Chapter 11

actual developmental level

A child's _______________ is the upper limit of tasks that he or she can perform independently, without help from anyone else.

level of potential development

A child's __________________is the upper limit of tasks that he or she can perform with the assistance of a more competent individual. To get a true sense of children's cognitive development, Vygotsky suggested, we should assess their capabilities both when doing something alone and when doing it with assistance.

language

According to Piaget, _______________ provides verbal labels for many of the concepts and other schemes children have previously developed. It is also the primary means through which children gain knowledge of other people's diverse perspectives on various situations and topics. In Piaget's view, however, much of cognitive development occurs somewhat independently of it. For Vygotsky, it is absolutely critical for learning and cognitive development. Children's thought processes are internalized versions of social interactions that are largely verbal in nature, and conversations with adults help children discover the meanings that their culture ascribes to particular events. Also, through self-talk and inner speech—children begin to guide their own behaviors in ways that others have previously guided them.

self-talk and inner speech

According to Vgotsky, through two language-based phenomena—_____________________—children begin to guide their own behaviors in ways that others have previously guided them.

social

According to Vygotsky, Complex mental processes emerge out of __________activities; as children develop, they gradually internalize the processes they use in these contexts and begin to use them independently

tools

According to Vygotsky, Every culture passes along physical and cognitive ________ that make daily living more effective and efficient. Not only do adults teach children specific ways of interpreting experience, but they also pass along specific ones that can help children tackle the various tasks and problems they're

peers

According to Vygotsky, Not all higher mental functions emerge through children's interactions with adults, however. Some also develop as children interact with _____________. For example, children frequently argue with one another about a variety of matters, including how best to carry out an activity, what games to play, and who did what to whom. According to Vygotsky, childhood arguments help children discover that there are often several points of view about the same situation. Eventually, Vygotsky suggested, children internalize the arguing process and acquire the ability to look at a situation from a variety of angles on their own.

thought and language

According to Vygotsky, They are distinctly separate functions for infants and young toddlers. They become increasingly interdependent in the first few years of life.But sometime around age 2, ___________ become intertwined: Children begin to express their thoughts when they speak, and they begin to think in terms of words.

Play

According to Vygotsky, ____________ allows children to cognitively "stretch" themselves.

informal conversations; formal schooling meanings; mediate

According to Vygotsky, both ______________ and ______________, adults convey to children the ways in which their culture interprets and responds to the world. To promote higher mental functions, adults share with children the ____________ they attach to objects, events, and, more generally, human experience. In the process, they transform, or ________, the situations children encounter. Meanings are conveyed through a variety of mechanisms, including language (spoken words, writing, etc.), mathematical symbols, art, and music.

Ready (Readiness)

According to both theories, any child is likely to be cognitively _________ for some experiences but not ready for others. From Piaget's perspective, children can accommodate to new objects and events only when some assimilation into existing schemes is also possible—that is, there must be some overlap between the "new" and the "old." In addition, Piaget argued that children can't learn from an experience until they've begun the transition into a stage that allows them to deal with and conceptualize the experience appropriately. Vygotsky, too, proposed that there are limits on the tasks children can reasonably handle at any particular time.

Modeling coaching scaffolding articulation reflection increasing complexity and diversity of tasks exploration

Although apprenticeships can differ widely from one context to another, they typically have some or all of the following features:

apprenticeship

An especially intensive form of guided participation is an ____________________, in which a novice works with an expert mentor for a lengthy period to learn how to perform complex tasks within a particular domain.

community of practice

As illustrated by my insurance company example, participation in adult activities sometimes involves joining a _______________________—a group of people who share common interests and goals and regularly interact and coordinate their efforts in pursuit of those interests and goals. Communities of practice tend to adhere to certain standards for action and interaction—standards that are often unwritten understandings rather than explicitly stated rules.

Qualitative changes in the nature of thought

Both Piaget and Vygotsky pointed out that children acquire more complex reasoning processes over time. Piaget described such development in terms of four qualitatively distinct stages, whereas Vygotsky spoke in terms of the internalization of many different mental functions. Regardless of whose perspective we take, we come to the same conclusion: Children think differently at different ages.

