1. Education 173 Cognition and Learning in Educational Settings Cognitive Development/Vygotsky
Fall Quarter 2007

2. Lev Vygotsky 1896-1934 Era of Russian Revolution
Writings Translated to English in the 1970s
Spring 04
Vygotsky has eclipsed Piaget as presenting important ideas for education
Active at time of Russian Revolution; had a revolutionary mentality; Marxist teaching
In contrast to Piaget, Vygotsky had more social awareness; economy shaping; effects of structure of society on individual
His writings were not available in English, until 1970’s
Ideas were dormant for a long time in the world and within the Soviet Union (materials were banned)
Vygotsky – psychologist, talked about individual and multi-cultural aspects of learning and development.
Larger part of theory had to do with higher order thoughts.
Where do ideas of higher order thinking come from?
They have their origin in the social environment.
Internal debate understood in social construct around us.
As a child, you watch people going back and forth over ideas and then you appropriate it for yourself as a set of psychological tools to carry on the debate inside of your head.
You participated in it as a social dialogue and then internalized it inside of your mind.
For all of these higher order thought processes, there is a language and a role. As a result, we need feedback from other people.
Students should learn in groups (idea comes from Vygotsky).

3. Two Huge Ideas Zone of Proximal Development
Social Origin of Higher-Order Cognition
Society
Spring 04
Vygotsky has eclipsed Piaget as presenting important ideas for education
Active at time of Russian Revolution; had a revolutionary mentality; Marxist teaching
In contrast to Piaget, Vygotsky had more social awareness; economy shaping; effects of structure of society on individual
His writings were not available in English, until 1970’s
Ideas were dormant for a long time in the world and within the Soviet Union (materials were banned)
Vygotsky – psychologist, talked about individual and multi-cultural aspects of learning and development.
Larger part of theory had to do with higher order thoughts.
Where do ideas of higher order thinking come from?
They have their origin in the social environment.
Internal debate understood in social construct around us.
As a child, you watch people going back and forth over ideas and then you appropriate it for yourself as a set of psychological tools to carry on the debate inside of your head.
You participated in it as a social dialogue and then internalized it inside of your mind.
For all of these higher order thought processes, there is a language and a role. As a result, we need feedback from other people.
Students should learn in groups (idea comes from Vygotsky).
Culture
History

4. The Zone of Proximal Development
“The distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.”
Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86.
Spring 04
Zone of Proximal Development
------
| | | |
alone with
assistance
(problem solving)
Social aspect to competence
Zone nearby to what the student is capable of doing
Spontaneous verbalizations – occur not in the sense that they were learned on their own, but in the sense that they are scripted (such as talking to yourself)
Can assistance have a negative effect?
Yes. Teaching to competencies at lower level, instead of higher level.
You can also teach in a structured way that it is not good; in ways that are too advanced.

5. The ZPD Relates to Developmental Readiness
Emphasizes Reciprocity of Influence
Has Implications for How to Teach
“Scaffold” (Jerome Bruner)
Focus on task elements the learner can control
Avoid overwhelming the learner
Spring 04
Mike doesn’t see ZPD as an alternative to intelligence.
Intelligence has to do with more general characteristics.
ZPD is related to teaching in a domain.
ZPD is developmental readiness. Is the student ready to read short stories, a novel, understand symbolism, etc.?
ZPD is a conceptualization of how to teach.
It’s easy to distort Vygotsky and not understand the complexity of his thoughts.
Some ideas are often forgotten, such as:
Reciprocity – it’s not just one way; the student and teacher affect one another
Cultural aspect – enculturation of knowledge
Scaffolding – related to constructivism; build assistance for learner as he/she is constructing knowledge (giving comments; reinforcing learning)
Once instruction is complete, scaffolding comes down (is removed)
In scaffolding, you help students build to next level
Jerome, not Lev (Jerome Bruner, not Lev Vygotsky, promoted idea of scaffolding)

