Vygotsky’s ZPD

“How Learning Occurs” according to constructivist learning theorist Vygotsky, who described the  “zone of proximal development (ZPD)”***

Zone of Proximal Development, an idea developed by Vygotsky over one hundred years ago, falls within a socio-cultural context and seeks to define the process through which students effectively learn in cooperation with a teacher.  A student’s Zone of Proximal Development, or ZPD, is defined as the student’s range of ability with and without assistance from a teacher or a more capable peer. On one end of the range is the student’s ability level without assistance. On the other end of the range is the student’s ability level with assistance.

A classroom that makes the best use of all of its students’ ZPDs should follow the following guidelines:

1.  The teacher should act as a scaffold, providing the minimum support necessary for a student to succeed. The idea is to assist without denying the student’s need to build his or her own foundation. The challenge for the teacher, then, is to find the optimal balance between supporting the student and pushing the student to act independently. To effectively scaffold the student, the teacher should stay one step ahead of the student, always challenging him or her to reach beyond his or her current ability level. However, if instruction falls outside of the zone (above or below a student’s ZPD), no growth will occur.

2.  To effectively scaffold students within their ZPDs, a teacher should also have an awareness of the different roles students and teachers assume throughout the collaborative process. The roles roughly resemble the following:
-teacher modeling behavior for the student
-student imitating the teacher’s behavior
-teacher fading out instruction
-student practicing reciprocal teaching (scaffolding others) until the skill is mastered by all students in the classroom.  (The classroom should be set up in such a way to foster group work and student collaboration in order to allow students to take on the role of instructor with their peers as they master the skills at hand.)

Ann’s Comment:  To locate and mine the potential ZPDs of 30 students requires lots of time.   My long complaint on this blog is that the time to teach and the time to learn is insufficient under the present circumstances.  Assessments and other accountability protocols have taken precedence over opportunities for students to learn.

Resources:
Bruning, R.H., Schraw, G. J., Ronning, R.R. (1995). Cognitive Psychology and Instruction. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Merrill and Byrnes, J.P. (1996). Cognitive Development and Learning in Instructional Contexts. Boston: Allyn and Bacon
“Zone of Proximal Development.” The Knowledge Web. March 20, 2000. http://128.104.40.36:8080/step/kw/TheortticalPerspectives/SocioculturalTheory/