Vygotsky's theories fall within the boundaries of social constructivism and unlike Piaget; he places the important role of human interaction and social instruction at mental development's heart (Ivic 2000). Adults convey to children the way their culture interprets and responds to the world through formal and informal conversations. They show the meaning they themselves attach to objects, events and experiences. Impart wisdom they have garned through the years (and built upon on wisdom from others when they themselves were a learner) for further expansion and advances for all in time. “Any function in a child’s cultural development appears twice, or on two planes. First it appears on the social plane, and then on the psychological plane. First it appears between people as an interpersonal category, and then within the child as an intrapsychological category.” (Vygotsky 1981: 163)
Born originally in Belarus on November 17, 1896, Vygotsky spent his educational and professional career in Russia until dying unpublished at the early age of 37. Yet even though his work as a psychologist spanned roughly only a decade, his theories have inspired countless pedagogical studies since. In his introduction to the first English translation of Vygotsky's Thought and Language (1962), Jerome Butler (himself a prominent constructivist theorist) remarked that "Vygotsky's conception of development is at the same time a theory of education" (p. v).
In his 1978 work, Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development surmised a learner had two 'domains' of development (Vygotsky, 1978). Firstly, he termed the upper limit of problems a child can solve independently the Level of Actual Development. Secondly, he termed the upper limit of problems a child can solve in the presence of a More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) the Level of Potential Development. Finally, he labelled the developmental area that lay between these two limits the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), within which a child can almost (but not quite) perform a task alone, but can do so with the assistance of someone more competent (such as an adult or more capable peers).
The ZPD bridges the divide between the expert stage and the pedagogical stage where learning takes place (Ellis & Worthington, 1994). Students are escorted and monitored within the ZPD using tailored tasks deliberately set to escort learners to the next stage in their development. By presenting on their prior knowledge, the learner obtains new understandings through the mediation of more capable individuals (Raymond, 2000). Children grow intellectually and begin to function on their own because of the assistance an adult or peer provides and not as a result. "From such a perspective, education makes us not only what we are but who we are, and who we could become." (Moll, 2014)
(Moll. L. C. (2014). L.S. Vygotsky and Education. Routledge, New York- – page 1)
However, before one can possibly guide a child upward, one must first determine the learner’s current level of knowledge. To assess a child's cognitive development it is recommended that observation of the learner take place both whilst performing the task alone as well as under the guidance of an MKO to get a true understanding of where both upper limits actually lie. One can therefore evaluate whether social plane learning has taken place (development of the pupil’s knowledge from the start point to the end point) and charted growth in-between. In time, appropriation (the process of internalizing but also adapting and personalising the idea for one's own use in the future) knowledge takes place on the psychological plane within the learner's mind. Once the upper level of potential development has been reached and appropriated, it resets to become the new upper level of actual development.
The expert must set activities that cautiously broaden boundaries and allow leaners to work to a certain extent beyond that level – but not too far beyond as – “information that finds no place in our existing schemas is quickly forgotten” (Smith, Dockrell and Tomlinson 1997: 48). The separate observations also share another purpose – ensuring tasks are pitched appropriately. If the task is set too high in terms of challenge, the student does not yet possess the capabilities and skills necessary to complete it. The student will become anxious and disheartened . Exposing a student to a concept too early could result in the manifestation of feelings of inadequacy, demotivation and incorrect conclusion they will never be capable. Equally, if the task’s complexity level is set too low (and therefore too easy) the student will feel patronised, demotivated and bored because it does not captivate or stretch.
“Scaffolding” (Bruner 1966) is the support given during the education process which is tailored to the needs of the student with the intention of helping the student achieve his/her learning goals (Sawyer, 2006). A comparison is drawn between the support a teacher should provide within a learning environment and the sturdy framework used during building construction as reinforcement. Similarly when building (where a temporary metal frame is erected for support and access, then gradually removed as parts of the development are able to stand unaided), educational scaffolds are used in classrooms whilst learners internalize the knowledge needed to complete a task. This guidance is gradually weaned during assimilation until the learner is independent and can demonstrate repeatable success with the task at hand.
