Zone of proximal development
Encyclopedia
“The zone of proximal development defines functions that have not matured yet, but are in a process of maturing. The zone of proximal development (зона ближайшего развития), often abbreviated ZPD, is the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help. It is a concept developed by Soviet psychologist and social constructivist
Lev Vygotsky
(1896 – 1934). Discovering and measuring the “zone” was at first described as a simple procedure: independent work on a learning task followed by work with an adult on learning tasks of the same or greater difficulty.
Vygotsky stated that a child follows an adult's example and gradually develops the ability to do certain tasks without help. Vygotsky's often-quoted definition of zone of proximal development presents it as
Vygotsky and other educational professionals believed education's role was to give children experiences that were within their zones of proximal development, thereby encouraging and advancing their individual learning.
“The zone of proximal development defines functions that have not matured yet, but are in a process of maturing, that will mature tomorrow, that are currently in an embryonic state; these functions could be called the buds of development, the flowers of development,rather than the fruits of development, that is, what is only just maturing”
The concept of the ZPD is widely used in world to study children's mental development as it relates to education. The ZPD concept is seen as a scaffolding
, a structure of “support points” for performing an action. Although Vygotsky himself never mentioned the term; instead, scaffolding was developed by other sociocultural theorists applying Vygotsky's ZPD to educational contexts. Scaffolding is a process through which a teacher or more competent peer helps the student in his or her ZPD as necessary, and tapers off this aid as it becomes unnecessary, much as a scaffold is removed from a building during construction. "Scaffolding [is] the way the adult guides the child's learning via focused questions and positive interactions." This concept has been further developed by Ann Brown
, among others. Several instructional programs were developed on this interpretation of the ZPD, including reciprocal teaching
and dynamic assessment
.
While the ideas of Vygotsky's ZPD originally were used strictly for one's ability to solve problems, Tharp and Gallimore point out that it can be expanded to examining other domains of competence and skills. These specialized zones of development include cultural zones, individual zones, and skill-oriented zones. Early-childhood-development researchers commonly believe that young children learn their native language and motor skills generally by being placed in the zone of proximal development.
Through their work with collaborative groups of adults, Tinsley and Lebak (2009) identified the "Zone of Reflective Capacity". This zone shares the theoretical attributes of the ZPD, but is a more specifically defined construct helpful in describing and understanding the way in which an adult's capacity for reflection can expand when he or she collaborates over an extended period with other adults who have similar goals. Tinsley and Lebak found that, as adults shared their feedback, analysis, and evaluation of one another's work during collaboration, their potential for critical reflection expanded. The zone of reflective capacity expanded as trust and mutual understanding among the peers grew.
The zone of reflective capacity is constructed through the interaction between participants engaged in a common activity and expands when it is mediated by positive interactions with other participants, exactly along the same lines as the ZPD, as Wells (1999) described. It is possible to measure the learner’s ZPD as an individual trait showing a certain stability across instructional settings. The second perspective draws on work on interactive formative assessment integrated in classroom instruction. In this approach, assessment intervenes in the ZPD created by a learner’s on-going interactions with a given instructional setting. (Allal, Ducrey 2000)
of development.
To date, most of the available empirical studies investigating the zone of proximal development compared individual with collaborative planning strategies during problem-solving tasks (e.g., Brown, Ellery, & Campione, 1998; Rogoff, Malkin, & Gilbride, 1984). For example, with respect to planning imaginary errands, 9-year-old children showed more sophisticated planning strategies in posttests after having collaborated with adults compared with after having collaborated with age-peers (Radziszewska & Rogoff, 1991). Also, 5-year-olds evinced more efficient imaginary route planning when working together with their mothers than when working with age peers (Gauvain & Rogoff, 1989). However, empirical evidence for a zone of proximal development in other domains of functioning and in more basic sensorimotor skills is lacking.
