VygotskyPaper

Important Note: Your paper is a little different. This paper was written in a hypothetical sense since the students were not required to work with the child but imagined how they would work with the child. This was because last semester I required them to do both this paper and the Piaget paper while you once have to choose one of the two papers. .Also, since they were only hypothetically thinking of working with a child I made them scaffold both a game and an activity. You only have to choose a game OR an activity to scaffold since you will actually be working with the child.

Can I Do It? Yes, You Can: Examining the Sociocultural Scaffolding Approach

Introduction

Vygotsky, a notable psychologist, developed a sociocultural perspective that supports the concept of children relying on language and social interactions to learn, Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development. Under the education framework, this sociocultural theory can be a fundamental tool for children to develop their thinking ways. This significant theory presents that children can communicate and cooperate with the people around them to acquire cognitive and behavioral skills. Through these dynamic interactions from social and cultural contexts, children can become more knowledgeable and obtain effective learning strategies. The sociocultural theory is beneficial for educators to focus on and assess children’s capabilities accordingly (Siegler & Aliba, 2019). (The student got points for generally explaining the Vygotsky sociocultural theory.) The purpose of this paper is to examine the sociocultural theory and see how language and social interactions can assist children from two different age groups to tackle and essentially master an activity that requires cognition activation. Since culturally, toys, and other fun activities can be beneficial learning experiences for children (Siegler & Aliba, 2019), I will incorporate a folding-a-paper-airplane activity and chess game to assess the objective of this paper. )(The student got points for generally explaining the purpose and what the activity and game is. Note: For your paper, you are only picking a game or an activity not both since you are actually scaffolding a game or activity with a child. In this paper, the student is imagining how they would scaffold a game and activity. They did not actually do it.)

Background

The sociocultural theory promotes the idea that the social world is impactful on children’s behaviors and cognitions. Children’s parents, family members, and peers are sources for children to learn from so that they are able to perform specific tasks that they may face challenges with. With these different social interactions, as time progresses, children are able to construct their knowledge personally. Notably, social and cultural practices also impact children’s thoughts foundation (e.g., attitudes, values, beliefs, social structures). Vygotsky, the founding father of this theory, suggests that children that grew up in different societies at different times with different situations all have unique experiences with their developments. These factors are used by children to construct schemas and equilibrium to make sense of the world. Different cultural tools are collectively influential foundations for children’s cognitive growth (Siegler & Aliba, 2019). This theory is significant as it clarifies how children process and construct information through the education narrative. (Talks about and introduces the sociocultural theory).

Under the sociocultural theory, the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is a core feature. The ZPD differentiates between what a child is able to do on their own versus what they can accomplish with the assistance of others. The concept of ZPD is that specific tasks a child might not be able to figure out by themselves, but with guidance from others, they can eventually master those tasks (Siegler & Aliba, 2019). A representation of the ZPD from a child’s perspective would be, “I can do these things with some help.” An example would be how a student is unable to analyze a literature text by themselves. Still, with the help of the teacher, that student can analyze deeper and more accurately. (Talks about the zone of proximal development and gives an example for it. The source is cited).

Scaffolding is a crucial method for sociocultural theory since it applies to appropriate assistance from knowledgeable individuals for the child. As a child is in the ZPD, scaffolding needs to be offered concerning the specific task. Scaffolding begins with the instructor controlling the learning environment (e.g., model, ask questions, simplify, explain) so that the child can do the task step-by-step with certainty. Along the way, the instructor can implement multiple scaffolding methods. Principally, the scaffolding ends with the learner accomplishing a task without any help (Siegler & Aliba, 2019). (Talks about scaffolding in detail and the source is cited).

In order to lead the child into ZPD and provide scaffolding, language needs to be integrated. Language is presented as a psychological tool that can aid children’s thinking. Language plays a part in this sociocultural theory as it shapes how a child attempts to make sense of their culture and surrounding world. According to Vygotsky, language is necessitous to acquire advanced cognition. Children use language as a tool to achieve abstract thinking and solve problems. Language also helps children be aware of their metacognition and improve social interactions as they can express their emotions, thoughts, memories, and plans (Siegler & Aliba, 2019). (Explains language as a psychological tool in detail and cites it).