6. Higher-Order Cognition
Origin: The Social Environment
We first observed higher-order thinking in the social space
As children, often by listening to adults
Internalization
Higher-order thinking becomes internalized as our own independent psychology
Going “Underground”
Higher order thinking may begin as audible self-talk
It eventually becomes silent “thought in the head”
Spring 04
Vygotsky looked at developmental patterns in private speech.
Vygotsky:
Young children (4 – 6) who encountered some type of difficulty generated private speech that was spoken out loud; way for students to coach themselves.
As children grow older, incidences of overt private speech dropped and became covert (internalized).
Do adults use private speech? Yes.
We regulate ourselves, talk to ourselves (mostly internal).
Much of what you say to yourself is hidden.
Did it come from a Vygotskian social structure?
Metacognition is related to private speech.
A strong mechanism for metacognition is private speech.
Teach your students how to talk to themselves. (important for learning)
Is private speech learned accidentally?
Possibly… not taught in school

7. Private Speech Private Speech Is Related To:
Age (goes from overt to covert)
Problem difficulty
Do Adults Use Private Speech?
Yes, but as internal speech (not audible)
Probably supports self-regulation during problem solving
Probably supports higher-order thinking
Spring 04
Vygotsky looked at developmental patterns in private speech.
Vygotsky:
Young children (4 – 6) who encountered some type of difficulty generated private speech that was spoken out loud; way for students to coach themselves.
As children grow older, incidences of overt private speech dropped and became covert (internalized).
Do adults use private speech? Yes.
We regulate ourselves, talk to ourselves (mostly internal).
Much of what you say to yourself is hidden.
Did it come from a Vygotskian social structure?
Metacognition is related to private speech.
A strong mechanism for metacognition is private speech.
Teach your students how to talk to themselves. (important for learning)
Is private speech learned accidentally?
Possibly… not taught in school

8. Cognitive Modeling A Powerful Teaching Technique
Verbalization of Model’s Thoughts
Step by step: “First I have to decide . . .”
Includes self-reinforcement
“Okay, stay with it.” “Nice work.”
Teaches how to deal with mistakes, uncertainty, difficulty, etc.
Facilitates goal clarification and tracking

9. Applications of Vygotsky
Scaffolding
Just enough assistance, and no more
Reciprocal Teaching
Students and teachers both teach and learn
Role-taking
Apprenticeships
In pre-modern times; in nonwestern cultures
Professional development, including teaching
Spring 04
Talked about scaffolding on previous slide, so skipped
Reciprocal teaching (Chapter 8 in book) – form of teaching that relies on groups. In those groups, both the teacher and the student are active participants.
Reciprocal in the sense that students are doing teaching, too. Different members of the group are assigned different roles. Society is composed of different roles (Vygotsky)
Everyone does the teaching and the roles are defined.
Apprenticeships – embody Vygotskian principles; you have a skilled performer and a novice; the novice enters into the world of the expert and begins to learn; the expert offers feedback; situated experience (example: apprentice learns from expert violin maker in workshop)
Apprenticeships have been in history for a long time (even in nonwestern cultures)
Novices become more and more skilled, until they become masters
Examples: Students in education are paired up with teachers; doctors and nurses work in hospitals in residence
Versus Piaget? Vygotsky is the most important figure at this time. Piaget is biologically, individually and internally oriented, in comparison to Vygotsky who appreciates the effects of culture.

10. Vygotsky vs. Piaget Who Was More Important? Spring 04
Talked about scaffolding on previous slide, so skipped
Reciprocal teaching (Chapter 8 in book) – form of teaching that relies on groups. In those groups, both the teacher and the student are active participants.
Reciprocal in the sense that students are doing teaching, too. Different members of the group are assigned different roles. Society is composed of different roles (Vygotsky)
Everyone does the teaching and the roles are defined.
Apprenticeships – embody Vygotskian principles; you have a skilled performer and a novice; the novice enters into the world of the expert and begins to learn; the expert offers feedback; situated experience (example: apprentice learns from expert violin maker in workshop)
Apprenticeships have been in history for a long time (even in nonwestern cultures)
Novices become more and more skilled, until they become masters
Examples: Students in education are paired up with teachers; doctors and nurses work in hospitals in residence
Versus Piaget? Vygotsky is the most important figure at this time. Piaget is biologically, individually and internally oriented, in comparison to Vygotsky who appreciates the effects of culture.
Who Was More Important?