The Life and History of Lev Vygotsky

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Lev Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist who lived from 1896 t0 1934 and he was born in small town of Orshe near by city of Gomel (Republic of Belarus). Vygotsky advanced the theory of Social Development which aims at social interaction which plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development of young children in construct to Jean Piaget understanding of child’s development in which development necessary precedes learning. Vygotskian framework based on four principles underlying his framework which can be summarized as children can construct knowledge, development cannot be separated from its social context, learning can lead development and language plays a central role in mental development A tool is something that can be used in the services of something else and a sign is something that stands for something else. Mediation is the use of these signs in mental processing. Vygotsky proposed the concepts of internalization and zone of proximal development to describe how this mediation takes place. Vygotsky believed that culture affects how these higher functions are developed and acquired and to acquire these higher mental functions, a child must already posses the basic mental tools of the culture. Vygotsky categorized mental processes into two levels these are lower and higher mental processes. Where by lower mental functions is innate and depends primarily on maturation to develop. Example cognitive processes such as sensation, reactive, attention, spontaneous memory and sensory while higher mental are unique to humans. THE VYGOTSKIAN FRAMEWORK AND OTHER THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING Vygotskian theories have similaties with theories of child development as proposed by other scholars, foristance both Vygotsky and Piaget are best known for their insights into the developments of thought process although the bulk of Vygotsky work was conserved with the development of thinking. Piaget and Vygotsky agree that a child development is a serious...
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