Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development

Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development focuses on the important contributions that society makes to individual development. This theory emphasizes the interaction between developing people and the culture in which they live. Furthermore, Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development also suggests that human learning is, to a large extent, a social process.

Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development focuses not only on how adults and peers influence individual learning, but also in how cultural beliefs and attitudes impact the way instruction and learning are carried out.

It should be noted that Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory It is one of the bases of constructivismto the extent that it proposes that children, far from being mere passive recipients, construct their own knowledge, their own scheme, based on the information they receive.

Keys to Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development

Vygotsky argued that community plays a central role in the process of ‘meaning-making’. That is why his sociocultural theory of cognitive development emphasizes the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition.

According to Vygotsky, children still have a long period of development ahead of them at the brain level. Besides, each culture would provide what he called tools of intellectual adaptation. These tools allow children to use their basic mental skills in ways that are sensitive to the culture in which they grow up.

Vygotsky argued that Learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the culturally organized development process, specifically human psychological function. In other words, social learning tends to precede development.

Like Piaget, Vygotsky stated that babies are born with the basic skills for intellectual development.. According to Vygotsky, these elementary mental functions are: attention, sensation, perception and memory. It is through interaction within the sociocultural environment that these functions develop into more sophisticated and effective mental processes and strategies, referred to as higher mental functions.

In this sense, Vygotsky considers that Cognitive functions, even those carried out alone, are affected by the culture’s beliefs, values, and tools of intellectual adaptation in which a person develops and, therefore, are socioculturally determined. In this way, the tools of intellectual adaptation vary from culture to culture.

Vygotsky believed that each culture has unique differences. Because cultures can vary so dramatically, Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory suggests that both the course and content of intellectual development are not as universal as Piaget assumed.

Essential differences with Piaget’s theory of stages of development

Since these two theories are similar in some aspects, it is enriching to also point out the differences. The most notable are the following:

Vygotsky does not refer to stages of development, but rather it emphasizes a single process and the influence of culture on it. For Piaget, it is the child himself who constructs reality from his own interaction with the environment. For the author in question, it is the contribution of the environment that makes the subject develop.Vygotsky affirms that language is the tool that allows cognitive development, that is, it is previous. Piaget, on the other hand, postulates that thinking comes first and is verbalized later. While Piaget emphasizes the role of peers in developing, In the sociocultural theory of development, it is adults who provide the necessary tools.

Zone of proximal development

One of the most important concepts in Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development is the zone of proximal development. According to Vygotsky, the zone of proximal development is the distance between the level of actual development as determined by problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under the guidance of an adult or in collaboration with older peers. able.

Essentially, the zone of proximal development includes all the knowledge and skills that a person cannot yet understand or perform on his or her own, but is capable of learning with guidance. As children are able to improve their skills and knowledge, they can progressively extend this zone of proximal development.

Vygotsky considers that The zone of proximal development is the area where help in the learning process from someone more expert can be of greater value.. That is, it is that place where the subject can benefit most, in terms of learning, from having an expert.

Vygotsky’s theory also highlighted the importance of play in learning.. Parents and teachers can use this context to know where the child’s zone of proximal development is and lead him there. We are talking about that area where there are tasks that constitute a real challenge for the learner; a set of challenges that, given your level of development, you will be able to overcome with a little support.

Vygotsky also sees interaction with peers as an effective way to develop skills and strategies.. They constitute stimuli that normally have a similar zone of proximal development. For this reason, he suggests using cooperative learning exercises where less competent children develop with the help of more skilled peers.

The scaffolding metaphor

There are several followers of Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory who use the metaphor “scaffolding” to describe effective teaching-learning interactions within the zone of proximal development. This metaphor exemplifies a building under construction and has been used to represent guided participation in joint activities, which help children or adults assimilate new ideas.

In this case, the child is perceived as a construction that actively constructs itself. The sociocultural environment is the necessary scaffolding or support system that allows the infant to move forward and continue building new competencies.

Although the term scaffolding was not originally used by Vygotsky, some scholars have introduced it to determine the most important components of the help provided by the most capable partner. Since then the idea has become quite popular and useful in the fields of education and psychology.

To conclude, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that This style of interaction promotes general cognitive development and increases children’s performance on a wide variety of tasks. Its influence in classrooms and psychological clinics has been of vital importance for the development of educational models.

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