VYGOTSKY'S
APPROACH TO CHILD DEVELOPMENT
A
THEORY
OF SCAFFOLDING
Vygotsky's approach to child development is
constructivist, based on the idea that cognition is the result of mental
construction. His distinctive contribution to educational theory is to emphasize
the
social experiences that the child has in its family and school environment
(Gray and MacBain, 2015).
He believed that learning is an
interactive process, involving contact between the learner and other
individuals, at every stage in life from birth onwards.
There are two types of
developmental level of child
·
Actual
Developmental Level (ADL) refers to tasks that the child
can complete on their own,
·
Potential Developmental Level (PDL) refers to tasks that the child can
complete with help from someone else.
Vygotsky
was interested in the difference between these two stages, and he argues that
this is where learning takes place. This approach implies that a child must
receive guidance from more competent individuals to learn new knowledge and
skills. These individuals can include parents, teachers, other adults, and even
peers of the same physical age and older children.
These individuals who offer mentoring and guidance
to the learner are collectively known as More
Knowledgeable Others (MKO) or called as Scaffolder. because they have a better
understanding or higher ability in relation to a particular task and they can
impart this knowledge to the learner in order to help him or her move on from
their current level of understanding and ability.
Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development
According to Vygotsky
,The development and learning take place simultaneously. So what the child
knowledge in present situation that is actual development of student or child. But
after assistance of teacher or anyone who can lead or take or help him/her to
get more knowledge, to solve the problem then child’s knowledge is enlarged or
the child get more information, more understanding over his/her actual learning.
That extra, or surplus knowledge child gain due to help is called Zone Of Proximal
Development.
A
key dimension of this theory is the need to calibrate adult interaction with
the stage of development and learning that the learner has reached. If the
adult input is too simple, then the child will not be challenged and little or
no growth will occur.
If the adult input is too far from what the child
already knows, then the learning process may not even begin, and the child will
struggle to comprehend what is being asked of her. In order to avoid these
problems, interactions between adult and child need to take place very
frequently. The quality of this interaction is extremely important, since the
learner must engage with the process and express his or her thoughts and
feelings, to let the teacher know how well he or she has understood (or not
understood) the lessons that are prepared for them.
Another
factor that is very important, and sometimes overlooked, is the role that
context and culture play in the zone of
proximal development.
Sometimes
development and learning occur within the family, and at other times in school
or college, or in the wider community. Learning can be formal and structured,
or informal and less obviously structured, or something in between. Countries
differ in the way they prepare children for adult life. In most western
countries, there is a long, compulsory period of learning in which is managed
by professional teachers, but in many developing countries, children have
shorter amounts of formal schooling, but much more exposure to the working
world of adults in their community.
It should be clear by
now that language is very important in Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development.
Learners
must cooperate and collaborate with the teacher and they do this, assuming they
have at least basic language skills, through dialogue. Ideally, learners and
teachers should co-construct knowledge, each contributing what they know so
that a shared understanding is reached.
What are the strengths and limitations of this
theory
The
main strength of this theory is that it
is very intuitive and easy to grasp
it can be applied universally to any educational context.
Its basic principle of learning from a more skilled
individual underpins many formal and informal types of education.
The teacher is there to demonstrate and to guide the
learner through new tasks, offering advice and encouragement, and setting
sub-tasks that the learner must complete in order to achieve the larger goal
that the teacher has judged appropriate for the age and level of development of
the learner.
LIMITATION
This limitation means that it can be quite difficult
to apply Vygotsky's theories to contemporary school settings where classes are
large, and where social and cultural factors are very complex and highly
relevant to the way individual children learn.
