Lev+Vygotsky

=Lev Vygotsky= Work in progress

[] == [[|edit]] **Theorist** == Lev Semenovich Vygotsky (November 17, 1896 – June 11, 1934) == [[|edit]] **Biography** == Lev Vygotsky was born in Orsha, a small town in Belourussia, in the west of the Russian Empire in 1896. He attended private school as a young child and then entered a Jewish Gymnasium to work for his secondary school degree. He was known as "the little proffessor" because he lead student discussions around topics in history and philosophy and he graduated with a gold medal in 1913. He attended the Moscow State University where he studied sociology, linguistics, psychology and philosophy before ultimately graduating with a degree in law in 1917. Vygotsky married Roza Smekhova and they had two daughters. After the Russion Revolution, 1917, the country was open to change and new ideas which encouraged people to gradually consider Vygotsky's ideas concerning psychological study. Vygotsky's work in psychology did not begin until 1924 when he attended the Institute of Psychology in Moscow and began collaborating with Alexei Leont'ev and Alexander Luria. He was particularly intrigued and interested in the psychology of education and especially in children with special learning needs. In 1925 he established the Laboratory for Abnormal Childhood in Moscow. Interestingly, he wrote a Russian translation of Piaget's tract on the Language and Thought of the Child. Vygotsky suffered from tuberculosis, which eventually led to his death on June 11th, 1934. He was buried in Novodevich'je Cemetery in Moscow. For 20 years after his death, his work was banned: A decree by the Central Committee on Communism forbade and condemned any work about educational psychology. In 1956, thanks to the efforts of his followers, Vygotsky's work began to be recognized once again and several theorists built there own careers around ideas and connections to his original works. ([Dr. Larry Normansell, Chair, Department of Psychology, Muskingum College, New Concord, OH] [|[1]] Vygotsky viewed human development as a process of learning through social interactions between children and adults in which educational experiences emerge from instances of social learning: aspects of culture and social relationships internalized into a formulation of knowledge. Central to Vygotsky's ideas was the notion that culture and learning are mediated and transmitted through social signs and symbols. Vygotsky examined the origins and history of what he considered interconnected phenomena, as, he posited, mental activity can only be studied in the context of when, where, and how it is realized: learning occurs in socially and culturally constructed environments and is therefore historically situated. In turn, these contexts offer the available tools of the contemporary culture: they are holders of knowledge, procedures, and processes. Vygotsky researched how children are able to solve problems that surpass their level of development. This led to the formulation of his Zone of Proximal Development theory. During the 20th century, Vygotsky held to a position embraced by the paradigm of Constructivism: Meaning is constructed by the individual rather than existing externally, waiting to be discovered. [|[2]] [|Return to Top]
 * ==Contents==
 * [|1] [|Theorist]
 * [|2] [|Biography]
 * [|3] [|List of Works]
 * [|4] [|Weblinks]
 * [|5] [|Sources] ||

[|Zone of Proximal Development] [|Social Constructivist Theory] [|Activity Theory] [|Return to Top] == [[|edit]] **List of Works** == Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). //Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes//. Cambridge: MA: Harvard University Press. Vygotsky, L.S. (1986). //Thought and language//. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (original work published in 1934). Vygotsky, L.S. (1987). //Thinking and speech//. (N. Minick. Trans.). New York: Plenum Press. [|Return to Top] == [[|edit]] **Weblinks** == This video clip explains four basic concepts integral to Vygotsky's work: narrated by Deborah Leong, Ph.D. and Elena Bodrova, Ph.D: [|[3]] This video clip explains a Vygotskian approach to play and the [|Zone of Proximal Development],narrated by Deborah Leong, Ph.D. and Elena Bodrova, Ph.D, [|[4]] [|Return to Top] == [[|edit]] **Sources** == Cherry, Kendra. (n.d.). Lev Vygotsky biography. Retrieved from [] Dr. Larry Normansell, Chair, Department of psychology, Muskingum College, New Concord, OH. Lev Semenovich Vygotsky, compliled by Christina Gallagher (May 1999). Retrieved from [|http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/vygotsky.htm] Dr. Mimi Recker, [|http://itls.usu.edu/~mimi/], Overview of Lev Vygotsky's Theory, Learning and Communication Theories in Instructional Technology, Utah State University. Retrieved from [|http://itls.usu.edu/~mimi/courses/6260/Theorists/Vygotsky/vygosc.html] [|Return to Top]
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