Sociocultural Theory: Learning and Development
Sociocultural Theory of Development and Learning
Human nature is the result of the internalization of socially guided cultural experience handed down from generation to generation (Vygotsky).
Education is the central process of humanization, and the school is the main laboratory in which to study the cultural dimension, specifically human development.
The practical purpose of psychology is the improvement of society through the improvement of education. The social dimension acquires a fundamental character in the explanation of human nature. Not only does nature influence human behavior, but also people modify and create their own conditions of development.
The Social Origins of Mental Functioning
Genetic Law of Cultural Development: Higher psychological processes originate in social life, in interactions that are maintained with other people, and participation in culturally regulated activities. They are first shown at the social level and then at a psychological level.
Internalization: The process involved in the transformation of activities or social phenomena into psychological phenomena. It is a transformative process that involves changes in the structures and functions that are internalized.
Appropriation: Reconstruction that subjects make of psychological tools in their historical development. It is an active process of interaction with objects and individuals, and personal recreation.
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
ZPD: The distance between the actual level of development, determined by the ability to solve a problem independently, and the level of potential development, as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with a more capable peer.
The active agents in the ZPD include people with varying degrees of experience and artifacts such as books, videos, computer equipment, and the internet.
The ZPD is determined jointly by the child’s developmental level and the forms of instruction involved in the development of the activity. These are educational activities that create the zone of proximal development.
The ZPD is dynamic, where each step is a specific interactive construction of time, which opens, in turn, different courses of future developments.
Scaffolding: The effective support that the adult gives the child is one that fits their skills at any time and varies as they can take more responsibility in the activity. It is adjusted and transitional support. The withdrawal of aid and the progressive transfer of control to the child, ensuring the transfer of responsibility, is itself the goal of the activity.
Guided Participation: Learning can be understood as the appropriation of cultural resources through participation in joint activities (Rogoff, 1990).
There are two processes that occur in guided participation:
- Adults and peers support, stimulate, and organize the activities so that children can do their part, which is accessible. They build bridges from the child’s level of understanding and skill to other more complex levels.
- Adults co-structure the participation of children in a dynamic way, adjusting to current conditions. As children progress, the control of the activity is transferred from the adult to the child.
The language of signs represents the system of choice for human psychological development. It mediates relations with others and mediates the relationship with oneself.
Educational Implications
The knowledge construction process is understood as a process of co-construction or joint construction, which is done with the help of others (teacher and student in the school context).
The classroom is conceptualized as a community of learners where the teacher organizes, plans, supervises, and evaluates the activities.
The construction of knowledge in the classroom is a social and shared process.
The teacher builds bridges from the child’s level of understanding to more complex levels, involving students and gradually transferring control of the activity to the students themselves.