THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY A theory created by Lev Vygotsky

2 IS THIS BOOK RIGHT FOR ME? Not quite sure if this ebook is right for you? See the below description to determine if your interest level matches the content you are about to read. INTRODUCTORY The purpose of this ebook is to elaborate on the theory by covering the definations, stating a critical examination of how this theory impacts teaching, learning, and learning design,examples of how it is used in teaching and lastly, a discussion of the related theories. BY THE END OF READING THIS BOOK you should be able to Describe the three themes in detail Compare Vygotsky s idea of the theory to Piaget s Generate an activity (eg; quiz/reflection) that integrates this theory to education You can also check out my electure on this theory at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7svo6ryeom

3 AN INRODUCTION TO THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY Edited by Parvin Dhot Parvin Dhot is a 2nd year Health information science student in the University of Victoria, Canada. She was born and bred in the sunny state of Singapore and moved to Canada about four years ago, in 2012. Her interests include café hopping, health improvement strategies and psychology. Parvindhot@uvic.ca

4 CONTENTS Who is Lev Vygotsky / 5 Definations and Themes / 7 How does this theory impact teaching / 14 How exactly is this used in teaching (examples!) / 16 Related theories / 20 Conclusion & additional resources / 22

5 What children can do with the assistance of others might be in some sense even more indicative of their mental development than what they can do alone. - Lev vygotsky Lev vygotsky was a russian psychologist who created the Social Developmental theory. He was born in 1896 and his father was a banker. In 1913, Vygotsky attended the Moscow State university, studying law. His interest included arts and he aspired to be a literary critic. He died at and early age of 37 from tuberculosis and due to his early death, most of his theories were left undeveloped. However, his work has been the foundation of much research in the field of developmental psychology (Newman, 1946).

CHAPTER 1 WHAT IS THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY

7 The theory states that cognitive development is dependant on how one socializes. In other words, cognitive development is dependant of social development.yes, we can learn by ourselves. However, we learn better through interactions with others. There are three major themes. SOCIAL INTERACTION 1 THE MORE KNOWLEDGE -ABLE OTHER 2 3 ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOP -MENT

8 SOCIAL INTERACTION 1 Vygotsky believed that children are constantly curious and actively involved in their own learning and development of new things. Through this category, he emphasized on the notion that child development is the direct result of interactions between children and their social environment. These contributions involve people: teachers, parents, peers, brothers and sisters. (Newman, 1946)

9 Vygotsky believed that the social interactions children engage in would aid them to 1. Discover 2. Create meaning from the things that they discover.! Moreover, the majority of important learning a child could experience would be through the social interactions they had with a skilled tutor that is often a parent or teacher. According to Vygotsky, the child will pay close attention the behaviors of the tutor while following the verbal instructions the tutor provides. Then, the child will follow what they observe in their tutor. It is important that this role (the tutor) is fulfilled by someone from which the child can learn; a more knowledgeable.

10 THE MORE KNOWLEDGE -ABLE OTHER 2 This category is self-explanatory. We learn from a more knowledgeable, informed and experienced person. Usually, students learn from their teachers, however, it can be vice-versa. A student may be more knowledgeable on how to win in a video game or about the latest music trends. Additionally, a MKO does not have to be a human. It could be a computer. (Newman, 1946) A theory created by Lev Vygotsky

11 So, what is the role of the more knowledgeable other? Well, a MKO demonstrates ideas, strategies, values and speech patterns so that the child can understand and learn from it. In the early development of this category, the MKO would be a parent or teacher. However, with the digital age speeding up, a MKO could most possibly be technology. Below is a graph I obtained from a blog that did some research to find out if teachers are still needed in the digital age. The X axis is the student s age and the Y axis is their average progression. The blue line indicates students in classrooms with teachers and the red line indicates students studying without a classroom and without a teacher. Website link: http://blog.code.org/post/109309459413/teacher-online Overall, the blue line is higher than the red. This means that students learn much better with a teaching in the classroom, than without.

12 ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOP -MENT 3 This is the area of learning where the more knowledgeable other assists the student in learning. The goal is for the MKO to be less and less involved. The levels of this development ranges from 1. What a student cannot do 2. What a student can do with the help of an MKO 3. What the student can achieve individually. In my opinion, all three of these categories are accurate. Social interaction is vital and so is learning from someone who knows what they are talking about. Moreover, getting help is nothing to be ashamed of. Instead, getting help from someone would allow you to learn and understand better. (Newman, 1946)

CHAPTER 2 HOW DOES THIS THEORY IMPACT TEACHING

14 Scaffolding is an instructional concept that can impact teaching and learning design. It uses a role of teachers and others in supporting the learner s development and providing support structures to get to that next stage or level. Teachers or other MKOs provide scaffolds so that the learner can accomplish certain tasks they would otherwise not be able to accomplish on their own. RECIPROCAL SCAFFOLDING Reciprocal Teaching too could impact teaching, learning and learning design. This educational application is used to improve a students ability to learn from text. According to Vygotsky, the teacher and student must collaborate in learning and practicing four key skills: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. The teacher s role in this process is then reduced overtime.these four skills are a cycle, which means that you can go back to questioning, after concluding the clarifying stage. summarizing predicting Reciprocal Teaching questioning clarifying

CHAPTER 3 HOW EXACTLY IS IT USED IN TEACHING (EXAMPLES!)

