Activity 4: Vygotsky's contributions

Vygotzky’s theory is one of the foundations of constructivism.  He asserted that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development.  In contrast to Piaget, Vygotsky felt social learning precedes development.  Vygotsky’s theory emphasized community, and the important role it played in the process of meaning making and knowledge construction. 

Vygotsky defined the “Zone of Proximal Development” (ZPD) as the distance between a student’s ability to perform a task under supervision or with collaboration and the student’s ability to solve the same problem independently.  The ZPD is on a continuum between what is known and unknown.  This is unlike Piaget’s developmental description where it is strictly based on chronological age.

Vygotsky recognized dialogue as a key influence in developing our understanding of the social foundations of learning and thinking.  Specifically, he believed the deployment of socially transmitted language contributes to student understanding of the concepts presented (Renshaw, 2004). I am in the beginning stages of planning for my dissertation and my tentative proposal of study is influenced by Vygotsky’s theory.  To summarize, I want to examine the association between the features of the SMARTboard™ interactive whiteboard an display of worked examples.  I also want to explore the dialogic interaction in an IWB classroom that occurs during the presentation of worked examples.  Specifically, I want to find out how the SMARTboard™is used to direct learner attention to the problem state and solution procedures.  In addition,  I want to know how it is used to support dialogic interactivity between the teacher and student during the presentation of worked examples.

At this point in the game of my doctoral pursuit, my research will be based on activity theory.  Activity theory presumes that learning and behavior can be controlled by mediating artifacts.  This theory also has its roots in Vygotsky and his studies of cultural-historical psychology.  Activity theory relates the incident of learning to a facilitating tool.  The tool of my study will be the interactive whiteboard.  The goal of my study will be too see how effective this tool is during a series of instructional events. 

Van der Linden, J. & Renshaw, P. D. (2004).  Dialogic Learning: Shifting Perspectives to Learning Instruction, and Teaching.  Dialogic Learning Teaching and Instructions:  Theoretical Roots and Analytical Frameworks.  Kluwer Academic Publishers:  Dordrecht, Boston, London. 

Nardi, B. A. (1997).  Context and Consciousness.  Massachusetts Institute of Technology