Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development - Cognition and Development

VYGOTSKY’S THEORY (SUPPORTS NURTURE)

Vygotsky developed a socio-cultural approach to cognitive development: according to him, culture plays a critical part in the development of cognition. He viewed children as ‘apprentices’ (Piaget viewed them as ‘lone scientists’).

Vygotsky also put a tremendous emphasis on the role of collaborative interactions (learning through interaction with others eg. an adult or more knowledgeable peer), as the child can be provided with verbal instructions on how to complete a task.

For example: A parent helping a young child with a jigsaw. Basic strategies could be demonstrated
 (eg. finding all the corner pieces first, and then fill in the middle). Then, as the child becomes
more competent, they will be able to work more independently.

Vygotsky identified a gap between a child’s current level of development (ie. What they can understand and do alone) and their potential level of development (what they could understand with the guidance and encouragement of others) – this is known as the zone of proximal development (ZPD).

For example: a child may struggle to complete a large jigsaw puzzle alone, but they would be
able to solve it if they had collaborative interaction.

The child is able to work through the ZPD because of scaffolding: the gradual withdrawal of adult control and support as a child increases mastery of a given task. It is a form of instruction, in which the child is given help and support which is gradually reduced as the child becomes more competent.

For example: a child who is beginning to carry out additions and subtractions in maths
will be shown, helped and prompted. Later, they will attempt simple problems with the
 teacher watching and making suggestions. Later still, there will only be occasional help and then

finally the child will be able to successfully solve problems alone.

Wood and Middleton (1975) observed the interactions between 4 year olds and their parents. The child was allowed to play individually with a set of wooden blocks, with their parent watching (the task was purposely too difficult for the child to complete alone). The parents demonstrated how to assemble the blocks and also gave verbal suggestions/encouragement. It was found that the level of assistance declines as children become more competent and that there is no single strategy in helping the child to progress (eg. can be done by preparation, suggestions, verbal prompts ect.)

EVALUATION OF VYGOTSKY’S APPROACH:  

Strength:
P: Supporting evidence
E: Roazzi and Bryant (1998) found that children can develop additional reasoning abilities when working with a more expert individual.
E: This therefore suggests that the zone of proximal development is a valid concept, hereby supporting Vygotsky’s theory.

Strength:
P: More supporting evidence
E: Tan-Niam et al (1998) found that children who work in pairs do actually produce better, more complex ideas than when alone
E: This suggests that collaborative interaction does in fact promote cognitive development, therefore providing support for this theory. 

Weakness:
P: Vygotsky assumed that the processes of learning are largely the same in all children and does not take into account individual differences
E: For example, some children learn best during social interaction but this may not be true for everyone (eg. it may depend on their personality or style of information processing)
E: Potentially doesn’t describe the cognitive development of all children and therefore how credible and valid is it?

Weakness:
P: Criticised for being reductionist
E: There is so much emphasis on social interaction and culture that many other potential aspects of development are missed (eg. emotional and biological aspects)
E: Therefore this theory is potentially not accounting for crucial factors involved and so, we must question the validity of this theory.