Vygotsky : The Father of Children Development Theory

affiedalfayed (57)in #steemiteducation • 7 years ago

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He was born in Orscha, Belarus (formerly Russia) on 17 November 1896 from a middle class family of Jewish descent. His full name is Lev Semonovich Vygotsky. He is one of the most recognizable Russian psychologists in the world for his contribution in the field of child development psychology. Through his research in psychology he has developed his theory called ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) (source).

Although he was born in Orscha, he spent his growing time in Gomel, which is a city 400 miles from Morcow, Russia. Initially before he was interested in psychology, Vygotsky was more interested in studying literature. In fact, at the age of 18, Vygotsky had written a review of Shakespares' Hamlet. Later when he studied psychology, the review was used as a reference for his dissertation in the field of "Psycholgy of Art" (source).

Vygotsky began studying psychology when he was 28 years old. But before he studied psychology, he had entered one of the medical schools at Moscow, and then transferred to law school simultaneously by studying literature at one of the private universities. Although basically he has not studied psychology in formal education at the time, but he has been entrusted to lecture psychology in one of the teacher's schools. Until, he began to pursue deeper psychology by choosing to finish completing his Ph.D dissertation in psychology in 1925 at the Moscow Institute of Psychology (source).

In Russia, Vygotsky wrote during the period 1920-1930. At that time he was not widely known by the world community because his work has not been published because of political pressure at the time. Vygotsky died in 1936 of Tuberculosis. He began to be known in the 1960s when his work began to be translated from Russian into English and published, and then became a reference in the science of psychology and continues to be developed to date.

The Key Idea of Vygotsky Theory

During his lifetime, Vigotsky was a contemporary of Piaget, and he greatly admired Piaget. In some ways, Vigotsky agrees with Piaget's idea that the child's cognitive development occurs gradually and has different characteristics. But on the other hand Vygotsky disagrees with piaget's idea that children explore their own world and shape their own reality. According to Vygotsky, a child's development is strongly influenced by the culture of society where the child grows and develops. The circumstances, environmental support and involvement of children in the adult world will significantly enhance their thinking and learning. Vygotsky's theory of the role of environment and culture on child development is known as sociocultural theory (source).

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Furthermore, Vygotsky's basic ideas are:

Cognitive development occurs in children when they are exposed to new ideas that they are difficult to associate with their basic knowledge.
Interaction with individuals in society will significantly improve cognitive abilities.
In education, the teacher's primary role is as a monitor and mediator of learning.

In addition to being influenced by Piaget's thought, Vygotsky's thought is influenced by Marx. He believes that development in society will have an impact on the way people think and behave in society. Therefore, Vygotsky suggested in educating children should be adapted to the development of the times relevant to the needs of children (source).