Child Development Essay

Vygotsky proposed that children’s development is affected by their culture and social interaction. He also suggested that children are not born with knowledge but they gain it through their social interactions with peers and adults; he does not rule out the importance of biological processes but proposes an interdependent relationship between biological development alongside social activity and cultural interaction.

When an infant arrives in the world they are helpless tiny humans who depend on adults for every need from love, to feeding them. It is amazing how these tiny babies grow into adults able to make decisions and become self-dependent. There are many theories about how children develop and what roles the environment plays, what people affect their lives and how events can shape their personalities. Some of these children have and easy life and some have a harder time making that journey to adulthood.

His sociocultural theory suggests, “that social interaction leads to continuous step-by-step changes in children's thought and behavior that can vary greatly from culture to culture. (Gallagher, 1999)” Each child’s development depends on the interactions they have with people and what the culture provides them with to form their view of the world. The children will figure out their ways of thinking and behaving by interacting with older, more knowledgeable people. Vygotsky believes that, “social interaction will lead to ongoing changes in a child’s thought and behavior. (Gallagher,

Lev Vygotsky founded the social development theory. He is seen as one of the leading psychologists in education. The social development theory basically says that the potential for cognitive development relies mainly on the zone of proximal development, or what we know as ZPD. The ZPD places emphasis on what social interaction and how important it is for the developing child. This paper will go into more depth of what ZPD is, how it benefits children, and opinions on the theory.

Educators view should focus on the essential principals of social interactions in Early Childhood Education to be a mission and a vision for one to support and promote cognitively improvement in our today’s diverse society. As a result, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (2015) is an authentic program that supports Early Childhood Education as an important aspect to our daily diverse life as it continues to grow in the 21st century (Kostelnik, Soderman, Whiren, and Rupiper, 2015). What this means, we need to encourage social interactions in ECE to promote learning capabilities for children from birth to eight years old in a diversity environment so children can develop and learn to be productive prosocial individuals. Therefore one needs to serve or demand the understanding of how social interactions is essential as soon as ECE because it promotes a wide array of intellectual and emotional standards for an equality opportunity that promotes best practices. One can consider and can support to advocate social interactions in ECE by utilizing the foundation constructivism methods that these important theorist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934), Jean Piaget (1896-1980), Erik Erikson (1902-1994), Mildred B. Parten (1902-1932) and John Gardner (1943-currently practicing) had practiced or continue in their studies of child development (Feeney, Moravick, and Nolte,

Lev Vygotsky was a developmental phycologist born in the small town of Gomel, Belarus in the Russian 1896. He was the second of eight children to be born to a Russian-Jewish, middle class family. He was accepted into Moscow University on a “Jewish Lottery” in 1913, and in 1917 he graduated with a law degree. He then moved back to his hometown and worked with homeless children who had been affected by the civil wars in the area. His formal work in psychology began in 1923, when he established a psychological laboratory. Shortly after he became ill with tuberculosis and was unable to work for several months. This is when he began to research different theories and realized the crisis that was plaguing child development; thus, began Vygotsky’s

Since the beginning of psychoanalytic theory and investigation into the psychology of children, scientists and researchers have wondered how best to assess infants and young children in order to determine the intelligent and potential social and emotional level of the child in question. Lev Vygotsky was one of the first sociologists and psychologists exclusively interested in the study of child development and in the exploration over which education techniques would best serve children. Since the publication of his theories in the middle of the 20th century regarding child development and the importance of interaction, many have experimented with assessing the validity of his arguments regarding young children. Researchers have mostly examined his theory on the Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding wherein the child's base knowledge is used to determine the next step in their education. Two such investigations were conducted by Julia Chandra in 2008 and G.G. Kravsov in 2010, wherein each person performed a psychological experiment which tested the effectiveness of Vygotsky's theories regarding development and his promotion of dynamic assessment.

Under normal circumstances, a child will physically develop without outside assistance. While there can be variations by way of culture, class, and ability, it is difficult to contest that human nature is the driving force behind the bodily changes that take place from birth until adulthood. In contrast, when it comes to determining the ways in which a child thinks and learns, there are numerous theories on what primarily influences cognitive growth and development. One theorist that offered an innovative look into this latter process was Russian born psychologist, Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky theorized that children learn by doing, and their process of development is primarily influenced by the people and the systems that comprise their environment. What made him stand out from other theorists of the time is that instead of centering his ideas in behavior, Vygotsky instead focused on the learning process and the potential for a child to learn. He showed the value pairing learning with a practical application, and that in doing so, it could make for more effective learning on the part of the child. The result of such a theory was that provided families and educators an insight on how they might be able to influence the development experience for a child.

