He valued social interaction as an integral role in one’s cognitive development and argued that learning is not merely through assimilation and accommodation processes of new knowledge of learners, but it should be integrated or combined in a social community where learners can interact (Harmer, 2014). In other words, based on Vygotsky’s arguments, one’ s world knowledge is bound to his/her individual experiences while mediated by social interplay with
...eadth or depth of coverage. Some other criticisms of cooperative learning are the presence of hitch hikers, students who may be too shy, passive, or unmotivated to get involved with the group, or dominant personalities that inhibit group work as when their high standards or intense involvement excludes their teammates. Some students may not participate if they believe it will negatively impact the group grade. In order to remedy this some methods to encourage participation would be to assign roles. This gives the student a responsibility and also it would be the responsibility of other group members to involve him. Changing group dynamics be changed by increasing interdependence, social skills procedure, processing and individual accountability may also improve the situation. If all else fails it may be best to break up the group and let some people work alone.
Zone of proximal development basically refers to the skills in which children can do only if they are under the guidance of an adult. For example, if a task is too difficult or dangerous for a child to perform then the assistance of a parent or teach can make that task possible for the child. Object permanence is also another important concept which states the child knows an object is still in existence even if another person hides it behind their back for example. Next there is conservation which says that just because the appearance changes, the amount and quantity does not change. This concept has been shown through children as researchers will place objects, such as playing cards, in front of children then reorganize the object and the child is able to observe that there are the same number of objects as there were before. Also there is the concept of scaffolding. Scaffolding goes back to a teacher or parent assisting a child in which case the adult matches guidance to what the student needs. This can be seen in schools where a teacher will explain a problem-solving process then will step back in order for the child to conquer this problem on their own. The cognitive development theory plays a huge role in the human life showing step by step how we develop