Lev Vygotsky points out: development can be classified into two levels. One is the real level of development, on which children can solve problems independently; the other is potential level of development, on which children can solve problem under the guidance of adult people or in corporation with peers with higher capability. The biggest difference between the two levels is the "Zone of Proximal Development" (Vygotsky, L.S., 1978).
Much of the Scaffolded Model created by the author is rooted in what Vygotsky (1962) presented in Thought and Language, the work in which he first conceived of studying the relationship between thinking and language, and Mind in Society (Vygotsky 1978), where he articulated the zone of proximal development (ZPD). From these ideas, sociocultural theory emerged (Thomas 2000) in which Vygotsky described how education occurs within the context of culture and society, particularly in the development of higher-order thinking. Through this theory, Vygotsky (1962, 56) proposed the concept that language is more than just a function of communication; it is, in fact, a means of mediating the thinking process...
This evolution is evident in Lev Vygotsky' s theory; his concept of humans must learn then develop is a more modern approach to cognitive development in humans, and heads in a different direction than Piaget' s stages of intellectual development. Vygotsky argues that if you pair a child with a more capable individual, then have the more capable individual demonstrate to the child how to solve a problem the child was incapable of solving before, the child will acquire the new skill if it's within their zone of proximal development (1978, pp. 85 - 86).
The key to human intelligence – the characteristic that makes us different from animals – is the ability to use various types of tools. Vygotsky claimed that, just as humans use material tools (such as knives and levers) to extend our physical abilities, we invented psychological tools to extend our mental abilities. These tools are the symbolic systems we use to communicate and analyse reality. They include signs, symbols, maps, plans, numbers, musical notation, charts, models, pictures and, above all, language.
For 20 years after Vygotsky's death it was forbidden to discuss, disseminate or reprint any of his writings. In Stalinist Russia, suggestions for teaching children - indeed anyone - to think for themselves were not acceptable. Vygotsky's works could be read only in a single central library in Moscow by special permission of the secret police.
After Stalin's death Vygotsky was rediscovered by another generation of psychologists and teachers. When his work was translated in the 1960s, the depth and scope of his educational vision dazzled academics around the world.
Vygotsky described the qualitative changes in mediation as children get older. Well before they reach adolescence their main mediators have become their peers. Although they still do some of the work of developing their thinking for themselves, on their own, more usually they see or hear a fellow pupil showing a completed skill which is just beyond their own competence level. They then immediately make it their own. This is because each child possesses, in addition to the assured competencies which enable immediate solution of problems such as test items, a whole spectrum of skills in the process of partial construction.
In the United States, Vygotsky has had some powerful protagonists. One is J. S. Bruner, who wrote the introduction to Thought and Language. Another is Michael Cole, a well-known cross-cultural psychologist. Both did a great deal to explain Vygotsky's two main ideas, the notion of cultural `tools ' and the `zone of proximal development'. This was quite an achievement, because it is hard to isolate these ideas in Vygotsky's passionate but often rambling writings.
Lev Vygotsky while appearing to agree in principle with much of the theory of Dewey and Piaget, took an inverse stance: he believed that education promoted growth. By setting a learning challenge just beyond the student's developmental stage he hypothesized that it would spur on a student to learn more.
According to Vygotsky, a higher mental function reflects "a uniquely cultural form of adaptation which involve[s] both an overlay on and a reorganization of more basic psychological functions."6 Such cultural reorganization, Vygotsky contended, can only take place through the use of cultural tools as mediators and through the formation of new psychological systems (neoformations). Vygotsky clearly differentiated between the natural and the cultural development of the child, and he also emphasized the inter- and intradependent nature of dynamic reciprocity between the emergence of the new system and the further development of its parts.
Lev Vygotsky is often called the "Mozart of psychology." Similar to the famous composer, Vygotsky applied his genius early in life to many different areas. And like Mozart, Vygotsky died young, at age 37, after a battle with tuberculosis.
Born in 1896 in Belorussia, he began his career as an educator and a psychologist at the time of the 1917 Russian revolution.