Lev Vygotsky:

Lev Vygotsky (November 17, 1896 – June 11, 1394) was a Russian psychologist. Vygotsky was a pioneering psychologist and his major works p six separate volumes, written over roughly 10 years, from Psychology of Art (1925) to Thought and Language [or Thinking and Speech] (1934). Vygotsky’s interests in the fields of developmental psychology, child development, and education were extremely diverse. 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. He argued, “learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organized, specifically human psychological function” (Vygotsky 1978, p. 90). Vygotsky’s theory differs from Piaget in three different ways. 1. Social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development. In contrast to Jean Piaget’s understanding of child development, Vygotsky felt social learning precedes development. 2.
The more knowledgeable other refers to anyone who has a better understanding or a higher Ability level than the learner, with respects to a particular task, process, or concept. MKO’s Can be peers, a younger person, teachers, coaches, older adult, or even computers. 3. The zone of proximal development is the distance between a student’s ability to perform a task under adult guidance and/or with peer collaboration. It is also the student’s ability to solve problems independently. “According to Vygotsky, humans use tools that develop from a culture, such as speech and writing, to mediate their social environments.
Initially children develop these tools to serve solely as social functions, ways to communicate needs. Vygotsky believed that the internalization of these tools led to higher thinking skills. ”(http://www. learning-theories. com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory. html) In modern day terms, Vygotsky would be a facilitator. Teachers and students collaborate in learning and practing four key skills (summarize, question, clarify, and predict). Teaching and learning is a two way street. You have to be able to interact with the student.

This simply means you have to know your student. Teachers have to know where their students are educationally to get them to move to the next level. Then we have to cater our teaching to meet the needs of the learners. I believe that a teacher must be able to relate to their student. For example, a teacher that had both parents that is wealthy. That teacher shouldn’t expect his/her students to behave as he/she did as a student at that age. You have to realize that there are differences and make accommodations.
A child from a wealthy home and a child from a single parent working class home can’t be taught using the same method. The backgrounds are too different. References Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and Language. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. McLeod, S. A. (2007). Vygotsky – Social Development Theory. Retrieved from http://www. simplypsychology. org/vygotsky. html http://www. learning-theories. com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory. html