The child is able to copy a series of actions which surpass his or her own capacities, but only within limits. By means of copying, the child is able to perform much better when together with and guided by adults than when left alone, and can do so with understanding and independently. The difference between the level of solved tasks that can be performed with adult guidance and help and the level of independently solved tasks is the zone of proximal development.
Constructivism (learning theory)
Constructivism is a theory of knowledge that argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from an interaction between their experiences and their ideas. During infancy, it was an interaction between human experiences and their reflexes or behavior-patterns. Piaget called these systems of...
Lev Vygotsky
Lev Vygotsky
Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was a Soviet psychologist, the founder of cultural-historical psychology, and the leader of the Vygotsky Circle.-Biography:...
(1896 – 1934). Discovering and measuring the “zone” was at first described as a simple procedure: independent work on a learning task followed by work with an adult on learning tasks of the same or greater difficulty.
Vygotsky stated that a child follows an adult's example and gradually develops the ability to do certain tasks without help. Vygotsky's often-quoted definition of zone of proximal development presents it as
the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers
Vygotsky and other educational professionals believed education's role was to give children experiences that were within their zones of proximal development, thereby encouraging and advancing their individual learning.
“The zone of proximal development defines functions that have not matured yet, but are in a process of maturing, that will mature tomorrow, that are currently in an embryonic state; these functions could be called the buds of development, the flowers of development,rather than the fruits of development, that is, what is only just maturing”
Origins
Originally developed by Lev Semenovich Vygotsky, a social cognitive theorist and psychologist. Due to tragic historical circumstances—the untimely death of Lev Semenovich Vygotsky—interrupted his thinking about the zone of proximal development (ZPD). The concept of the zone of proximal development was originally developed by Vygotsky to argue against the use of academic, knowledge-based tests as a means to gauge students' intelligence. He wanted to understand how children's functions, such as attention, memory, and perception to name, are developed and are unique to the learner. Vygotsky argued that, rather than examining what a student knows to determine intelligence, it is better to examine his or her ability to solve problems independently and his or her ability to solve problems with an adult's help.Development
The concept of ZPD has been expanded, modified, and changed into new concepts since Vygotsky's original conception.The concept of the ZPD is widely used in world to study children's mental development as it relates to education. The ZPD concept is seen as a scaffolding
Instructional scaffolding
Instructional scaffolding is the provision of sufficient support to promote learning when concepts and skills are being first introduced to students...
, a structure of “support points” for performing an action. Although Vygotsky himself never mentioned the term; instead, scaffolding was developed by other sociocultural theorists applying Vygotsky's ZPD to educational contexts. Scaffolding is a process through which a teacher or more competent peer helps the student in his or her ZPD as necessary, and tapers off this aid as it becomes unnecessary, much as a scaffold is removed from a building during construction. "Scaffolding [is] the way the adult guides the child's learning via focused questions and positive interactions." This concept has been further developed by Ann Brown
Ann Brown
Ann Leslie Brown was an educational psychologist who developed methods for teaching children to be better learners. Her interest in the human memory brought Brown to focus on active memory strategies that would help enhance human memory and developmental differences in memory tasks...
, among others. Several instructional programs were developed on this interpretation of the ZPD, including reciprocal teaching
Reciprocal teaching
Reciprocal teaching is an instructional activity in the form of a dialogue between teachers and students regarding segments of text. Reciprocal teaching is an excellent reading technique which aids the teaching process...
and dynamic assessment
Dynamic assessment
Dynamic assessment is a kind of interactive assessment used most in education. Dynamic assessment is a product of the research conducted by developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky.-Theory:...
.
While the ideas of Vygotsky's ZPD originally were used strictly for one's ability to solve problems, Tharp and Gallimore point out that it can be expanded to examining other domains of competence and skills. These specialized zones of development include cultural zones, individual zones, and skill-oriented zones. Early-childhood-development researchers commonly believe that young children learn their native language and motor skills generally by being placed in the zone of proximal development.
