By: Alex McLaughlin, Ryan Moore, & Madeleine Marble Lev Vygotsky By: Alex McLaughlin, Ryan Moore, & Madeleine Marble

Biography Born on November 17th, 1896 in a city called Orsha, located in the western half of the Russian Empire. Lev was born into a jewish family. This helped him get into college as the universities had demographic quotas to fill. He graduated Moscow State University in 1917 with a degree in law but went back to school in 1924 to study psychology at the Institute of Psychology in Moscow.

Children? Lev Vygotsky had two daughters with his wife, Rose Noevna Smekhova. Gita Vygodskaya (1925-2010) and Asya Vygodskaya (1930-1985) Having children allowed him to observe the development of them to strengthen his theory.

Relevance Created the zone of proximal development. Stressed that parents spend time socialising with their children in order to pave way for healthy development. His contributions focused on most age groups because his theories revolved around all social interactions and how they enable development over time.

Theoretical Perspective His big question was “How do social and cultural experiences become part of each individual's thinking.” He theorised that development in children occurs as a part of their everyday life experiences, influenced by their parents, older peers, and cultural affiliations. Lev argues that language is social in its origin and that children develop language through their surroundings.

Zone of Proximal Development Current Development- 1st level, “Present Level of Development”, what the child is capable of without the help from others. Potential Development- 2nd level, “Potential Level of Development”, what the child could be capable of doing with the help of others. Beyond Reach - 3rd level, what the person is not yet capable of doing developmentally.

Research Experiments Not many experiments were conducted by Lev Vygotsky, most of his theories were based off of the evaluation of how kids interacted with their surroundings.

How He Came to His Theory Because he died at such an early age from tuberculosis, many of his theories were not completed. Although most of his theories imply that children develop through social interactions, one common principle can not be concluded from the majority of his theories.

Thoughts & Conclusion Lev Vygotsky created the Social Development Theory which stated that although cognitive development is limited to a certain range at a certain age, social interaction is key to the successful development of a child's brain.

Sources “Reading on the Child Development of Children” by Michael Cole Mary Gauvain- Book http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html https://www.verywell.com/lev-vygotsky-biography-2795533 https://psychohawks.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/theories-of-cognitive-development-lev- vygotsky/ http://www.citeulike.org/group/716/article/439305 http://study.com/academy/lesson/zone-of-proximal-development-and-scaffolding-in-the-classroom.html http://m.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html