Presentación del taller presentado por la Dra. Willma Vialle en el marco del evento "Psicología en la PUCP en sintonía con la Psicología Mundial". / Dr. Vialle's presentation at the event "Psychology at the PUCP aligned with the world psychology". 27.04.2017

1. Lev Vygotsky’s
sociocultural
theory
Professor Wilma Vialle

2. Our city
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average daily
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population of Illawarra
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to Sydney Opera
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within 50km

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5. Overview
1. What is the role of social interactions in cognitive
development? How do higher mental functions develop?
2. What are the differences between Vygotsky’s and Piaget’s
views on development and functions of egocentric/private
speech?
3. What is the zone of proximal development (ZPD)? How does
the concept of ZPD help us to understand the relationship
between learning and development?
4. How does make-believe play lead child development
forward?

6. Socio-cultural Theory of Learning and
Development: Lev Vygotsky
• Lev Semenovich
Vygotsky (1896-1934)
• Background: literature,
language, history,
philosophy
• Education: Socratic
dialogues
• Historical situation in
Russia

7. Key Elements of Vygotsky’s View on Child
Development
• Social and cultural nature of development
- social interactions (gesture, ‘dialog’)
- cultural influence (spoon, language)
• Active position of the child
- children become increasingly active in their learning and
development as they grow
- assist children to become active, independent learners and
self-educators

8. The Theory of Higher Mental Functions
• Both nurture and nature are important
• Lower ( basic, elementary) mental functions
- perception, attention, memory, sensori-motor
thought
- lower mental functions are inborn and spontaneous;
we share them with other species

9. Higher Mental Functions (HMF)
• HMF include:
deliberate attention and memory; abstract and verbal thinking
(language); mediated perception
• HMF develop in social interactions
• They belong to humans only
• Higher mental functions are
- voluntary
- mediated by language/symbols

10. Role of Language in
Children’s Development and Learning
• The important role of language in learning
• Language as a tool of the mind

11. The Role of Language in Development
and Learning: Vygotsky vs Piaget

12. Egocentric Speech (ES):
Young Children Talking to Themselves
Piaget’s view on egocentric speech
• Egocentric speech reflects the pre-operational level of
thinking
• Egocentric speech has no use for children
• Egocentric speech fades away, disappears and substitutes
with social speech
• Vygotsky - different point of view
• Activity

13. How many triangles are here?
5 is correct!

14. How many triangles are here?

15. 1
2
3 4
5
6
78
9

16. 11
13
10 12

17. 14
15

18. 16
17

19. 18
The correct answer is 18!
What was the point of the exercise?

20. Vygotsky’s View on the Role of Language
in Development
• Crucial role of language in development
• Emergence of egocentric speech heralds a differentiation of the two
functions of speech
- for communication
- for thinking and self-regulation
•Experiments to confirm Vygotsky’s view:
- egocentric speech increases when the task is difficult

21. Vygotsky’s View on the Role of Language
in Development, continued
• Activity: talking out loud
• Egocentric speech doesn’t disappear but transforms into inner
speech (speech for yourself)
• Inner speech: verbal thinking (self-reflection)
• Modern name for egocentric speech is private speech

22. Vygotsky vs Piaget: Summary
Piaget thought that ES
- was a part of egocentrism
- not important
- disappeared later on
Vygotsky thought that ES
- not egocentric but private
- was crucial for development
- did not disappear but became
internalised

23. Educational Implications
• Noisy classroom
• How to encourage children talking
- group work
- ask to write instruction, plans, check lists
- ask to reflect on the strategies of problem solving: in pairs

24. Public speech (for communication)
Social
function
of
speech
Private speech (for thinking
and self-regulation)
0 2 6-7

25. The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
T Testing children’s achievements
T Tests, exams: assessment of independent performance
T Testing assisted performance (potential development)
T Looking in the past or looking into the future?
T A metaphor of buds and flowers

26. The ZPD: a Definition
• ZPD: the distance between independent and
assisted performance
• Learning in the ZPD: working with an expert on a
task which cannot be performed independently yet

27. The ZPD, continued
Chris Sam
9
8 8
12
ZPD
ZPD
level of independent performance
level of assisted performance

28. Learning/Teaching in ZPD
Teacher The Child
I n t e r n a l i z at i o n
Individual knowledge & skill -
Child’s independent performance
Intersubjectivity: Shared
knowledge
Assisted performance: dialogue
Assisted performance
transforms into independent
performance

29. Example 1
Sammy, 4 and his mother put a puzzle
together
Sammy: I can’t get this one in
Mother: Which piece might go down here?
(points to the bottom of the puzzle)
Sammy: His shoes
Mother: Well, what piece looks like this shape?
(pointing again to the bottom of the puzzle)
Sammy: The brown one
Mother: Try turning it just a little
(gestures to show him)
Sammy: There!
Is the mother working with Sammy in his ZPD?
Why?

30. Teaching in the ZPD: Example 2
Mrs. S: What time is it, Eric? (the cardboard clock shows 4:10)
Eric: Ummmm 10:04?
Mrs. S: No. What does the short hand tell us?
Eric: The short hand shows the hour... and... the long hand shows the
minute?
Mrs. S: Yes that's right. What number is the short hand pointing to?
Eric: The four.
Mrs. S: Right. And the long hand?
Eric: The two.
Mrs. S: Yes the long hand is pointing to the two, but the long hand also
signals us that there's something special about this number.
Eric: Count by fives.
Mrs. S: Tell me what you mean and use your fingers to show me.
Eric: Five (he points to the one). Ten. (he points to the two) The time is
four o'clock and ten minutes!
Mrs. S: Good job Eric!

31. Teaching in the ZPD
• Teaching in the ZPD:
- shared activity
- indirect assistance (questioning, pointing, hinting)
• Implications of the ZPD concept
- Scaffolding
- Reciprocal teaching

32. Which of the following students is working in
their ZPD? Explain.
1. Ann is learning how to play the trumpet. She
still has trouble with some of the high notes
but does better when her teacher reminds her
what she needs to do.
2. Brian can locate virtually any place on the
globe if he knows its latitude and longitude.

33. The Role of Make-believe Play in Child
Development
• Jean Piaget: exercising
symbolic schemes
• Play reflects the level of
the child’s development
Why do children play?

34. Lev Vygotsky
Make-believe play
significantly contributes to
child development, both to
cognitive and social-personal

35. How does Make-Believe Play Influence
Development?
• Play creates a Zone of Proximal Development
• Children are above their everyday level
- in cognitive processes (in memory – “grocery store”; in logical
thinking – “all cats bark” )
-in self-regulation: play requires deliberate behaviour, self-
control of behaviour and control over behaviour of others
(‘Sentry’, ‘Sisters’)
-playing different roles encourages self-reflection

36. Development of Higher Order Thinking
• Make-believe play separates thoughts from
actions and objects:
- manipulation with substitute objects-symbols
(symbolic function)
- development of imagination (symbolic actions)

37. Children’s Play and Learning
In pre-school:
• Be serious about roles and rules
• Allow sufficient time for play
• Supply children with toys and props which have
multiple functions
In primary and high school:
• Develop a unit of work around play (eg SimCity for
economics or grocery shop for maths)
• Creative arts performances
• Sport games

38. All cats bark.
Rex is a cat.
Does Rex bark?
From Dias and Harris, 1990 (in Berk, 1997)

39. Thankyou!