Zone of Proximal Development, Scaffolding and Teaching Practice

Abstract

The construction of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) in the context of teaching activity is discussed in the paper.ZPD is compared and contrasted with the concept of scaffolding as introduced by Jerome Bruner. In the context of its potential for operationalisation in the form of teacher activities, the author examines key ZPD content given by Lev Vygotsky in terms of the complex interaction of spontaneous (everyday) concepts formed prior to the beginning of school education with scientific (theoretical) concepts formed during schooling. Vygotsky’s main idea about the leading role of scientific concepts in the restructuring of previously formed spontaneous concepts, as well as in the development of the child’s holistic thinking, leads to the conclusion that it is possible also to directly influence the spontaneous formation concepts change through the organisation of collectively distributed forms of educational activity and in a polylogue based the Socratic method. The leading psychological processes, which ensure the development of spontaneous concepts through their greater generalisation and awareness, comprise the processes of exteriorisation of spontaneous concepts, reflection and subsequent interiorisation of a collectively constructed concept. Therefore, the activities of teaching in constructing a ZPD include providing conditions for the distribution of individual operations in the course of a joint learning action and facilitating a polylogue to ensure the effective functioning of these psychological processes in the course of specifically organised learning activities.

The effect of students’ readiness and achievement in online learning integrates problem-based learning pedagogy during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…In addition, the form of division of labor and cooperation allows textbook knowledge to be constructed by students themselves, making elearning conducive to student readiness. This finding is associated with social constructivism (Margolis, 2020). Knowledge is constructed when social, especially for language subjects, the communication between students and the network and the discussion of components form their knowledge and deepen the influence of language learning.…”

“…This method is very suitable for online teaching because it is a student-centered method rather than a teacher-centered method. It pays more attention to the students themselves in the class, and the teacher becomes a scaffold in the interactive class, that knowledge is constructed by students belonging to social constructivism (Margolis, 2020). In contrast to the status quo of the Internet in the past, students do not simply watch videos, but actively research problems, apply theories and exercises, and propose useful information and strategies (Baresh et al, 2019).…”

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“…This ZPD involves contains series of activities that aids in knowledge construction and the extreme level is composed of activities beyond learner's ability to learn. Margolis (2020) used Zone of Proximal Development in his Study entitled Zone of proximal development in teaching practice and found out that the greater the level of abstraction available to the child the less spontaneous initial concepts remained in them. In other words, activities enhance building of learner's zone of proximal development.…”

Polanyi and the Revised Taxonomy: Teaching Technology for High-Level Creative Thinking and Risk Taking

“…Vygotsky theorized that authentic learning (as opposed to rote learning) occurs in an experiential zone of development with assistance of prompts in a social context. As such, scaffolding supports a range of student learning styles and levels of proximal development, as well as constructivist and instructionist teaching approaches (Margolis, 2020). Vygotsky's contribution to our understanding of the learning process is best visualized by his Zone of Proximal Development, which is the space between what a student is already capable of doing independently and what that student could be capable of with help.…”