Helping Students Achieve within their Zone of Proximal Development: Lessons learned from Vygotsky
By Daniel Barone
EDI 15A Psychological Perspective: Teaching & Learning
EDI 17 Psychology & Development of Adolescent Students
EDI 600 Psychological Foundation of Education
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
February 6, 2009
I really enjoyed our last class discussion on cognitive development. I have heard of Piaget and Vygotsky before but I did not know much about their theories pertaining to cognitive development.
Comparing their theories, I find Vygotsky’s theory of zone of proximal development more useful than Piaget’s theory because I feel that Vygotsky is much more relative for adolescent students. Piaget seems to have been interested with the development of children during the preoperational and concrete operational stages which is really pre-adolescent.
I find Vygotsky’s theory of zone of proximal development to be very useful for me, especially as a beginning high school math teacher. When it comes to math, students tend to be at different levels because many students seem to struggle with math. Applying Vygotsky’s theory, I can find out where all of my students are currently at in terms of skill and ability, and I can help them learn more and grow intellectually by guiding them and challenging them to the next level. Of course the challenge will have to be attainable or within their reach because otherwise learning new material or improving skill may be impossible for my students.
Also, I strongly agree with the idea of scaffolding and how we as teachers must use it, especially when it comes to Vygotsky’s theory. The reason why scaffolding is very important is because in order for us to be able to help our students gain knowledge and move to the next level, we must find out what our students already know or where they are at so that we can “build” from there and keep building until our students are where they should be.
Long Island University, C. W. Post
February 6, 2009
I really enjoyed our last class discussion on cognitive development. I have heard of Piaget and Vygotsky before but I did not know much about their theories pertaining to cognitive development.
Comparing their theories, I find Vygotsky’s theory of zone of proximal development more useful than Piaget’s theory because I feel that Vygotsky is much more relative for adolescent students. Piaget seems to have been interested with the development of children during the preoperational and concrete operational stages which is really pre-adolescent.
I find Vygotsky’s theory of zone of proximal development to be very useful for me, especially as a beginning high school math teacher. When it comes to math, students tend to be at different levels because many students seem to struggle with math. Applying Vygotsky’s theory, I can find out where all of my students are currently at in terms of skill and ability, and I can help them learn more and grow intellectually by guiding them and challenging them to the next level. Of course the challenge will have to be attainable or within their reach because otherwise learning new material or improving skill may be impossible for my students.
Also, I strongly agree with the idea of scaffolding and how we as teachers must use it, especially when it comes to Vygotsky’s theory. The reason why scaffolding is very important is because in order for us to be able to help our students gain knowledge and move to the next level, we must find out what our students already know or where they are at so that we can “build” from there and keep building until our students are where they should be.
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