Lev Vygotsky and his contribution to psychology and learning.
Lev Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist born in the year 1896 on November 17. In the western part of the Russian when Russia was an empire. His educational achievement includes his degree at the University of Moscow State University in 1917 (Cherry, 2020). He partook in various subjects and topics in the university and his psychology classes, including sociology, philosophy, and linguistics. The development of his career in psychology as a psychologist started later in life in 1924when he was involved with the institute of psychology in Moscow. He graduated in 1925, submitting his dissertation to indicate the end of his study, and was granted a degree in psychology that year.
His diversion from psychology as a career was due to his health issues after he experienced acute tuberculosis that caused him to miss his graduation. He was then involved in research aimed at helping students with language attention and problems with memory. His involvement with the student through research allowed him to become a writer with more than six published psychology books. His main area of interest was children's development and the arts and language development among the children through his research. His research involvement helped him develop various theories on human development that include the sociocultural theory and the views he had on the zone of proximal development. His health deterioration due to the development in his tuberculosis condition caused his death at the age of 37. His death was contributed by the understandable behavior together with the increased criticism from the communist party.
His contribution to psychology was mainly through the development of the sociocultural theory through his research. His views on sociocultural theory is based on the children's development and the effects of the community social life on In his theory, he considers the learning in children is based on the interaction of the Child and the social environment that involves their peers and parent among other people around the Child. Their contribution to child development is based on the story of the higher-order functioning in children's lives. Among the factors that affect the children's development in this theory, he determines the effects of the people around the Child and the contribution of the culture and beliefs in the community. This is the key to determining how the learning process happens in children.
According to Vygotsky, the Child's social environment plays a vital role in the Child's development socially, cognitively. At the same time, the cultural beliefs in the community are the basis of the learning of the Child. In this, he emphasized the influence of social interaction on the child's cognitive development, where the difference in culture affects mind development differently. His argument was based on the views he had that different cultures have different beliefs that affect the child's cognitive development differently. Additionally, he has involved a description of the proximal development zone where he explained that it is the distance between what the child knows and what they have yet to discover. The acquisition of unknown information requires the peers' contribution in problem-solving. The child's achievement in problem-solving development is based on the peers' guidance and any other capable community members.
The Child's language development and their ability to develop a good thinking process are dependent on the social interaction with the community. As per the learning process, he believes that social interaction is the key in child development, especially in the zone of proximal development where interaction with peers and other knowledgeable community members is essential for the development in learning (Esteban-Guitart, 2018). The ability of children to deal with problem-solving cases depends on the ability of the guidance; thus, the learning process depends on social interaction. Similarly, his main views were based on his belief that children acquire knowledge through their different cultures, thus making the social interaction with the environment. According to their ability in problem-solving, he believed that children could solve problems. Still, the social agent is vital in helping them solve the more challenging issues to their power.
According to Vygotsky, early childhood education requires the involvement of the social aspect to represent the teachers' parents and peers in the learning process. His views on the zone of proximal development early child education depend on the availability of a person who has more knowledge than the learners do as an instructor in the learning process. The availability of the community as a social factor her essence as an educator is helping in observation and when they are practicing the skills acquired. The ability and guidance in problem solving require direction from a person who is more knowledgeable than them in solving problems above their knowledge through the provision of support to the children. In this, the tool in education uses the mind in problem solving, thus helping create solutions to the problems.
In Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, the community and family play a vital role in child development and learning. The interaction created through the community, through the community members' knowledge and family, is the crucial aspect in the children's cognitive development and education. The family provides the support needed for the development of the Child to exhibit their full potential. The parents are the basis for children's development as they form the first member the Child interacts with, thus directly affecting their learning and development. On the other hand, the community offers the child the culture and belief that drives the learning process. Still, the difference in cultural beliefs provides different learning strategies. Some community employees the concept of memorization while others understanding. The difference in the cultural norms thus provides the difference in the learning processes. The community member's key to child development includes teachers as educators and people guiding the learning process as it involves the mind in problem solving.
Vygotsky's knowledge and views on the zone of proximal development have been a key to the educators (teachers) by using it to propagate child development. The teachers, in this case, help is in the provision of guidance to children in development through the understanding of the children's ability. Understanding the children's ability is through what they can achieve using the teacher to guide them to reach high levels on their own. The concept of the sociocultural environment as the key to child development has allowed the teachers to enable the children to play to understand the environment independently, thus broadening their mindset. The interaction of the Child with the environment increases their imagination, therefore key in cognitive development. Most school curricula have included physical education in the timetable to increase child interaction with the environment.
The most crucial factor in child development is the social community that includes parent peers and teachers among other stakeholders in the learning process. Cognitive development is dependent on one's interaction with the social environment and the people around the Child. On the other side, the culture provides one with the rules in the use of language as each community has different language and vocabulary, thus vital in the learning process as they offer the first language.
References.
Cherry, 2020). A Biography of Lev Vygotsky, One of the Most Influential Psychologists. Retrieved from, https://www.verywellmind.com/lev-vygotsky-biography-2795533#vygotskys-early-life
Esteban-Guitart, M. (2018). The biosocial foundation of the early Vygotsky: Educational psychology before the zone of proximal development. History of psychology, 21(4), 384.
Vygotsky, L., & Cole, M. (2018). Lev Vygotsky: learning and social constructivism. Learning Theories for Early Years Practice, 58.
