Scaffolding Childrens

Learning: Vygotsky and Early

Childhood Education
Laura E. Berk and Adam Winsler




Presented by Vanessa W. Chang

Chapter 1: Vygotsky: His Life and Works
Lev Semenovich Vygotsky
(1896-1934)
Born in Orsha, Byelorussia
Developed sociocultural
approach: an attempt to
understand how social and
cultural influences affect
childrens development p. 4
Troika of Vygotskian
school of thought: Vygotsky,
A.R. Luria and A.N.
Leontev
Influenced by Marxist ideals:
created Marxist theory of
psych. and child
development

Vygotskys Major Works
The Psychology of Art, 1925
Consciousness as a problem in the Psychology of Behavior, 1925
Educational Psychology, 1926
Historical meaning of the crisis in Psychology, 1927
The Socialist alteration of Man, 1930
Primitive Man and his Behavior, c. 1930
Mind and Society, 1930
Adolescent Pedagogy, 1931
Play and its role in the Mental development of the Child, 1933
Thinking and Speech, 1934

Chapter 2: Vygotskys Approach to
Development: The Social Origins of Individual
Mental Functioning
Socially shared cognition
[H]umans are inherently social and communicative beings p.13
Social Embeddedness of Cognitive Skills: Social Interaction
(example: conservation of liquid problem)
Social Embeddedness of Cognitive Skills: Task and Setting
Conditions (childrens learning is contextualized)
Social Engagement as a Stimulus for Cognitive Development:
Piaget: conflict between peers promoted cognitive restructuring
Vygotsky: not who (adult-child or child-child) but how children engage in
joint activity important to cognitive development.


The Importance of Language
All higher mental functions--those that are unique to
human beings--are initially created through
collaborative activity; only later do they become
internal mental processes. p. 20
Mediation through Signs:
Vygotskys views: Signs are critical link between social and
psychological planes of functioning.
Signs are socially generated, not biologically given or
individually constructed.
Internalization:
A.k.a. appropriation (Rogoff): children choose from cultural
tools encountered during social collaboration to fit goals.

The Zone of Proximal Development
The ZPD:
[T]he distance between the actual developmental level as
determined by independent problem solving and the level of
potential development as determined through problem
solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more
capable peers. p.26
The ZPD
ZPD originally introduced in context of arguing against tests of
standard intelligence and achievement. Vygotsky saw standardized
tests as limited, only measuring static knowledge, whereas a childs
potential is much greater, and human cognition is dynamic and ever-
changing.
According to Vygotsky, the role of education is to provide children with
activities and experiences in their ZPDs, challenging them, but allowing
eventual success with sensitive adult or capable peer guidance.
In educating children, it is important to give them tasks slightly above
their current levels or abilities to inspire them to reach for the next level.
Scaffolding
Scaffolding: a changing level of support in which assistance is
adjusted to fit childs current abilities and needs. Fosters childs
autonomy and mastery skills. p. 171
Goals:
Joint Problem Solving: socially shared cognition

Intersubjectivity: two participants who begin a task with different understandings
arrive at a shared understanding. Learning takes place with shared understanding.

Warmth and Responsiveness:emotional tone of guidance is important. Children
learn more when they are supported and encouraged to do so. Important for adult to
be engaged in process.

Keeping the Child in the ZPD: Structure task and surrounding environment. Adjust
amount of adult intervention to childs needs (not too much or too little).

Promoting Self-Regulation:Requires adult to relinquish control and assistance as
soon as child is able to work independently. The zone of executive function.
Scaffolding
Adult distancing strategies:
Low-level (ref to objects and events in immediate environment)
Medium-level (comparing, contrasting, relating)
High-level (elaboration of ideas, concepts)
Research on Scaffolding:
Study of 3-year olds in mother-child collaboration on classification and story-
sequencing indicates that the more mothers praised children, the better they performed
when working on the task by themselves.
Authoritative parenting (as opposed to authoritarian or permissive parenting) : a
democratic approach which encourages independence within limits negotiated
between parent and child.
Note on Scaffolding:
Can be positive mode of interaction with children, but perhaps needs elaboration and
modification at times--in past, too much emphasis on instructional component and
goals.
Cultural context of scaffolding limited to Western cultures, further study needed.
Childrens Private Speech
In talking to themselves, children build a bridge
between their social and psychological worlds
as they strive to become competent,
autonomous beings. p. 49

Views on Childrens Private Speech
Vygotskys Views
Critical of Piagets findings,
Vygotsky countered:
Children use private speech
more often when working on
difficult tasks
A pattern to private speech:
peaks at middle to end of
preschool years
Private speech does not
become more social with age, it
is internalized.
The more opportunities for
social interactions, the more
private speech occurs. Social
and private speech go
together.
Piagets Views
3 types of private speech:
repetition (syllables and
sounds)
monologues (verbal
soliloquies)
collective monologues
(soliloquies in presence of
others)
Viewed private speech as
egocentric, ineffectual social
speech

