Vygotsky was called “The Mozart of Psychology“. He was born in 1896- same year as Piaget – in the small Russian town of Orsha.
The sociocultural theory:
- Did NOT focus on the individual child but on the child as a product of social interaction, especially with adults (parents, teachers).
- Focus on DYADIC INTERACTIONS (e.g., child being taught by a parent how to perform some culturally specific action), rather than child by himself.
- Social world mediates children’s cognitive development. Cognitive development occurs as child’s thinking is molded by society in the form of parents, teachers, and peers. This leads to peer tutoring as a strategy in classrooms.
- People’s thinking differs dramatically between cultures because different cultures stress different things.
Theory’s Principles and Concepts:
Children construct their knowledge.
Knowledge is not transferred passively, but is personally constructed.
The learning is mediated.
Cognitive development is not a direct result of activity, but it is indirect; other people must interact with the learner, use mediatory tools to facilitate the learning process, and then cognitive development may occur.
Language plays a central role in mental development.
The most significant sociocultural tool is language, as it is used to teach tool use and is vital in the process of developing higher psychological functions.
Learning appears twice.
First on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first between people (interpsychology), and then inside the child (intrapsychology).
Development cannot be separated from its social context.
The context needed for learning is that where the learners can interact with each other and use the new tools. This means that the learning environment must be authentic, that is, it must contain the type of people who would use these types of tools such as concepts, language, symbols in a natural way.
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
The difference between what a child can do independently and what the child needs help from a more knowledgeable person to do is the Zone of Proximal Development.
Scaffolding
“role of teachers and others in supporting the learner’s development and providing support structures to get to the next stage or level” Vygotsky.
a knowledgeable participant can create by means of speech and supportive conditions in which the student (novice) can participate in and extend current skills and knowledge to a high level of competence.
In an educational context, however, scaffolding is an instructional structure whereby the teacher models the desired learning strategy or task then gradually shifts responsibility to the students.
Scaffolding:
Provides support
Extends the range of what a learner can do.
Allows the learner to accomplish tasks otherwise impossible
Used only when needed
Almost every CTET and State TET ( UPTET, HTET etc) question paper has questions from this topic. Refer
Previous Year Questions:
Question #1 | According to Lev Vygotsky, the primary cause of cognitive development is:
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2016-09]
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Question #2 | As a teacher, who firmly believes in social constructivist theory of Lev Vygotsky, which of the following methods would you prefer for assessing your students?
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2016-09]
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Question #3 | According to Vygotsky, children learn
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2016-02]
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Question #4 | Which one of the following statements about children would Vygotsky agree with?
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2015-09]
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Question #5 | In Vygotsky’s theory , which aspect of development gets neglected?
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2014-09]
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Question #6 | According to Lev Vygotsky:
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2016-09]
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Question #7 | Which of the following statements describes Piaget and Vygotsky’s views on language and thought correctly?
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2016-09]
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Question #8 | Vygotsky emphasized the significance of the role played by which of the following factors in the learning of children?
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2012-01]
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Question #9 | According to socio-cultural theory of Vygotsky
[Language II – English] [CTET-2015-09]
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Question #10 | A teacher wishes to help her students to appreciate multiple views of a situation. She provides her students multiple opportunities to debate on this situation in different groups. According to Vygotsky’s perspective, her students will …….various views and develop multiple perspectives of the situation on their own
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2013-07]
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Question #11 | Which of the following is based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory?
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2014-02]
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Question #12 | According to Socio-cultural theory of Vygotsky
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2014-09]
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Question #13 | The concept of ‘private speech’ of children as proposed by Vygotsky
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2016-02]
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Question #14 | According to Vygotsky, learning cannot be separated form
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2016-02]
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Question #15 | In a constructivist classroom as envisioned by Piaget and Vygotsky, learning
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2016-02]
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Question #16 | According to Vygotsky why do children speak to themselves?
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2015-09]
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Question #17 | Which one of the following is an example of scaffolding?
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2016-02]
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Question #18 | Scaffolding in a Social Science classroom primarily intends to
[Social Studies/Social Sciences] [CTET-2014-02]
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Question #19 | Which one of the following is a good example of ‘scaffolding (learning of a problem solving task till the student is able to do it by herself)?
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2016-02]
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#20 |
The fact that children require culturally relevant knowledge and skills is attributed to
[Child Development and Pedagogy] [CTET-2014-09]
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