LEV VYGOTSKY WAS A RUSSIAN PSYCHOLOGIST who lived from 1896 to 1934. He was widely involved in developing the education program of the young Soviet Union and at the time of his death, was entirely unknown outside of the Soviet Union. During his life, he created a completely new and scientific approach to psychology, which did not become published in the West until 1962. Vygotsky’s work later became the foundation for what has become known as the social development theory of learning.

The major theme of Vygotsky's theory is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development. Unlike Piaget's notion that children's development must necessarily precede their learning, Vygotsky argued that social learning precedes development. Vygotsky (1978) states: "Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological)."

Vygotsky's Social Development Theory rests on two main principles: the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The MKO refers to anyone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept. The MKO is normally thought of as being a teacher, coach, or older adult, but the MKO could also be peers, a younger person, or even computers.

The Zone of Proximal Development is the place where a student can perform a task under adult guidance or with peer collaboration that could not be achieved alone. Vygotsky claimed that learning occurred in this zone. To read more about the ZPD, read this article in the EET.

Schools in the United States have been slow to promote environments in which the students play an active role in their own education. Instead of a teacher dictating her meaning to students for future recitation, the social development theory has the teacher working in partnership with her students in order for students to create their own meaning.

The physical classroom, based on Vygotsky's theory, would provide clustered desks or tables and work space for peer instruction, collaboration, and small group instruction. Like the environment, the instructional design of material to be learned would be structured to advance and encourage student interaction and collaboration. Thus, the classroom becomes a community of learning.

Historically, schools have been organized around recitation teaching. The teacher disseminates knowledge to be memorized by the students, who in turn recite the information back to the teacher (Hausfather, 1996). Vygotsky's social development theory challenges this traditional teaching method and studies now show that strategies based on the social development theory are far more effective than other instructional strategies.

Scaffolding, reciprocal teaching, and guided instruction are effective strategies that implement Vygotsky’s theory. Scaffolding is a temporary supportive structure that the teacher creates to assist a student to accomplish a task that they could not complete alone. For more on scaffolding, click here.

Reciprocal teaching is an instructional strategy used to teach reading where students take turns being the teacher for a pair or small group. The teacher’s role may simply be to clarify or ask questions.

Guided instruction involves the teacher and students exploring math problems and then sharing their different problem solving strategies in an open dialogue (Hausfather, 1996).

Social interaction, which is central to the social development theory, has transformed thanks to the integration of computer technology in society. Collaboration and peer instruction was once only possible in shared physical space, but now learning relationships can be created from distances via the internet.

Scaffolding
Related EET Articles
Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development
Bandura's Social Learning Theory
Constructivism
Piaget's Developmental Stages

Hausfather, S. J. (1996). Vygotsky and Schooling: Creating a Social Context for Learning, Action in Teacher Education. 18 (1-10). 
Kevin Mace ，EDTEC Graduate Student ，San Diego State University
Mace, K. (2005). Vygotsky’s social development theory. In B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Technology.