16 Scaffolding strategies is a great tool to use in teaching, learning and learning design because this would motivate the learner s interest in the task. You can do this by: 1. Breaking tasks down into manageable steps 2. Provide directions to keep the student focused 3. Reduce factors that cause frustration such as confusion 4. Define the expectations of the activity at the beginning and throughout the lesson. Motivate child s interest in task. Break task down into manageable steps. Provide direction to keep the child focused. Reduce factors that cause frustration. Model and define the expectations of the activity.

17 Reciprocal strategies would also be a great tool to utilize. Some suggestions are to use props to illustrate each of the four skills to be practiced. Remember that the four skills were summarizing, clarifying, questioning and predicting. According to vygotsky, learners work better in pairs and/or in groups. So include group projects in art, design or even on the latest math systems learned are a great way to get learners going. Use props to illustrate each of the four skills Have students read in pairs and practice using the reciprocal strategies

18 technology Lastly, our good old pal is another example of how this theory relates to teaching, learning and learning design. Integrating online activities and projects will encourage cooperation of the learners even when they are not in the classroom! The teachers can use videos and interactive worksheets that portray the different kinds of design layouts, to engage students and assist them through scaffolding. Online activities and projects can encourage cooperation Videos and interactive worksheets keep students engaged.

CHAPTER 4 OTHER RELATED THEORIES

20 Vygotsky believed that learning developed throughout our lives, However, Piaget proposed that there is indeed an end point to development, which according to him, is adolescence. INDIVIDUAL OR SOCIAL? END POINTS? Vygotsky placed more emphasis on social factors. As we covered in the earlier pages, he believed that our social interactions shape our development. Piaget on the other hand, believed that development derives mostly from independent explorations, which ultimately means that children construct knowledge of their own. Vygotsky believed that an adult or peer (who is more capable) provides scaffolds to the child. Piaget s notion was that a child learns from his own mistakes and that scaffolding is not as important. SCAFFOLDS?

21 As for similarities, both of them were constructivists and that social forces set the limit for development (Miller 1943). From a critical analysis point of view, both Vygotsky and Piaget are correct. It just depends on the situation and so on. There might be some exceptions and situations that some do learn better independently and some learn better with MKOs. For instance, i progress better when learning math with an MKO. However, i do prefer learning different languages on my own Therefore, both their notion of The Social Development theory is accurate because it simply depends on the situation.

CONCLUSION AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

22 HUMAN LEARNING PRESUPPOSES A SPECIFICSOCIAL NATURE AND A PROCESS BY WHICH CHILDREN GROW INTRO THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE OF THOSE AROUND THEM - LEV VYGOTSKY The social development theory is a phenomenal theory that allows teachers and people in general to better understand how we as humans, learn. The theory breaks down into three main categories and further focuses on how each category related to learning development. Through these three categories, there are impacts as well as strategies to further improve teaching, learning and learning development. Lev Vygotsky was not the only one to come up with the social development theory. Jean Piaget too, had his own notion of the theory. Though both of believes are of total opposites, when placed in different situations, both their notions of this theory fits.

23 RESOURCES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy-sxm8f0gu&feature=youtu.be I suggested this short 90 second video because it talks about the differences between vygotsky and piaget s theories. http://www.ethicalpolitics.org/wits/vygotsky-development.pdf This pdf is 10 pages long and talks about vygotsky s theory of child development. The link ties in with this lesson as I made many references to children and thus reading this pdf will give you a deeper understanding in relation to child development http://www4.ncsu.edu/~jlnietfe/edp304_notes_files/development%20 Notes.pdf This pdf is 11 pages long. I when through the differences between piaget and vygotsky. This pdf consists of detailed information on piaget s theory. After reading this, you should be able to easily detect the differences between both their theories https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=amuxltfgbcec&oi=f nd&pg=pa1&dq=summary+of+vygotsky+social+development+theory &ots=lux6ln6ysj&sig=jdnv6sb-fjz-wfpeegfd7us2vae#v=onepage&q &f=false (sorry for the exceptionally long link!) The last one is an ebook on vygotsky s life and other theories. Since it is a preview, most of the pages shown are limited. However, his biography is available to read. Hope you have enjoyed this ebook. Feel free to email me at parvindhot@uvic.ca for any questions.