Varieties of Childrens Private Speech:
Egocentric Communication
Fantasy Play
Emotional Release
Describing Ones Own Activity
Reading Aloud
Inaudible Muttering
How does scaffolding promote private
speech in children?
With an adult to regulate the difficulty of a task, the
child stays in the ZPD (challenged, but still motivated)
Scaffolding can bring a task to the verbal level, and
language becomes a key problem solving tool
Through scaffolding, children can learn self-
regulation skills.
Chapter 3: Play in Vygotskys Theory
[P]lay creates a zone of proximal development in the
child. In play, the child always behaves beyond his
average age, above his daily behavior; in play it is as
thought he were a head taller than himself. As in the
focus of a magnifying glass, play contains all
developmental tendencies in a condensed form and
is itself a major source of development. (Vygotsky)

Development and Significance of Play
Vygotsky: Wherever there is an imaginary situation,
there are rules.
Play creates an imaginary situation that permits the
child to grapple with unrealized desires (delayed
gratification as compares with immediate gratification typical
in behavior and treatment of infants)
Play contains rules for behavior (even the most simple of
creatiive play situations includes social rules)
Make-believe supports a childs ability to separate
thoughts from actions and objects (a wooden block
becomes an ice-cream cone), and supports the capacity of
the child to renounce impulsive actions in favor of deliberate
and self-regulatory activity.
Impact of Imaginative Play on Development
General Cognitive and Social Skills:
Studies show that imaginative play can enhance cognitive abilities.
Memory:
List-like and narrative memory enhanced through fantasy (research on
acting out a story heard in class)
Language
Many areas of conversational dialogue used in play
Reasoning
Creative play can allow for flexibility in thinking, imagination stretches logical
skills.
The Boundary Between Appearance and Reality
Practice in transforming real objects or experiences into pretend gives
children opportunities to distinguish between appearance and reality.
Scaffolding Childrens Play
Play occurs with children and their peers and also
with children and adults.
Mothers/primary caregivers are childrens first
collaborators in play, and are highlighted until
around age 3.
Adult-child play can be beneficial, but the adult must
be sure not to take over the play. Allow child room to
be in ZPD.
Peer play becomes prominent as child enters school
and interacts with other children. Intersubjectivity
and shared understanding are required for peer play.
Chapter 4: Children with Serious Learning and
Behavior Problems
Vygotskys Approach to Children with Special
Needs
Vygotsky believed that the original disability of child is
not so much a problem as the way the disability alters
the way the child can participate in sociocultural
activities
Lack of participation in these activiities can hinder
development of higher mental functions, such as self-
regulation.
It is most important for children with learning and behavior
problems to improve social interactions with adults and
peers.
Children with Sensory Deficits: the case of deaf
children
Vygotsky viewed blind and deaf children as having particularly
challenging situations, as language is so important to social
interactions.
Example: deaf children with deaf parents vs. deaf children with
hearing parents
Sign language
Children with Self-Regulatory Problems
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD):
In line with Vygotskys sociocultural perspective,
ADHD can be seen as problem involving self-
regulation.
Application of Vygotskys theory
began in 1960s (self-instructional training) for
impulsive/hyperactive children, teaching children private
speech in hopes to form self-regulation skills
Results disappointing, task specific if anything
Adult-Child communication and children
with ADHD
ADHD: studies show evidence of biological and
environmental factors
Parenting not found to be primary cause of ADHD,
but adult-child interactions can reinforce behavior
Studies on parent-child interactions and childrens
private speech with children with ADHD:
Children used more private speech in working on problem
with experimenter than with parents, who tended to control
actions of child
Private Speech of Children with Self-
Regulatory Problems
Studies show:
Children with self-regulatory problems (hyperactivity, impulsive
behavior) tend to use more overt, vocal private speech than their
peers without behavior issues
In addition to using more task-relevant private speech ADHD
children tend to use more irrelevant and off-task comments
Children with ADHD use fewer internalized forms of self-speech
than peers
Private speech of ADHD children less strongly related to task than
private speech of peers who dont have ADHD
Enhancing Educational Environments for
Children with Serious Learning and Behavior
Problems
How do we meet the educational needs of all
children, including those who have serious
learning and behavior issues?
In the case of children with ADHD and similar problems, scaffolding
is important, and not often used with ADHD children
Specific directive efforts: expectations clear and highly consistent,
follow through and praise all shown to improve childs behavior and
strengthen childs self-esteem.
All adult-child interactions need to be worked on (parents, teachers,
etc.): scaffolding, working in the childs ZPD and giving
opportunities to develop and practice the skills necessary in
sociocultural context.