Vygotsky's theories of learning

Running Head : Vygotsky 's Learning Theories

Vygotsky 's Theories of Learning

Name

Course

College

Instructor

Date

Vygotsky 's Theories of Learning

Born in 1896 , Lev Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist who believed that cultural learning is developed through a continuing process of social relationships between children and parents , teachers and other members of the society . Based on this premise , Vygotsky developed sociocultural theory to highlight the function of culture as the structure through which children 's understanding of the world develops . He further put forward perspectives

of zone of proximal development (ZPD ) and scaffolding to explain better his first theory (Coon , 2009 ,

.116 . As such , this essay aims to discuss these three theories and the overlap that exists between ZPD and scaffolding

Discussion

Vygotsky 's major learning theory is sociocultural perspective , which is based on the premise that children actively develop their knowledge through society (Coon , 2009 ,

.116 . The psychologist believed that children learn through a gradual process of social relationships between them and teachers , parents and other mature members of the society . He argued that children are born as plain slates and thus , they must learn skills , values and behaviors valued by the given society so as to meet cultural demands . Vygotsky used ZPD perspective to explain how this social learning occurs

He used ZPD to explain group of skills that children can currently do and those they could do if they received proper instruction and guidance from individuals with greater experience such as teachers and parents...