Lev Vygotsky Area of Research
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Lev Vygotsky Area of Research ● Vygotsky's first big research project was in 1925 ● Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition Vygotsky, 1978, as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning." ● Unlike Piaget's notion that children’s development must necessarily precede their learning, Vygotsky argued, "learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organized.” Process of Research ● Started teaching at various institutions ● First big research project was in 1925 with his Psychology of Art ● Pursued a career as a psychologist working with Alexander Luria and Alexei Leontiev ● Began the Vygotskian approach to psychology with Alexander Luria and Alexei Leontiev ● His works were revealed after the Cold War ended ● Wrote several articles and books on the subject of his theories and psychology -Thought and Language(1934) ● His research in how children solve their problems that surpassed their level of development led Vygotsky to create the Zone of Proximal Development theory Age of Children Researched ● Crisis of the newborn. ● Infancy (two months to one year). ● Crisis at age one. ● Early childhood (one to three years). ● Crisis at age three. ● Preschool age (three to seven years). ● Crisis at age seven. ● School age (eight to twelve years). ● Crisis at age thirteen. ● Age of puberty (fourteen to eighteen years). ● Crisis at age seventeen. Research Findings ● Private speech: Where children speak themselves to plan or guide their own behavior this is most common among pre schoolers. ● Sociocultural (ZPD) Zone of proximal development Vygotsky believed For example a child accomplishes a task he/she cannot do alone by a more skilled person. ● In order for (ZPD) to be a Success this must contain two features Subjectivity where a two individuals will begin with a task with a different understanding and eventually arrive at the same understanding and scaffolding a change in social support over the course of the teaching. Research Findings (Continued) ● Vygotsky had 4 basic principles for underlying his work. ● Children construct their own knowledge. ● Development can not be separated from its social context. ● Learning can lead to development. ● Language plays a central role in mental development. Opinions We find Lev Vygotsky's findings very accurate. Social interaction can in fact lead to changes in the thoughts and behavior of children. We also detect that these findings are portrayed in the real world today. Examples: ● A child might imitate actions of their parents, such as they way they talk. ● Being told to do something; A child might have homework and if they receive positive rewards from doing their homework the child would continue to do their homework. ● Cultural aspects - If a child is exposed to a certain type of religion or their family eats certain types of food, most likely that child would adapt to the foods that their family eat and practice their families religion. Current Day ● Vygotsky’s theory is that biological development and cultural experience influence children’s ability to learn and that social contact is essential to intellectual development as it happens every day. Work Citations Blunden, Andy. "The Problem of Age by Lev Vygotsky 1934." The Problem of Age by Lev Vygotsky 1934. The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky, 2008. Web. 01 September 2015. Gallagher, Christina. "Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky." Psychology History. N. p., May 1999. Web. 02 September 2015. McLeod, Saul. "Vygotsky | Simply Psychology." Vygotsky | Simply Psychology. N.p., 2007. Web. 03 September. 2015..