Cognitive Learning Theories

Dr Mesake. R. Dakuidreketi 2009

Lecture Outline:
 Vygotsky’s theory of learning
 Learning and development: Implications of
Vygotsky’s Theory for Teachers
 Strengths & Limitations of Vygotsky’s
Theory
 Tutorial questions
 What are Vygotsky’s three main theoretical
assumptions?
 What is considered as being important when
discussing the ZPD?
 How does Vygotsky explain the role of social
interaction in children’s development ?
 How are Vygotsky’s concepts of ZPD, scaffolding,
and the role of language useful in teaching and
learning?
 How does Vygotsky’s theory fit in with your
understanding of learning in the South Pacific?
 Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural Theory of Development

• Like Piaget, Vygotsky also recognised that children’s

thinking is different to adults
• He noticed that children begin learning from:
– people around them
– Their social world
• He believed that:
– our social world – source of all our concepts, ideas, facts, skills and
attitude
– All personal psychological processes begin as social processes
shared among people.
• Example: Language, what we find funny or sad, what we worry about & how
we describe or classify objects.
• Language- not just how we talk but ways of seeing the world.
• This becomes obvious if we realise there are some things we can say in one
language but not in another.
Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural Theory of Development

 The social sources of individual thinking:

The dual processes of cognitive development:
 Cultural tools and cognitive development:
Tools are selective and from a particular culture
 The role of semiotic signs and private speech:
Verbal discourse and signs use to share and negotiate
meaning
 Vygotsky’s Theoretical Ideas

• Three major components that influence our

cognitive development:
1. The development of cognitive skills
2. The origins in our social and culture
3. The mediating role of language and cultural tools
 Vygotsky’s Theoretical Ideas Cont…
1. The development of cognitive skills:
According to him:-
• we must examine a person’s cognitive skills from a
developmental perspectives.
– What this means: Everything in life cannot be looked from one
time point.
• E.g. how we form our language – we were not born with the language skill
to communicate but we learn it for a period of time.
– Skills such as language exists in ‘stages’
Vygotsky’s Theoretical Ideas Cont…
2. The origins in our social and culture
– According to Vygotsky:-
• Everything in life is derived from the environment
• Your ‘intelligence’ or where you are socially in society is
determined by the environment
• Why?
– Vygotsky believes that our cognitive ability depends very much on
the society & culture that we come from at large (not so much on our
genetic makeup, although this helps)
• His assumptions: ‘every function in a child’s cultural
development appears twice:
– First on the social level (between people – interpsychological ) &
later on the individual level (inside the child – intrapsychological
process).
 Vygotsky’s Theoretical Ideas Cont…
• 3. The mediating role of language and cultural tools
Things which support our learning & cognitive development:
– Cultural tools
• (e.g. computers,
• internet,
• symbolic tools: numbers, maps, signs, codes etc
– Language :
• Used by us to express ideas, feelings & negotiate meaning
• Serves to help us regulate our behaviour and thinking
Cultural tools may include: (1) Real tools - cell
phones, computers, Internet, and (2) symbolic tools –
numbers, maps, signs and codes, sign language
 Cultural tools and Development
 Tools provided by culture support thinking
 Higher-order mental processes (e.g., reasoning,
problem solving) are mediated by psychological tools
(language, signs, symbols)
Role of Language and Private Speech
 Language is used as a means for expressing ideas
and asking questions, and to help us link the past
and the future
 Language exists in stages:
1. Social communication (Adult-Child)
2. Social communication (Child-Child)
3. Private speech → Self-talk
4. Inner silent speech
 Implications of Vygotsky’s Theory for Teachers
• Three ways that important ideas and knowledge
in a culture can be passed from one individual to
another:
1. Imitative learning
2. Instructed Learning
3. Zone of Proximal Development
 Implications of Vygotsky’s Theory for Teachers
Cont..
1. Imitative learning: - One person tries to imitate the other
2. Instructed Learning: - Learners internalised the
instructions of the teacher and use this to control their
learning
– Vygotsky thought – through instruction (from adults), children
would develop the skills associated with living successfully in
the culture
3. Zone of Proximal Development: - The difference between
the child’s level of performance when they do not
receive any help and their level of performance when a
more capable person provides help
 Development of Learning
Two basic concepts used to explain development:
1. Zone of proximal development (ZPD)
2. Scaffolding - the flexible support provided by the more
capable person so that the child acquires new skills.
Excellent

Performance with
assistance
Level of
performance
Zone of proximal
development

Unassisted
Poor performance
Implications of Vygotsky’s Theory for Teachers Cont..

 Use of ZPD and scaffolding

 Use of more-skilled peers as teachers
 Consider the cultural context of learning
 Encourage children’s use of private speech
 Vygotskian Framework: Principles of Psychology
and Education

Four basic principles:

1. Children construct knowledge
2. Development cannot be isolated from its social
context
3. Bidirectional relation b/w learning and development
4. Language plays a central role in mental
development
Scaffolding
 Closely linked to ZPD
 Technique involving changing level of support

Conversational dialogue
In general – tasks a child can solve on his or own,
the other by tasks solved under guidance and
assistance
Strengths and Limitations of Vygotsky’s Theory
 Strengths
 Cognitive development is a social process
Historical and Cultural background
 Encouragement of the role of language
Collaborative learning –(where a group of
peers strives to understand and learn things
through their interactions
 Limitations
 Is the width of a child’s ZPD same across all
areas of learning?
Does it vary at different times of day, with
different levels of motivation?
 Is it generally stable?
 Excessive teacher support
 Relevance of Vygotsky’s ideas