Piaget; Vgotsky

Both theorists saw value in interacting with people of all ages. However, ______ emphasized the benefits of interactions with peers (who could be a source of sociocultural conflict), whereas ________ placed greater importance on interactions with adults and other more advanced individuals (who could support children in challenging tasks and help them make appropriate interpretations).

higher mental functions

But human beings are unique in their use of ___________________: deliberate, focused cognitive processes that enhance learning, memory, and logical reasoning. In Vygotsky's view, the potential for acquiring lower mental functions is biologically built in, but society and culture are critical for the development of higher mental functions.

on their own; only with adult's assistance

But in his book Thought and Language he explained that his approach to studying children's cognitive development was radically different from that of Piaget and most other psychologists of his era. Rather than determine the kinds of tasks children could successfully perform ______________ (as Piaget did), he often examined the kinds of tasks children could complete ______________________.

ability levels

Children can accomplish more difficult tasks when they have the assistance of people more advanced and competent than themselves. Vygotsky distinguished between two kinds of ____________________ that characterize children's skills at any particular point in development.

appropriation

Children don't necessarily internalize exactly what they see and hear in a social context. Rather, they often transform ideas, strategies, and other cognitive tools to suit their own needs and purposes—thus, Vygotsky's theory has a constructivist element to it. The term ______________ refers to this process of internalizing but also adapting the ideas and strategies of one's culture for one's own use.

a. the importance of challenge b. qualitative changes in the nature of thought c. importance of social interaction d. readiness

Common themes in both Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories

scaffolding

Contemporary theorists have identified a variety of supportive techniques—collectively known as _______________—that can help students of any age accomplish challenging tasks in instructional contexts.

cognitive apprenticeship

Furthermore, an apprenticeship can show novices how experts typically think about a task or activity—a situation known as a __________________________.

language

In Piaget's view, much of cognitive development occurs somewhat independently of ___________. For Vygotsky, it is absolutely critical for learning and cognitive development. Children's thought processes are internalized versions of social interactions that are largely verbal in nature, and conversations with adults help children discover the meanings that their culture ascribes to particular events.

Importance of social interaction

In Piaget's eyes, people in a child's life can present information and arguments that create disequilibrium and foster greater perspective taking. For instance, when young children disagree with one another, they begin to realize that different people may have different yet equally valid viewpoints, and they gradually shed the egocentrism that characterizes the preoperational stage. In Vygotsky's view, social interactions provide the very foundation for thought processes. Children gradually internalize processes they first use in collaboration with others until, ultimately, they can use these processes on their own. Furthermore, tasks within the ZPD can, by definition, be accomplished only when other people support children's efforts in some way.

cognitive tools

In Vygotsky's view, acquiring tools that are at least partly symbolic or mental in nature—________________— greatly enhances children's thinking abilities.1

lower mental functions; higher mental functions

In Vygotsky's view, the potential for acquiring _________________ is biologically built in, but society and culture are critical for the development of ___________________.

social constructivism

In addition to co-constructing meanings with adults, children often talk among themselves to make sense of phenomena. Not only might peer-group discussions provoke the _____________ Piaget described, but they can also help children collectively make better sense of asituation than any one child could make independently. Here we're talking about a phenomenon consistent with the social constructivism perspective introduced in Chapter 6: People sometimes work together, rather than alone, to create new knowledge.

social constructivism

In addition to co-constructing meanings with adults, children often talk among themselves to make sense of phenomena. Not only might peer-group discussions provoke the sociocognitive conflict that Piaget described, but they can also help children collectively make better sense of a situation than any one child could make independently. Here we're talking about a phenomenon consistent with the ___________________ perspective introduced in Chapter 6: People sometimes work together, rather than alone, to create new knowledge.

contextual theories

In recent decades psychologists have become increasingly aware that people's learning and development are inextricably dependent on and bound to various physical, social, and cultural contexts. The theories that psychologists have developed differ considerably in the contexts on which they focus, but in general we can think of them as ____________________________________.

peers; adults

Piaget emphasized the benefits of interactions with __________ (who could be a source of sociocultural conflict), whereas Vygotsky placed greater importance on interactions with ___________ and other more advanced individuals (who could support children in challenging tasks and help them make appropriate interpretations).

stretch

Play allows children to cognitively ______________ themselves.In their restaurant play, the two boys took on several adult roles (restaurant manager, waiter, cook) and practiced a variety of adultlike behaviors. In real life such a scenario would be virtually impossible: Very few 5-year-olds have the cooking, reading, writing, mathematical, or organizational skills necessary to run a restaurant. Yet the element of make-believe brought these tasks within the boys' reach.

scaffolding

Recall Vygotsky's suggestion that children are most likely to benefit from tasks and activities they can successfully accomplish only with the assistance and support of more competent individuals—that is, tasks within their zone of proximal development. Contemporary theorists have identified a variety of supportive techniques—collectively known as ___________—that can help students of any age accomplish challenging tasks in instructional contexts. One effective technique is to ask questions that get students thinking in appropriate ways about a task, as illustrated in the following dialogue

inner speech

Self-talk eventually evolves into __________, in which children talk to themselves mentally rather than aloud. That is, they continue to direct themselves verbally through tasks and activities, but others can no longer see and hear them do it. Here we're essentially talking about self-regulation

lower mental functions

Some cognitive processes are seen in a variety of species; others are unique to human beings. Vygotsky distinguished between two kinds of processes, or functions. Many species exhibit ____________________: certain basic ways of learning and responding to the environment—for instance, discovering what foods to eat and how best to get from one location to another.

