EDUC105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Intellectual Disability, Metacognition, Informal Learning
1 Jun 2018
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EDUC105 Week 4 Lecture 2
Lev Vygotsky
• Russian academic, psychologist, theorist who died at the age of 38 in the
early 1930s.
• He left a large legacy of work – collaborated with other psychologists on the
role of culture and society in cognitive development
• Vygotsky was concerned with learning and development occurring within a
sociohistorical and sociocultural context
• He argued that the child and environment interact to mould cognition in
culturally appropriate ways
Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory of Cognitive Development:
• Learning through interaction and dialogue between more knowledgeable
adults and peers
• Children learn through 2 main mediums:
o Social interaction
o And cultural tools
Social Interaction:
• Inter-psychological = learning with others (you and me)
• Intra-psychological = within ourselves
• Co-construction between individuals e.g. you tell someone something, the
other person can construct the idea itself – thus, learning is co-constructed
through these two types of interactions above
• This all becomes internalised within the mind = internalisation
(transformation of external processes into internal processes that guide
action and thought)
• The child learns specific knowledge through interactions of the social
elements of the environment
• Vgotsk desries huas etal ailities as either;
o Lower mental functions controlled by external objects/events →
meaning inherited, involuntary capacities such as vision, hearing and
taste
o Higher mental functions that operate internally → developed through
social interaction including logical thinking and language – these are
used to control lower mental functions
• Piaget believes social interaction is vital for cognitive development –
however, he emphasises disequilibration (cognitive conflict would motivate a
change in a hilds thikig)
• Whereas Vygotsky stated that meaningful learning only occurs if the
interaction is with a more capable person/more advanced in their thinking
(the caregiver, parents, teachers, instructors and peers)
• Mediation = process where the more able person assist/helping the less able
person in thinking
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Cultural Tools:
• Vygotsky believed that cultural tools played a critical role in cognitive
development
• These include REAL tools such as pens, pencils, printing press, calculators,
computers, electronic printers, photocopying machines, the internet and
mobile phones
• All these are CULTURAL TOOLS – they help shape our culture and how we
interact with each other
• Other cultural tools are the number system, coding for computers, computer
language, braille, signing, English system, language systems etc.
• The exchange of language, signs and symbols are mediated between the
more knowledgeable and the learner to build cognition. We re-process it
again for the intra (within ourself) and we make our own perception on it,
adapting it and modifying it to our understanding.
• When learners use cultural tools, it is used to extend their learning capacity
in some way e.g. a child may use a keyboard for the first time, obviously just
by touching the keyboard they have extended their knowledge in some way
(finding out where the shift key is, upper case for letters etc.)
• Tools act in extension into other areas of learning – e.g. the hildres use of
the word processor will facilitate their writing skills = language is extended
The ROLE OF LANGUAGE – critical in the development of cognition.
o It has a social function for communication e.g. want, drink, where is
teddy etc.
o However, as the child becomes more sophisticated in its use of
language, it becomes an intellectual function. It becomes a tool for
self-regulation and problem solving.
o Adults give children the mental tools/cognitive strategies they need,
to function effectively and independently within their own cultural
and social environment
• Laguage oes fro eerises suh as outig o oes figers, to tr ad
reeer thigs to here its i oes id – this means PRIVATE OR INNER
SPEECH. We use this all the time: it is called sub-vocalisation.
o Young children talk to themselves frequently
o Vygotsky saw this as a very necessary process and calls it SELF-
INSTRUCTION (children will vocalise out loud what they need to do
e.g. tying shoelaces)
o Piaget alled ier speeh self talk/egocentric speech – he thought it
was primitive and children stop using it when they have developed in
their language ability
o However, Vygotsky believed that this helps children think.
• Children often copy the process of moving from external language to private
speech when they learn to read.
o In early stages, printed symbols are recognised and sounded alone –
e.g. a log lie ith a irle o the side eoes a soud – lines
up ith other letters ed
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Vygotsky"s socio-cultural theory of cognitive development: learning through interaction and dialogue between more knowledgeable adults and peers, children learn through 2 main mediums, social interaction, and cultural tools. Inter-psychological = learning with others (you and me) The role of language critical in the development of cognition. It has a social function for communication e. g. want, drink, where is teddy etc: however, as the child becomes more sophisticated in its use of language, it becomes an intellectual function. We use this all the time: it is called sub-vocalisation: young children talk to themselves frequently, vygotsky saw this as a very necessary process and calls it self- Internalisation: to do it over again (repetition practice makes perfect, de-automation, reclusiveness through prior stages. Criticisms of vygotsky: some terminology can be very vague and general this application for us can be difficult. Zpd can be different with a 2 year old compared to a.