It is widely believed that one’s childhood plays a key role in the development of that individual. The online article, ‘Early Childhood development: The First Five Years’, states “The first five years create the foundation for the child to accomplish key developmental advances in mind and body. … It is during these years that the brain undergoes its most dramatic growth.” With this in mind, it makes logical sense for us to begin this discussion by analysing how childhood development impacts the person we eventually become. Lev Vygotsky, a prominent psychologist of the twentieth century, created a sociocultural theory which argues that development is a lifelong progress which stems from social interaction (Cited in p.205 Sigelman, & Rider, 2011). His theory suggests that children grow and develop as a consequence of their environment and interactions. Work completed by Vygotsky’s colleague, Alexander Luria (1976), required children to name the first thing which sprang to mind when presented with a single word (Cited

Another prominent figure in the history of cognitive development was Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky. As Woolfolk put it, “a major spokesperson for this sociocultural theory (also called sociohistorical) was a Russian psychologist who died almost 80 years ago” (2014). The sociocultural theory can be defined as a theory that, “emphasizes role in development of cooperative dialogues between children and more knowledgeable members of society. Children learn the culture of their community (ways of thinking and behaving) through theses interactions” (Woolfolk, 2014). He believed that all cultural development in a child’s life happens twice. First of which would be at the social level through “co-constructed processes—a social process in which people interact and negotiate (usually verbally) to create an understanding or to solve a problem. The final product is shaped by all participants” (Woolfolk, 2014). then on a personal level, which means the child can control his or her behavior using private speech or their voice in their head. Vygotsky also held the optioning that “cultural tools—the real tools (computers, scales etc.) and symbols systems (numbers, language, graphs) that allow people in a society to communicate, think, solve problems. And create knowledge,” play an

Born on November 17, 1896 in Orsha, Russia, Lev Vygotsky entered into a well-educated. (Ghassemzadeh, Posner, & Rothbart, 2013, p. 293). Having a banker as a father, Vygotsky was given the privilege of private tutors while young. (Jones, 2003). He went on to study human development at Moscow University and Shanyavsky Open University, and later became a psychologist. (Cherry, n.d.). Vygotsky helped to create an approach to how the human mind is developed, and its higher functions. He felt that interaction with people and one’s culture heavily influenced how a person’s behavior and the mind are shaped. Vygotsky’s view focused on the “socialization by parents, peers, and society through

Vygotsky was a researcher and theorist in child development. He proposed a social development theory and according to him (1978: 57) “ Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice, first on the social level and later on the individual level; first, between people ( inter psychological) and then inside the child (intra psychological)”. According to him children do not develop through maturation alone but they develop through participation and involvement with social world and language plays important role for communication. It is developed and improved through social interactions. According to his theory children learn when they interact and communicate with teachers/parents and he referred to this as collaborative dialogue. Instructions are given to the child by parent or teacher; they understand it and regulate their performance. Vygotsky work was based on one of the important principle called Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). It is defined as “The distance between the actual development 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, 1978:86). In co-operative learning exercises, the task given by the teacher which is

Vygotsky (1978) was a famous theorist in the field of cognitive development specified in fundamental of social interaction. He believes that an exploration of social development in an individual is crucial. Vygotsky’s approaches seen in the development of children’s meaning-making processes in social and cultural context (Mahn, 2012). Vygotsky (1978) in McLeod (2012) mentioned that the process in “making meaning” plays an important role in the community. An “everyday concepts” or day-to-day experiences are what Vygotsky believes on (Au, 2007). The impact of this theory through culture, development, learning and education remains in the 21st century (Hedges, 2012). Children’s senses in making and thinking connects through their new learning experiences as well as understanding. These known as working theories where children are believed to find connections with their everyday life experiences and learning process. Hedegaard (2009) mentioned that children learn and grow by being involved in their everyday activities in the community.

There are various elements of Vygotsky’s sociocultural learning theory that are appropriate in the classrooms. His central premise is that the interactions that the child experiences are important in motivating the advancement of his or her thinking skills. The central aspect of the communication is the application of the instructional dialogue in communicating with the child (Gajdamaschko, 2015, p. 48).

Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory focused on the affect of the surroundings, namely the culture, peers, and adults, on the developing child. Vygotsky proposed the “zone of proximal development” (ZPD) to explain the influence of the cultural context.