Method

Participant #1 is at the age of 6. They are entering the first grade of elementary school. They are getting better with their fine motor skills as they are able to write more neatly at this age. This participant will be given the task of folding a paper airplane. (Participant’s age and schooling is mentioned).

Participant #2 is at the age of 14. They are entering into freshman year of high school. This participant will be assigned to play chess as they have never played before. The participant is determined to win at least one game against the researcher. (Participant’s age and schooling is mentioned). NOTE: You are actually only going to choose one participant to scaffold a game or activity since you will actually be doing it. Since last semester, the students had to imagine how they would possibly scaffold a game or activity I made them choose two participants of two different ages and explain how they would hypothetically scaffold a game to one child and how they would hypothetically scaffold an activity to another child).

Materials

The only material required for the paper-airplane task is a few sheets of the standard printing A4 paper. Possibly, a marker and a ruler. This activity can help Participant #1’s cognitive processing skills because it demands the participant to be attentive, actively follow the researcher’s models and instructions, be precise with one’s fine motor skills, and understand what helps the paper airplane to fly well.

The game’s material is a chessboard and chess pieces, chess cheat sheets, and practice sheets with possible scenarios. This game can help Participant #2’s cognitive processing skills because the participant can actively engage in the game with the researcher. This game promotes the players to observe carefully, abstract think, examine other players’ strengths and weaknesses, and predict possible outcomes. (May not be necessary but may be good to include).

Procedure

The researcher will begin assessing the participant’s ZPD by asking Participant #1 to fold a paper airplane with the knowledge they already know. After that, the participant can throw the paper airplane into the air. The participant’s first trial of a paper airplane might not fly that well, so the research can invite the participant to fold a more improved airplane. The first scaffold is that the researcher can acknowledge and show the participant which steps they did correctly. Then, for the second scaffold, the researcher will first fold the airplane slowly by themselves, so the participant can preview a paper airplane’s finished product. The researcher will also launch that paper airplane too so that the participant can see how it flies in the air. The third scaffolding method for this activity is that both the participant and researcher will fold paper airplanes side by side and step by step with the researcher as the model. During the activity, the researcher will observe the participant is following along and being attentive. As they are folding the paper airplanes, the researcher can pause, ask for the participant’s understanding, and retrace the steps needed for the fourth scaffolding method. For the fifth scaffold, the researcher can explain to the participant that the airplane needs to have crisp and symmetrical folds to fly well.(Detailed explanation of all 5 scaffolds). After that, the researcher and the participant can fly both of their paper airplanes simultaneously. If the participant’s airplanes did not do well, the researcher and the participant might repeat the steps with a new paper. This time, the researcher can trace the paper airplane’s folded lines with a marker and a ruler so the participant can visually see a proper paper airplane’s structures. These steps mentioned above can be repeated until the participant is able to fold the paper airplane that has a longer duration up in the air on their own. One way to reduce a scaffold for the participant when they are advancing the task is to take out the scaffold that the researcher traces out the folded lines for the participant to see because they would not need that extra support visually.( Explanation on how the scaffolds can be reduced).