Through their work with collaborative groups of adults, Tinsley and Lebak (2009) identified the "Zone of Reflective Capacity". This zone shares the theoretical attributes of the ZPD, but is a more specifically defined construct helpful in describing and understanding the way in which an adult's capacity for reflection can expand when he or she collaborates over an extended period with other adults who have similar goals. Tinsley and Lebak found that, as adults shared their feedback, analysis, and evaluation of one another's work during collaboration, their potential for critical reflection expanded. The zone of reflective capacity expanded as trust and mutual understanding among the peers grew.
The zone of reflective capacity is constructed through the interaction between participants engaged in a common activity and expands when it is mediated by positive interactions with other participants, exactly along the same lines as the ZPD, as Wells (1999) described. It is possible to measure the learner’s ZPD as an individual trait showing a certain stability across instructional settings. The second perspective draws on work on interactive formative assessment integrated in classroom instruction. In this approach, assessment intervenes in the ZPD created by a learner’s on-going interactions with a given instructional setting. (Allal, Ducrey 2000)
The Diagnostic Capabilities and Limitations of Indirect Collaboration
Any function within the zone of proximal development matures within a particular internal context that includes not only the function’s actual level but also how susceptible the child is to types of help, the sequence in which these types of help are offered, the flexibility or rigidity of previously formed stereotypes, how willing the child is to collaborate, and other factors. This context can impact the diagnosis of a function’s potential levelof development.
Understanding ZPD
Internalization is the internal reconstruction of an external operation. The process of moving from the inter-to the itramental domain takes place through internalization, or, as some translate the Russian original, interiorizaton. According to Kozulin (1990, p.116), “the essential element in the formation of higher mental functions is the process of internalization.”Exploring the Zone of Proximal Development in Interpersonal Action Synchronization
One major hypothesis is based on the Vygotskian notion of the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1933; cf. van der Veer & Valsiner, 1991). The zone of proximal development is generally defined as the distance between actual development, examined through independently solved tasks, and potential development, examined through tasks solved under the assistance of, or in cooperation with, older or more experienced partners (e.g., van der Veer & Valsiner, 1991). According to Vygotsky (1933), what children can do with the assistance of others is even more indicative of their developmental status than what they can do alone (e.g., Brown, Metz, & Campione, 1996).To date, most of the available empirical studies investigating the zone of proximal development compared individual with collaborative planning strategies during problem-solving tasks (e.g., Brown, Ellery, & Campione, 1998; Rogoff, Malkin, & Gilbride, 1984). For example, with respect to planning imaginary errands, 9-year-old children showed more sophisticated planning strategies in posttests after having collaborated with adults compared with after having collaborated with age-peers (Radziszewska & Rogoff, 1991). Also, 5-year-olds evinced more efficient imaginary route planning when working together with their mothers than when working with age peers (Gauvain & Rogoff, 1989). However, empirical evidence for a zone of proximal development in other domains of functioning and in more basic sensorimotor skills is lacking.
The Theoretical Basis
Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development connects a general psychological perspective on child development with a pedagogical perspective on instruction. The underlying assumption behind the concept is that psychological development and instruction are socially embedded; to understand them one must analyze the surrounding society and its social relations. Vygotsky explained the zone of proximal development as follows:The child is able to copy a series of actions which surpass his or her own capacities, but only within limits. By means of copying, the child is able to perform much better when together with and guided by adults than when left alone, and can do so with understanding and independently. The difference between the level of solved tasks that can be performed with adult guidance and help and the level of independently solved tasks is the zone of proximal development.
See also
- EducationEducationEducation in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
- Lev VygotskyLev VygotskyLev Semyonovich Vygotsky was a Soviet psychologist, the founder of cultural-historical psychology, and the leader of the Vygotsky Circle.-Biography:...
- Constructivism (learning theory)Constructivism (learning theory)Constructivism is a theory of knowledge that argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from an interaction between their experiences and their ideas. During infancy, it was an interaction between human experiences and their reflexes or behavior-patterns. Piaget called these systems of...
- Social constructivism (learning theory)