Topic > Sociocultural Development in Young Children - 1165

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky is a well-known theorist who focused on sociocultural development in young children. Lev Vygotsky strongly believed in the importance of interaction with peers when it comes to the growing learning process of children. Through Vygotsky's research, he developed the concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). The zone of proximal development is the range of development of the child's skills and abilities where the child is capable of completing a task on his or her own and needs a more experienced and competent person to help him or her complete a task. The zone of proximal development is a continuous process; it is constantly moving forward. As the child learns the skills needed to perform the task independently, the “zone” progresses along with the child's development. Another term that has often been related to Vygotsky's concept of zone of proximal development is called scaffolding. Scaffolding occurs when the most knowledgeable and experienced person, such as an adult or teacher, helps and assists the child in completing a task that he or she may have struggled with. After the child has learned the strategies to complete the task without any assistance, that is when the scaffolding is removed from that particular task. Vygotsky's concepts and theories would be very useful for my preschool program, Bright Hope Preschool. Teachers are present to observe and help the child learn in some aspects of his development. The few hours in which the child and teachers interact serve to fill in the attention and assistance with the child's development that parents cannot due to their careers, time or other reasons. While the teachers practice... middle of the paper... and the children. Taking this research article into consideration, it is important to promote positive behaviors by displaying positive behaviors. In a school context, when children do academic tasks and tasks, it is appropriate for teachers to use the concept of social learning theory and show children what they should do to complete a task or assignment with an example. This will allow children to see and observe with their own eyes what needs to be done and what behaviors are appropriate. For example, before the teacher gives out the task of practicing cutting with scissors, the teacher should explain how to hold and use the scissors and also explain where to hold the paper firmly. This will allow children to easily imitate the teacher's actions on how to cut paper with scissors correctly and appropriately.