In order to assess Participant #2’s ZPD, the researcher can give a survey to the participant to see how comfortable they are with playing chess. After the survey, the participant and the researcher can attempt to play a practice round of chess together so that the researcher can know if the participant has any prior knowledge. The first scaffold for the chess activity with Participant #2, the researcher can provide them with a cheat sheet with how each piece moves and recommendations for every move so that the participant could feel more confident playing chess games with the researcher for their first time playing with each other. For the second scaffold, the researcher can give the participant a modified cheat sheet; this time, the cheat sheet can only include half of the instructions. The research can encourage the participant to keep asking questions if they need to. As for the third scaffold, the researcher can print out practice sheets of possible chess scenarios that ask the participant to complete a specific task (e.g., how to checkmate). The participant should rely on their previous knowledge of playing chess. For the fourth scaffold, the participant will only be allowed to ask for assistance or clues three times as they play a chess game. For the last scaffold, the participant could play a chess game with a Bot online. This could be helpful for the participant because online chess games can give out hints. Suppose the participant was able to understand the task early on.(The five scaffolds are explained in detail here). In that case, one way to reduce the scaffold is to take out the online chess game scaffold because by then, the participant would already be confident enough to play the actual game with the researcher to win. (Explanation on how the scaffolds can be reduced).

Results & Discussion

With these two activities, I expect the participants to stumble a little bit initially. Still, with the various scaffolding levels, I am confident that the participants can master the activities by the end. I also expected the participants to ask many questions, especially Participant #1, and the researcher reiterated what they said multiple times to thoroughly understand the instructions. As for the older one, Participant #2, I expect them to catch on well and ask questions only after trying their best to process the information.

I think in the beginning, both of the participants might be somewhat overwhelmed with the information presented; because of this, the instructor must show them step-by-step instructions at an appropriate speed. At the middle level of scaffolding, I think that the participants have reached an early comfort stage where they are “getting the hang of it,” but the researcher still needs to provide them a stronger sense of confidence. I think by the last level of scaffolding, the participant had already been warmed-up by then so they would be eager to engage in the activity to their full potential. For Participant #1, the language use during the social interaction would be more child-directed so that the researcher is able to hold their attention better. The language use would also be simpler and slower, so Participant #1 is able to fully comprehend every word. Sentences might be repeated for the participant, too, if needed. For Participant #2, the researcher still might need to simplify certain words to make it easier for the participant to understand.(Explains how the child hypothetically progressed during the sessions and how they hypothetically responded to the scaffolds. Explains the hypothetical results as well. Since you are actually going to scaffold a child’s learning of a game or activity, you will explain how they actually progressed during the sessions and how they actually responded to the scaffolds. You will also, explain what the actual results were).

The findings showed that based on sociocultural theory, scaffolding is a necessary step as children evaluate their ZPD. Since children learn best when the instructions were provided from an adult, the researcher’s scaffolding strategies are a crucial step. Vygotsky believed that “to gain information that is useful for educational purposes, one must assess children’s knowledge under conditions of supportive social interaction.” The initial assessments for both participants to determine what they have already known are practical for the researcher and the children themselves (Siegler & Aliba, 2019, p.93). The social interactions between the participant and the researcher laid a strong foundation for the progress of completing the task, which furthered the sociocultural theory that the social exchange between the learner and instructor can provide great value for the development of children’s skills and cognitive development (Siegler & Aliba, 2019).( Findings are being related back to sociocultural theory and sources are cited).

The scaffolding plan for Participant #1 encompassed all the necessary steps to fold a practical paper airplane. The modeling initially so that the participant can get a preview of what a standard paper airplane should look like could be the most beneficial step for the child. However, following along with the researcher’s folding might be tricky for the participant. As for the chess activity, since it is a complicated game, it could be challenging for the participant to refer to the information when they were first given the cheat sheet. The practice sheets of the possible chess scenario could be a helpful method for them to consider the most efficient moves to win chess. (points for evaluating the scaffolding plan).Through this assignment, I learned that children are competent when they are given the appropriate resources. It is essential to recognize that children need a little bit of time and extra push in terms of scaffolding for them to complete a task. Even after that, they need to have repetitive practice and even various scaffolding methods to master the activity eventually. Notably, all children have different zones of proximal development, so the scaffolding strategies must be personalized for each child to succeed.( Student is getting points for reflecting on the assignment).

Siegler, R., & Alibali, M. (2019). Children's thinking. Pearson.( Remember to cite your references. You can also cite lecture if you want to).

Note: Since you are actually scaffolding a game or activity for a child please attach a picture).