Learning to Teach Young Children - Chapter 5_Section 2

Home > Chapter 5 > 2. Do children and adults learn in the same way? How do different theories view the relationship between learning and development? > 2. Extend your understanding

2. Extend your understanding

Table 5.1: Development of higher mental functions (based on Bodrova and Leong 2007)

Lower Mental Functions

Higher Mental Functions

Characteristics:

Inborn, determined by the anatomy and physiology of any sensory system;
Shared with higher animal.
Determined by stimulation from the environment

Characteristics:

Uniquely human, developed in shared social activities;
Deliberate (i.e., used on purpose), mediated (i.e., use of sign and symbols to direct the mental process) and internalized (“grow into the mind”) behaviors.
Determined by artificial/self-generated stimulation
Metacognitive

Sensations
(e.g., discriminating among different colors, textures, etc.)

Reactive attention
(e.g., reacting to loud noise, bright light, etc.)

Associative memory
(e.g., hearing certain sound bring a memory of a place, or image)

Sensorimotor thought
(e.g., problem solving using trial and error)

Mediated perception
(e.g., nuanced discrimination of colors within the spectrum based on culturally assigned meanings—navy blue as different from royal blue)

Focused attention
(e.g., ability to focus on any property of an object, not just the most salient or striking)

Deliberate memory
(e.g., using mnemonic strategies to recall information such as the alphabet song to remember the order of the letters in the alphabet)

Symbolic/ Logical thought
(e.g., problem solving using logic or culturally specific strategies such as using fingers to count or multiply)

Read each of the following scenarios depicting lower order mental functions. Describe what you think you might see when the child moves toward higher order mental functions.

Scenario A: Henry is introduced to melon for the first time. He picks up cubes of the cantaloupe, watermelon, and honeydew melon. He clutches them in his hands and feels the textures and notices they are different colours. He then tastes them in turn and notices they taste different too.

Scenario B: Priya is making a simple inset puzzle, but seems to be distracted by the sound of her brother making car noises and zooming around the room.

Scenario C: Asha’s grandmother often comes for a visit on the weekends. Every time the doorbell rings, Asha has an image of her grandmother in her mind.

Scenario D: Taylor is trying to retrieve a toy that has fallen down into a deep box by stretching and reaching with his hand.

Table 5.2: Everyday/Spontaneous and School/Scientific Concept Development

Types of concepts	Types of concepts	Mode of appropriation	Strengths of the concepts	Weakness of the concepts	Types of learning leading to their development
Everyday concepts	Connected to family/ community everyday cultural practices.	Development begins in the domain of the concrete and empirical. Based on spontaneous experience with objects outside of an integrated system of knowledge.	Situationally meaningful concrete application in the sphere of experience and empirical.	Children’s attention is directed towards a particular object to which the concept refers. Not organized in a relational network. Lack abstraction.	Empirical learning: based on children’s comparison of several different objects or events, picking out their common salient characteristics, and formulating, on this basis, a “general concept” about this class of objects or events.
Scientific Concepts	Connected to children’s activities in settings with systematic symbolic systems that the child learns at school.	Development begins in the domain of conscious awareness and volition. Development grows downwards into the domain of the concrete, into the domain of personal experience.	Organized in an integrated system of knowledge in relation to other concepts about academic disciplines. Higher characteristics of concepts; conscious awareness and volition. Mastery of subject-matter concepts means their application in various logical operations and identify the relationships among them.	It takes time to master new content; new content requires new form of thinking that is not accomplished simply by “verbalization”, that is meaningless acquisition of words that sometimes is mistaken as true understanding.	Theoretical learning: based on students’ acquisition of methods for scientific analysis of objects and events in different subject domains. Each of these methods is aimed at selecting the essential characteristics of objects and events of a certain class and presenting these characteristics in the form of symbolic and graphic models.

Source:
Karpov, Y.,V. (2003), 'Vygotsky’s Doctrine of Scientific Concepts. Its Role in Contemporary Education', in A. Kozulin, B. Gindis and S.M. Miller (eds), Vygotsky’s Educational Theory in Cultural Context, 63-82, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1987), The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky, eds. R. W. Rieber and A. S. Carton, trans. N. Minick, New York and London: Plenum. Original work published 1934.

Thinking of your own experiences or those of children you know, what are some examples of everyday concepts you might have learned at home and in the community? What are examples of concepts that you learned in school or preschool?

Table 5.3: ZPD: Common (Mis)Conceptions

Misconceptions of ZPD	Critique
# 1: The ZPD can be applied to any kind of learning task or any situation in which individuals are developing mastery of a practice or understanding of a topic.	Development and learning are viewed as identical processes. Vygotsky asserted that while there is unity between learning and inner developmental processes, they are different. “In short, zone of proximal development is not concerned with the development of skills of any particular kind, but must be related to development” (Chaiklin 2003: 43)
# 2: The ZPD emphasizes the important role of experts or of competent assistance in guiding the learner toward the goal of independent performance of the task or activity.	The competence per se of the more knowledgeable person is overemphasised in some interpretations and Vygotsky’s original idea about the role of the “meaning of that assistance in relation to the child’s learning and development” (Chaiklin 2003: 43) is overlooked. For Vygotsky, the assistance is meaningful only in relation to maturing functions needed for transition to the next age period.
# 3: ZPD is always enjoyable as the child is reaching his/her potential.	The potential is not a property of the child “but simply an indication of the presence of certain maturing functions, which can be a target for meaningful, interventive action” (Chaiklin 2003: 43).

In sum, ZPD “refers to the maturing functions that are relevant to the next age period and that provide the means to perform in collaborative situations that could not be achieved independently. These functions are not created in interaction; rather interaction provides conditions for identifying their existence and the extent to which they have developed” (Chaiklin 2003: 58).

In Chaiklin’s view, therefore, instead of using the term ZPD, it is more appropriate to use terms such as scaffolding or assisted instruction when referring to teaching/instructional practices aimed at learning a specific subject matter concept or skill.

Source:
Chaiklin, S. (2003), 'The Zone of Proximal Development in Vygotsky’s Analysis of Learning and Instruction', in A. Kozulin, B. Gindis and S.M. Miller (eds) Vygotsky’s Educational Theory in Cultural Context, 39-64, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.