Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development

Vygotsky believed children’s thinking is affected by their knowledge of the social community (which is learnt from either technical or psychological cultural tools). 

He also suggested that language is the most important tool for gaining this social knowledge; the child can be taught this from other people via language.

He defined intelligence as “the capacity to learn from instruction”, which emphasizes the fact there is a requirement for a more knowledgeable other person or ‘teacher’. 

He referred to them as just that: the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO). MKO’s can be parents, adults, teachers, coaches, experts/professionals – but also things you might not first expect, such as children, friends and computers.

He described something known as the zone of proximal development (ZPD), which is a key feature of his theory. There are two levels of attainment for the ZPD:  Level 1 – the ‘present level of development’. This describes what the child is capable of doing without any help from others.  Level 2 – the ‘potential level of development’. This means what the child could potentially be capable of with help from other people or ‘teachers’. The gap between level 1 and 2 (the present and potential development) is what Vygotsky described as this zone of proximal development. He believed that through help from other, more knowledgeable people, the child can potentially gain knowledge already held by them. However, the knowledge must be appropriate for the child’s level of comprehension. Anything that is too complicated for the child to learn that isn’t in their ZPD cannot be learnt at all until there is a shift in the ZPD. 

When a child does attain their potential, this shift occurs and the child can continue learning more complex, higher level material.

Another important feature of this theory is scaffolding. 

When an adult provides support for a child, they will adjust the amount of help they give depending on their progress. For example, a child learning to walk might at first have both their hands held and pulled upwards. As they learn to support their own weight, the mother might hold both their hands loosely. Then she might just hold one hand, then eventually nothing. This progression of different levels of help is scaffolding. It draws parallels from real scaffolding for buildings; it is used as a support for construction of new material (the skill/information to be learnt) and then removed once the building is complete (the skill/information has been learnt).