Wood, Bruner, and Ross's (1976) idea of scaffolding parallels the work of Vygotsky. Though the term was never used by Vygotsky, it represents the helpful interaction (scaffold) between an MKO and a child to enable him/her to traverse the ZPD and achieve above and beyond what they could foreseeably realise on their own (Vygotsky 1962). Instructional scaffolding can be thought of as the strategies that a teacher uses to help learners bridge a cognitive gap or progress in their learning to a level they were previously unable to accomplish. In Vygotsky's words, "what the child is able to do in collaboration today he will be able to do independently tomorrow" (Vygotsky 1987: 211). These strategies evolve as the teachers evaluate the learners initial level of ability and then through continued feedback throughout the progression of the task.
In essence, the addition of an MKO fast-tracks understanding and broadens the exposure and potential learning outcomes for the pupil by providing clarity from the outset and immediate feedback during and after the completion of a task. Vygotsky saw children as apprentices, learning cognitive strategies and other skills from adult and peer mentors who not only present new ways of doing things, but also provide assistance, instruction and motivation. This places heavy emphasis on the role of the teacher, whose basic function is to introduce new data in such a way as to set up challenges that will encourage pupils to relate unexpected ideas to previous schemas and reshape old knowledge in light of new evidence (Mercer and Hodgkinson 2008). With regards to Business Education, it is therefore essential that lessons are well-planned and consider the limited exposure a secondary school student may have to a business environment as an adolescent.
Play allows learners to stretch themselves cognitively and take on roles otherwise inaccessible to them in real life. Relating ideas and concepts by stretching imagination and bring ideas to life speeds up the process because multiple scenarios can then be explored in one sitting. If one is able to interlink new knowledge with prior knowledge, the memory has a stronger probability of taking root. Play affords the opportunity for multiple processing to solve complex scenarios that could result in numerous outcomes given changes in ‘dependable business factors’ (such as critical path analysis, probabilities, and investment decisions) because it encourages one to consider weighing up all options and information simultaneously before a strong argument for a particular course of action is put forward to the group.
Scaffolding can be manifested within a classroom setting in numerous ways. Some Business Education examples include:
– modelling (offering behaviours such as interview etiquette or demonstration of exam technique)
– questioning (getting them to predict future commercial situations by asking “what if”, rather than holding only closed funnelled discussions)
– coaching and prompting (get students occasionally to list what they understand and what they do not yet understand at the beginning of a lesson so they can lead the content)
– thinking out loud (planned or spontaneous, interpretive discussion needn’t be regimented so long as it is relevant to Business at large, for example analysis of current affairs)
– feedback (setting up frequent occasions for direct dialogue to discuss progress with him/her making recommendations for improvement whilst marking written homework)
– hinting (purposefully withholding an answer for long enough to discourage the habit of over-reliance on the MKO and ‘pausing before pouncing’ which is a method of questioning designed to elicit thought from an entire group simultaneously rather than merely from a named individual)
As well as other interactive planning or structural assistance to help the learner bridge a cognitive gap, it is important to include peer mentoring from more experienced students and the need for peer-on-peer interaction:
“The nearer the ‘successful performance’ is … the great is the probability of the instant internalisation … But with adolescence the word ‘nearer’ takes on an extra connotation … Teachers’ successful performances – polished by time and familiarity – are often too far from where the adolescents presently are to be easily internalised and assimilated.” (Smith, Dockrell and Tomlinson 1997: 48)
Part B: Lesson Reflection
Class Information for 10BsC
This reflection will be based upon a Year 10 BTEC business lesson taken just two weeks into my first school placement. Out of a total of 29 male and female students, the class contained three gifted and talented (G&T) girls, nine of the 10BsC class were listed on the school’s SEN register, and another three were placed on report (REP) because they had already logged numerous behavioural transgressions within the year. My initial impression was that all students were capable of holding conversations in English, however fifteen students within the class have English as an additional language (EAL), with two highlighted as SLCN. Although I was unaware at this point in time, two students had only recently joined the business class, and one had suffered severe health problems that had kept him out of school for the previous week. There was no TA present. Unfortunately, the room configuration makes it impossible to walk amongst desks and extremely difficult for a teacher to manoeuvre around the space. One must rely heavily on the seating plan (set by the teacher at the beginning of the year), listening carefully to peer discussion, assessment of general demeanour and intuition for feedback as to whether students are on-task.
