Social Constructivism

Vygtosky.

Cognition develops in a social context

Social interaction plays a fundemental role in cognitive development

Vygtosky emphasises the role of language in cognitive development where he considers language to develop from conversation.

Zone of Proximal Development:

ZPD is the gap between what children do alone and what they can achieve with instruction

By providing assistance it will give the child a boost that they need to achieve the task

Originally Bruner's theory, but the notion of scaffolding is used for Vygotsky work.

Scaffolding will help define ZPD

Matching your assistance to the learners needs

Learning first occurs at social level.

With proffessional help learners can be supported which they need to move forward

With assisting you can encourage students to do more on their own

Social learning precedes development.

• Teachers play an active role
• Classroom should provide variety of learning materials and resources
• Classom culture provides cognitive tools (language, social context)