Mediated learning leading development

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Abstract

The importance of Vygotsky's thinking is reflected in how – despite being condemned and censured under Stalin in the CCCP where he worked–he is so often cited in educational work today. Vygotsky was something of a polymath, and appropriately his thinking has influenced a number of key areas of educational work. This chapter will explore some of Vygotsky's most influential ideas, and in particular consider how they can inform the study and practice of education. Vygotsky posited a notion of conceptual development which highlighted the importance of the interaction between spontaneous conceptions and scientific or academic conceptions–the latter reflecting the formalised knowledge adopted within a culture, such as the formal concepts developed in the sciences. This kind of learning is therefore situated in a social context and mediated by cultural tools, such as language. From this perspective, the potential of a learner is best judged in terms of their capability within a supported teaching context (the so-called zone of proximal development), and effective teaching can be seen as a form of scaffolding of learning. Some of Vygotsky's once-radical ideas have over time come to seem obvious to teachers (as his theory of cultural mediation might lead us to expect), but his work continues to drive thinking in areas such as social constructivism, cultural-historical activity theory and learning communities.

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Keywords:

• Language in learning
• Symbols as tools
• The zone of proximal development
• Dialectic
• Social constructivism
• Mediation of learning
• Private speech
• Spontaneous concepts –
• Scientific (academic) concepts
• Melded concepts
• Scaffolding planks
• Scaffolding poles
• Gifted learners
• Educative learning activities
• Differentiation

"Vygotsky saw conceptual development as an interaction between spontaneous and scientific concepts. Spontaneous concepts, with their experiential grounding, allow scientific concepts to be understood as more than just formal definitions – so, in effect, the student can develop a 'feel' for what is meant by technical notions such as momentum or density or combustion or excretion, or indeed (by building up layers of concepts ultimately grounded in spontaneous concepts) what is meant by atomic orbital, electromagnetic induction, or cellular respiration). Scientific concepts provide sophisticated tools for thinking and communicating about spontaneous concepts. So, spontaneous concepts abstracted from perceived regularities in experience can come to be understood in terms of, for example, friction or viscosity or thermoregulation."

Taber, 2020

Contents

• Introduction
• The importance of the social in learning and development
• Social constructivism
• Tools and mediation
• Language in development
• Conceptual development
• The zone of proximal development and assessment
• Scaffolding and pedagogy
• Special needs and gifted pedagogy

The author's manuscript version of the chapter may be obtained here.