Ch 3 Sociocultural Perspective

Legitimate peripheral participation

from sociocultural theory, the idea that children acquire mature, culturally appropriate behaviors simply by observation of skilled members of their community.

Cooperative (collaborative) learning

Exercises in which students are encouraged to assist each other so that the less competent members of the team are likely to benefit from the instruction they receive from their more skillful peers, who also benefit by playing the role of teacher.

Tools of intellectual adaptation

Vygotsky's term for methods of thinking and problem-solving strategies that children internalize from their interactions with more competent members of society.

Sociocultural perspective

a perspective of cognitive development that emphasizes that development is guided by adults interacting with children, with the cultural context determining to a large extent how, where, and when these interactions take place.

Guided participation

adult-child interactions, not only during explicit instruction but also during the more routine activities and communication of everyday life; the process and system of involvement of individuals with others as they communicate and engage in shared activities.

Scaffolding

an expert, when instructing a novice, responding contingently to the novice's responses in a learning situation, so that the novice gradually increases his or her understanding of a problem.

Sociohistorical development

changes that have occurred in one's culture and the values, norms, and technologies such a history has generated.

Ontogenetic development

development of the individual over his or her lifetime.

Phylogenetic development

development over evolutionary time.

Microgenetic development

in Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, changes that occur over relatively brief periods of time, in seconds, minutes, or days, as opposed to larger-scale changes, as conventionally studied in ontogenetic development.

Zone of Proximal Development

in Vygotsky's theory, the difference between a child's actual level of ability and the level of ability that he or she can achieve when working under the guidance of an instructor.

General Genetic Law of Cultural Development

the idea that cognition occurs on two planes, first the social, between individuals, and later the psychological, as it is internalized by the child.