Prior learning of 10BsC
Prior to this lesson, students had completed a profile of their local area summarising the demographics and other characteristics of their local business environment, a detailed worksheet on National Factors (for example population growth, income tax, corporation tax, inflation and unemployment) as well as a slide show presenting their chosen business idea. The three activities asked pupils to research key terms, define trends and create a viable business which they would be interested in starting one day. Also, part of the Merit criteria asked pupils to consider “what can happen to my business” in three scenarios (the rent goes up in my area, unemployment in my local area goes up, customers are affected by local unemployment).
Starter activity
From my limited prior exposure to this class I already knew they were going to be a challenging group to control (in my first week I had to report two students for property damage in the computer room) and maintain focused on the task at hand. Due to high levels of disruption and energy, their teacher had dispensed with starter activities altogether. Upon arrival, students were expected to collect a textbook and copy pre-selected paragraphs blindly into their exercise books. This was done purely to get them to settle (however, even with silent writing it took at least 10 minutes for quiet), thus any form of starter would be a huge departure but I believed it necessary as Vygotsky places a central role on social interaction in the context of development. Vygotsky believed complex mental processes begin as social activities which children gradually internalise and move to using independently without the need for prompting. The provision of relevant vocabulary gives imagination a voice or conduit to be expressed and explored further. This allows children to transform ideas and make them uniquely their own. He also places emphasis on the role of the More Knowledgable Other (MKO) as someone who provides encouragement and fosters enthusiasm for learning.
Upon reflection, this varied resource approach, while being useful for some, provided a distraction for others. Much protestation was made because some sheets looked more boring than others and there was much shuffling and swopping amongst peers. Even though I knew all pages were necessary to come together for the main activity, certain individuals couldn’t see past the ‘unfair’ distribution and would probably have responded better if everyone had been dealt the same pages.
At the end of the activity to assess whether learning took place, I asked individuals to offer feedback on their most favourite or unexpected trend, and for each student to write down one new thing they learnt from the resources that they could imagine being applicable to their chosen business idea.
Main Activity
At this stage a second handout entitled EXPLAIN HOW CURRENT TRENDS CAN IMPACT ON A BUSINESS START-UP was supplied to students. On the top of the page were instructions to (a) look at all of the infographic pictures provided to their group summarising certain trend data (b) discuss the findings written down previously amongst each other (c) fill in the table with as many noteworthy trends that could impact your business as you can under the following headings: Social, Technological, Environmental, Ethical.
In theory, group learning pools resources thus cutting down on the efforts and time taken by the teacher. I was attempting to make efficient use of time by exposing the class to more stimuli, relying on the prior knowledge of more capable peers and hoping mistakes would come to light during the discussion phase from which everyone in the class could learn and grow. Also, as I was a new teacher, I reasoned some individuals may find me intimidating or merely function better in a social setting (for some, group work is more conducive to providing the right atmosphere or environment necessary to unlock enquiring minds). However, this class with its challenging behaviour took this a bit too energetically, therefore it took far longer than anticipated to get certain individuals on task, but the level of enthusiasm was fantastic and some of the formulated ideas and links to their businesses were extremely creative.
Subsequent homework
Students were asked to complete their trends leaflets online for Monday’s lesson with their teacher (as I was at University). I would then review their work and provide feedback in the form of online comments. In summarise, the instructions were to (a) identify a trend (lists of examples were provided in the checklist as a starting point) and briefly explain it (b) note why this particular trend has relevance to your business (c) Explain the possible impacts (positive/negative/both) of this trend on the performance of your business and how you will take this into account in future decision-making.