mediated learning experience

Some contemporary theorists have elaborated on Vygotsky's proposal that adults help children attach meaning to the objects and events around them. Oftentimes an adult will help a child make sense of the world through a discussion of a phenomenon or event that the two of them are simultaneously experiencing.Such an interaction, sometimes called a _________________ encourages the child to think about the phenomenon or event in particular ways— for instance, to attach labels to it, recognize principles that underlie it, and draw certain conclusions from it.

internalization

The process through which social activities evolve into internal mental activities is called ________________. The progression from self-talk to inner speech just described illustrates this process: Over time, children gradually internalize adults' directions so that they're eventually giving themselves directions.

internalization; internalize

The process through which social activities evolve into internal mental activities is called _____________. The progression from self-talk to inner speech just described illustrates this process: Over time, children gradually __________ adults' directions so that they're eventually giving themselves directions.

zone of proximal development (ZPD)

The range of tasks that children cannot yet perform independently but can perform with the help and guidance of others is, in Vygotsky's terminology, the ____________________ . A child's ZPD includes learning and problem-solving abilities that are just beginning to emerge and develop— abilities that are in an immature, "embryonic" form.

Guided participation

Virtually all cultures allow children—and in fact usually require them—to be involved in adult activities to some degree. Children's early experiences are often at the fringe of an activity, and their involvement is mediated, scaffolded, and supervised through opportunities that some theorists call ________________________.

social interactions

Vygotsky proposed that higher mental functions have their roots in ___________________. As children discuss objects, events, tasks, and problems with adults and other knowledgeable individuals—often within the context of everyday cultural activities—they gradually incorporate into their own thinking the ways in which the people around them talk about and interpret the world, and they begin to use the words, concepts, symbols, and strategies—in essence, the cognitive tools—that are commonplace in their culture. The process through which social

signs

Vygotsky sometimes used the term ________ in his discussion of words, numbers, and other symbols. In general, these have little or no resemblance to the objects, events, or ideas they represent. (Why is a dog called a dog rather than, say, a snuffleupagus?) In Vygotsky's theory, these provide an important means of mediating children's experiences and thereby facilitating effective thought processes.

sociocultural theory

Vygotsky's theory—which has come to be known as ______________________—and at current perspectives that have built on Vygotsky's work. As we do so, we'll find that learners' immediate environmental circumstances and supports can significantly enhance their thinking and learning.

challenge

We see the importance of ______________ most clearly in Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development: Children benefit most from tasks they can perform only with the assistance of more competent individuals. Yet this—albeit of a somewhat different sort—also lies at the heart of Piaget's theory: Children develop more sophisticated knowledge and thought processes only when they encounter phenomena they can't adequately understand using their existing schemes—in other words, phenomena that create disequilibrium.

zone of proximal development; disequilibrium.

We see the importance of challenge most clearly in Vygotsky's concept of the ______________________ Children benefit most from tasks they can perform only with the assistance of more competent individuals. Yet challenge—albeit of a somewhat different sort—also lies at the heart of Piaget's theory: Children develop more sophisticated knowledge and thought processes only when they encounter phenomena they can't adequately understand using their existing schemes—in other words, phenomena that create ____________________

self-talk

When thought and language merge, young children often talk to themselves; in doing so, they may appear to be speaking in the "egocentric" manner Piaget described. From Vygotsky's perspective, such _________ (also known as private speech) plays an important role in cognitive development. By talking to themselves, children learn to guide and direct their own behaviors through difficult tasks and complex maneuvers in much the same way that adults have previously guided them.

disequilibrium

Yet challenge—albeit of a somewhat different sort—also lies at the heart of Piaget's theory: Children develop more sophisticated knowledge and thought processes only when they encounter phenomena they can't adequately understand using their existing schemes—in other words, phenomena that create ____________________

Piaget; Vgotsky's

______ really didn't address the role that culture plays in development, whereas in __________ view, culture is of paramount importance in determining the specific thinking skills children acquire. Once again, Vygotsky appears to have been more on target.

Piaget; Vgotsky

__________ maintained that children's independent, self-motivated explorations of the physical world form the basis for many developing schemes, and children often construct these schemes with little or no guidance from others. In contrast, ______________ argued for activities that are facilitated and interpreted by more competent individuals. The distinction, then, is one of self-exploration versus guided exploration and instruction.