Lev Vygotsky, a prominent Russian psychologist, developed the sociocultural theory emphasizing the critical role of social interaction in children's cognitive development. Key concepts include the more knowledgeable other (MKO) and the zone of proximal development (ZPD), which describe how guided learning with a skilled partner enhances children's learning. Vygotsky's theories have significant educational applications, including scaffolding, reciprocal teaching, and collaborative learning strategies, though they face criticism for cultural universality and the emphasis on verbal instruction.

1. Social Influences
on Cognitive
Development

2. Lev Vygotsky
• Seminal Russian psychologist best known
for his sociocultural theory
• Social interaction plays a critical role in
children's learning
• Imitation, guided learning, and
collaborative learning

3. Early Life
• Born November 17, 1896, in Orsha, a city
in the western Russian Empire.
• Earned a law degree at Moscow State
University (1917)
• Completed a dissertation in 1925 on the
psychology of art but was awarded his
degree in absentia due to an acute
tuberculosis relapse that left him
incapacitated for a year.

4. Theories
• much of important learning by the child
occurs through social interaction with a
skillful tutor (1978)
 referred to this as cooperative or
collaborative dialogue
 the learner/child seeks to understand
the actions or instructions provided by
the tutor then internalizes the
information, using it to guide or
regulate their own performance.

5. Cooperative/Collaborative Dialogue

6. Shaffer (1996)
• The example of a young girl who is
given her first jigsaw. The girl
performs poorly in attempting to
solve the puzzle. The father then
sits with her and describes or
demonstrates some basic strategies,

7. such as finding all the corner/edge
pieces and provides a couple of pieces
for the child to put together herself
and offers encouragement when she
does so. As the child becomes more
competent, the father allows the
child to work more independently.

8. The More
Knowledgeable
Other (MKO) and
the Zone of
Proximal
Development
(ZPD).

9. More Knowledgeable Other
(MKO)
 refers to someone who has a better
understanding or a higher ability
level than the learner
 the MKO is not necessarily a teacher
or an older adult
 a child's peers or an adult's children
with more knowledge or experience

10. More Knowledgeable Other
(MKO)
 the use of electronic performance
support system
 must have (or be programmed with)
more knowledge about the topic
being learned than the learner
does.

11. Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD)
 the difference between what a
child can achieve independently
and what a child can achieve with
guidance and encouragement from
a skilled partner
 the area where the most sensitive
instruction or guidance should be
given

12. Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD)
 interaction with peers as an
effective way of developing skills
and strategies
 teachers use cooperative learning
exercises where less competent
children develop with help from
more skillful peers within the zone
of proximal development

13. Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD)

14. Theory of Scaffolding
 Became synonymous with ZPD in
literature
 Introduced by Wood, Bruner and
Ross (1976)
 consists of the
activities/guidance/teaching
provided by the educator, MKO or
more competent peer, to support
the student as he or she is led
through the zone of proximal
development.

15. Theory of Scaffolding
 Support is tapered off (i.e.
withdrawn) as it becomes
unnecessary, much as a scaffold is
removed from a building during
construction.

16. Evidence for Vygotsky and
the ZPD
• Freund (1990)
 a study in which children had to decide
which items of furniture should be
placed in particular areas of a doll’s
house. Some children were allowed to
play with their mother in a similar
situation before they attempted it alone
(zone of proximal development) while
others were allowed to work on this by
themselves (Piaget's discovery learning).

17. Evidence for Vygotsky and
the ZPD
 those who had previously worked with
their mother (ZPD) showed the greatest
improvement compared with their first
attempt at the task.
 Conclusion
Guided learning within the ZPD led
to greater understanding/
performance than working alone
(discovery learning)

18. Pedagogical Applications
1. A contemporary educational application
of Vygotsky's theories is "reciprocal
teaching," used to improve students'
ability to learn from text. In this method,
teachers and students collaborate in
learning and practicing four key skills:
summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and
predicting. The teacher's role in the
process is reduced over time.

19. Pedagogical Applications
2. Also, Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive
development is relevant to instructional
concepts such as "scaffolding" and
"apprenticeship," in which a teacher or
more advanced peer helps to structure or
arrange a task so that a novice can work
on it successfully.

20. Pedagogical Applications
3. Vygotsky's theory also feed into the
current interest in collaborative learning,
suggesting that group members should
have different levels of ability so more
advanced peers can help less advanced
members operate within their ZPD. In this
case, when grouping students, mix them
up according to their abilities. It is not
wise to let students choose their
groupmates, as they tend to go with those
of their own level.

21. Pedagogical Applications
4. In relation to Curriculum: Since children
learn much through interaction, curricula
should be designed to emphasize
interaction between learners and learning
tasks.

22. Pedagogical Applications
5. In relation to Instruction: With
appropriate adult help, children can
often perform tasks that they are
incapable of completing on their own.
With this in mind, scaffolding–where the
adult continually adjusts the level of his
or her help in response to the child’s
level of performance–is an effective form
of teaching.

23. Pedagogical Applications
Scaffolding not only produces immediate
results, but also instills the skills necessary
for independent problem solving in the
future. The scaffolds should be gradually
removed as the learner progresses.

24. Pedagogical Applications
6. In relation to Assessment: Assessment
methods must take into account the zone of
proximal development. What children can
do on their own is their level of actual
development and what they can do with
help is their level of potential
development. Two children might have the
same level of actual development, but
given the appropriate help from an adult,
one might be able to solve many more
problems than the other.

25. Pedagogical Applications
Assessment methods must target both the
level of actual development and the level of
potential development. In other words,
comparing learners with each other is not
advantageous... it is best to compare one
from his/her earlier performance and find
how s/he is progressing.

26. Critical Evaluation
 Vygotsky's work has not received the same
level of intense scrutiny that Piaget's has,
partly due to the time-consuming process
of translating Vygotsky's work from
Russian language.
 Sociocultural perspective does not provide
as many specific hypotheses to test as did
Piaget's theory

27. Critical Evaluation
 Perhaps the main criticism concerns the
assumption that it is relevant to all
cultures.
 Rogoff (1990) dismisses the idea that
Vygotsky's ideas are culturally universal
and instead states the concept of
scaffolding - which is heavily dependent
on verbal instruction – may not be equally
useful in all cultures for all types of
learning.

28.  Some instances, observation and practice
may be more effective ways of learning
certain skills.