Homework results
I immediately recognised something was wrong after scanning the first two submissions the following week and immediately stopped marking the homework and informed the teacher. It was clear students had not grasped certain aspects necessary for a submission that achieves the BTEC Pass criteria and the level of effort was shoddy at best. This was particularly prevalent within the Social section. A few individuals had taken the word ‘social trend’ out of context and instead of referring to demographics, fallen back on how they interpret social trends in daily life as changes in fashion. Even though a rise in the use of social media is listed as a technological trend in the checklist, a common mistake was to link the concept to that of social trends because of the repetition of the word. Students did not make reference to data and statistics provided, and presented options that could never be viable for a business. Often the trend chosen as the basis for their PEEL paragraph was concluded to be irrelevant and therefore should not have been selected for discussion in the first place. The vast majority were unable to express positive or negative impacts in terms of the effects on sales or costs to the business, and if so the link was clumsily made.
Part C
Looking at the level of homework submissions received from the first 10BsC class I ever taught, to the last is a startling contrast, in part due to the trial and error and experimentation in scaffolding techniques during the weeks in-between. Acting on the advice of Smith, Dockrell and Tomlinson, I used one of the G&T’s leaflets as a basis of peer assessment the following week in an attempt to convey what was required thinking it would be more accessible to my adolescents. However, because it was not perfect, and her paragraphs were not laid out in a repetitive, predictive manner (which would have helped emphasize my point that PEEL paragraphs were required), I did not see much improvement and later uploaded a ‘model answer’ adapted from prior years for them to use as reference. This proved far more effective, though by now students were disheartened and it took a lot of encouragement to force them to revisit the task.
This underlined that when appropriate instruction is offered within the ZPD, children are able to grasp concepts, increase their understanding and master new tasks more quickly. As Vygotsky says, the role of the MKO is to provide sufficient guidance within the ZPD to foster accurate growth and development during the learning process. If the level of actual development proves to lie lower than expected, children are in danger of falling into the Anxiety zone and will require more rigid structure in place from the beginning. Also, the social interaction from the MKO isn’t merely telling the learner what’s right or wrong, or a game of show and tell. The information is given context, assessed whether it is correct, and analysed for further application to other scenarios. If a lesson isn’t learnt the child will repeat it again and again, leading to a lack in pride and confidence. Equally, if learners aren’t aware of growth or that something is important they have a stronger tendency to disregard it. Because they have failed to absorb the new information as knowledge, it is not available to retrieve and use at a later date alone without help, therefore the MKO must repeat tasks all over again at a later date.
To foster this channel of two-way communication, it is essential for the learning environment to be relaxed, criticism always constructive, and to bear in mind the individuals’ learning styles, for example if a student is unhappy answering out loud the MKO should make allowances for him/her to communicate their thoughts in private. Equally, one must be non-judgemental of ‘trial and error’ as pupils learn by doing (shown to be more effective than mere listening) so long as they understand exactly where it is they have gone wrong. Also, there is always the danger of shutting down ideas prematurely without giving them sufficient room to breathe’. This stifles imagination, lost opportunities for challenge and debate both intrapsychologically and amongst peers (group learning).
A teacher-led class discussion of each stakeholder’s definition and examination of hypotheticals in the context of various types of businesses (such as barbers, beauticians, carers and restaurants) followed. Pupils were then asked to pick one internal and one external stakeholder and describe how their actions can influence the success of their particular business, and what they will do to maximise the positive impacts and minimise the negative impacts these stakeholders could have in the two columns provided. I used a set of multiple choice slides as a plenary which was peer assessed within the allocated timeframe and posed the challenge of writing a paragraph describing the difference between stakeholders and shareholders to the G&T’s (which I now pitch to a ten students in comparison to the initial three).
Armed with clear expectations from the outset, a list of stakeholders, the right terminology with which to express his thoughts adequately and less clutter from me, the student was able to complete the task to a much higher standard than before. For the 10BsC class, it clearly shows a Vygotskian approach aided in their development and how much quicker leaners were able to progress within the ZPD once their More Knowledgeable Other had adopted a systematic approach which took all of their needs into consideration.