1. Vygotsky: Zone of Proximal Development
Madeline Oi and
Mariana Esparza

2. Our Friend Vygotsky Born November 5, 1896, in Orsha, Russia
1913: Won the “jewish lottery” and was admitted to Moscow State University.
: Taught literature and psychology in a school in Gomel, where he grew up.
Notable works during this time were
Verasak, A literary Journal
The Psychology of Art
Pedagogical Psychology, Course
1924: Moved to Moscow and began work at the Institute of Psychology.

3. Our Friend Vygotsky continued…
: He worked with young scientists in the areas of psychology, defectology, and mental abnormality.
Gave psychology course at Ukrainian Psychoneurological Academy.
Invited to head the department of psychology in the All-Union Institute of Experimental medicine.
1934: Died of tuberculosis on June 11.

4. Political and historical theory
Marx believed that by using tools humans are able to master their environment.
He also believed that production is a social process
Vygotsky intended to reorganize psychology on Marxist fundamentals.
Dialectic movement: One process of development dialectically paves the way for the following and is transformed and crosses over to a new type of development
Influence of Marxism
“Vygotsky was the leading Marxist theoretician among us...in his hands, Marx’s methods of analysis did serve a vital role in shaping our course” (1979, p. 43)

5. Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive development
Development is a social process
Social influence: A child learns through the assistance of a skillful tutor. The child seeks to understand the instruction of the tutor in order to internalize the information.
cooperative dialogue: interaction allows for cognitive development
cultural influence (tools): schools allow children to guide their development. Instruction is valuable in learning.
Social interaction leads to a change in the development of a child

6. The Zone of Proximal Development
Actual Development-
“the level of development of a child’s mental functions that has been established as a result of certain already completed developmental cycles” (Vygotsky, 85)
The Zone of Proximal Development-
“The distance between the actual development 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, 86)

7. Theory of the Zone of Proximal Development
Vygotsky mentioned an American researcher, Dorothea McCarthy, who showed that among children between the ages 3 and 5 could do in group collaboration of what a child of a mental level of age 5-7 could do independently.
Scaffolding- Support from a more capable peer or teacher to perform a task.

8. Erikson’s Stages

9. Aspects from Erik Erikson
Industry vs. Inferiority
A child wants to be shown in this stage- “I am what I learn” (Erikson, p. 87)
In a study quoted in Identity and the Life Cycle by Erikson, Children were encouraged to do whatever they wanted in Grammar School, and a child said this “Teacher, must we do today what we want to do?
But one must avoid the other extreme of conditioning children to do only prescribed duties.
Find the middle ground in order to find the “just right” amount of direction.
children do find learning what they can not think up on their own is interesting to them. They would like to feel this sense of participation in the adult world.

10. Main question of Interest
Does the Zone of Proximal development come with certain degrees of frustration, interest, or motivation when completing a task? In other words...
Does the level of frustration change when working on a task alone vs. with a more competent peer?
Does interest in a task increase when working with extra assistance?
Is there more motivation in a child working alone vs. with a more competent peer?

11. Data collection

12. Hypotheses Frustration level will be most high when working alone
Interest level will be most high when working with the researches.
Motivation level will be most high when working in a group.

13. Frustration Levels With Increasing Assistance

14. Graph of Frustration with Increasing Assistance
Frustration seems to dissipate at the Group assistance level.
Recalling on my observations they were happy and having fun working together, but still no correct results were produced for the problem.

15. Interest Levels with Increasing Assistance

16. Graph of Interest Levels with Increasing Assistance
Student 5 seems to have lost interest when we were to instruct the students on how to do the lesson.
Student 4 Maintained interest at a level of 5 throughout the research period.
Student 3’s interest increased as more assistance was brought on
Student 2’s interest seem to increase when moving from individual work to group work, but interest decreased a little when having to be instructed by the researchers.
Overall, it seems that when in a group setting is when a majority of students interests are emerging or already at its peak.

17. Motivation Level with Increasing Assistance

18. Graph of Motivation with Increasing Assistance

19. Observations of the kids working individually
Children asked questions from the very beginning
Student #3 visibly frustrated
The worksheets demonstrated that the children did not attempt to show work, they did not know how to do the problem so they did not even try

20. Observations for working in a group
one girl came up to us and asked if she could change her previous answer from working independently because she believed the group answer was the correct one
children didn’t ask us questions
saw a lot of group discussion
“collaboration with another person, either an adult or more competent peer, in the zone of proximal development thus leads to development in culturally appropriate ways” (Moll pg. 157)

21. Observation for extra assistance
children followed all of our instructions
some children needed extra individual help
helped when Madeline drew diagrams
they all wanted to make sure they got the right answer
“If a child is having difficulty with a problem in arithmetic and the teacher solves it on the blackboard, the child may grasp the solution in an instant” (Mind in Society pg 88).

22. Conclusion of Hypothesis
We were correct, frustration levels as a whole seemed to be most high when working alone on the worksheet.
Interest levels seemed to vary as a whole, but they were most high when the children worked in a group and with researcher assistance.
We were correct, as a whole motivation was most high when working in a group

23. Conclusions
The role of the teacher is a very important factor in the development of a child.
A child is able to increase their personal development through the help of a more capable peer.
Social influences and interactions are vital for development.
Learning in a social environment can reduce frustration and help the child to approach learning in a more positive way.

24. Nature Vs. Nurture
nature
Nurture

25. Limitations Small amount of Children Tested the kids during gym class
Children didn’t understand the questionnaire (“what does frustration mean?”)
Didn’t take the questionnaire seriously
Could have had a math problem they were actually learning in class
Could have used a different system for measuring frustration, influence, and motivation

26. Bibliography Works Cited
Crain, William. "Vygotsky's Social- Historical Theory of Cognitive Development." Theories of Development. 6th ed. New York: Prentice Hall, n.d Print.
Gallagher, Christina. "Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky." Psychology History. N.p., Web. 17 Nov
Moll, Luis C. Vygotsky and Education: Instructional Implications and Applications of Sociohistorical Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, Print.
Vygotskiĭ, L. S., and Michael Cole. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge: Harvard UP, Print.
Wertsch, James V. Vygotsky and the Social Formation of Mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, Print.