Description:
Although this theory is not strongly linked to the use of ICTs in the classroom, I thought it would be a good place to start thinking about educational theory. Although, throughout this course, I believe most of us will be extending our zone's of proximal development as we learn to use new ICTs. In education, most of us are familiar with the concept of the zone of proximal development. The image below describes where this zone aligns with student abilities. I like to think of this theory as where we should always be in terms of learning and teaching and why I need to scaffold tasks to extend the zone and build on what students can do.
Follow this link to learn more about the Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development.
Personal experience:
I think this theory is brilliant. It lays the foundation of why we actually learn, to extend ourselves, to broaden our horizons and become more. It's encourages what I like to call 'taking calculated risks,' by acknowledging that I (or a student) have the potential to do something, but need a bit of support to get there.
Critical analysis and other perspectives:
Based on my belief of the need to challenge students and my belief that learning is a basic human right, this theory suits perfectly to allow me to do that. However, if I was to assume that student's didn't require my support to build n their learning (e.g. they either can't learn based on personality, or students don't need my support based on a theory where the teacher doesn't lead the classroom, the student's do) the argument would be different. For those who do believe this, they may argue that the student can't extend further than what they can already do, or they can achieve extending their zone of what they can do without assistance.
For example, it is argued in this document on p. 14 that this theory can only be assumed to work within the interaction between adult and child. However, I would argue that the teacher could support all students by developing strategies to allow the students to 'become the teachers' to extend their zone of proximal development. This holds true especially when using ICTs as teachers can often not be the experts in the room!
Outcome:
As long as we teachers believe that all students can learn from their peers and teachers, this theory helps us to understand how to support students to learn. When they learn they change the zone of 'can do with support' to 'can do alone' and thus extending the zone of proximal development.
Personal experience:
I think this theory is brilliant. It lays the foundation of why we actually learn, to extend ourselves, to broaden our horizons and become more. It's encourages what I like to call 'taking calculated risks,' by acknowledging that I (or a student) have the potential to do something, but need a bit of support to get there.
Critical analysis and other perspectives:
Based on my belief of the need to challenge students and my belief that learning is a basic human right, this theory suits perfectly to allow me to do that. However, if I was to assume that student's didn't require my support to build n their learning (e.g. they either can't learn based on personality, or students don't need my support based on a theory where the teacher doesn't lead the classroom, the student's do) the argument would be different. For those who do believe this, they may argue that the student can't extend further than what they can already do, or they can achieve extending their zone of what they can do without assistance.
For example, it is argued in this document on p. 14 that this theory can only be assumed to work within the interaction between adult and child. However, I would argue that the teacher could support all students by developing strategies to allow the students to 'become the teachers' to extend their zone of proximal development. This holds true especially when using ICTs as teachers can often not be the experts in the room!
Outcome:
As long as we teachers believe that all students can learn from their peers and teachers, this theory helps us to understand how to support students to learn. When they learn they change the zone of 'can do with support' to 'can do alone' and thus extending the zone of proximal development.
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