Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development

    Lev Vygotsky (1962) came up with a theory that states that social and cultural interactions guide development and that knowledge is co-constructed. Knowledge is distributed among people and their environments, which include objects, artifacts, tools, books and the communities in which people live. What this means is that learning can be best advocated through interaction with others. One of Vygotsky's concepts is the zone of proximal development or ZPD. What the ZDP refers to is the range of tasks that are too difficult for a student or individual to master without aid from an outside force. As a teacher, we are the outside forces. The lower level of the ZPD is the level of problem solving or achievement that a student can achieve while working alone with no outside forces to help. The upper level of the ZPD is the level of additional responsibility that a student can accept with assistance of a higher-skilled instructor such as a teacher. It is important as a teacher to understand Vygotsky's theory about students’ cognitive processes and to understand the cultural factors such as family, school, community and a broader environment can influence a student's development (Standard 1.1) By understanding the zone of proximal development, it reminds me that I cannot expect the same thing out of every student. However, I will expect highly of my students, I will also understand that they need me as a tool to help achieve their goals and they need me to show them other useful tools such as technology to have the best learning outcome (Standard 2.9) For example, helping my students learn French by showing them new tools on the internet such a "Prezi". After showing them how to use Prezi I can then assign them to do a project using the online tool. Also, I can make sure that once I assign a project or in-class assignment, to walk around and make sure that my students understand the subject material and understand the project. By doing this I am making myself available as a tool to help my students learn to the best of their ability.