Vygotsky and his followers have proposed that children's and adolescents' cognitive development is promoted when they work within their zone of proximal development and that scaffolding enables them to do this successfully

Question

a. Explain these two concepts, and give a concrete example of each one.
b. Choose a topic or skill that is apt to be in the zone of proximal development for most students at a particular grade level. Then explain how you would (1) scaffold students' efforts and (2) modify the scaffolding over time.
What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Responses to the two parts of the question are as follows:

a. The zone of proximal development is the range of tasks that a child can do only with the assistance of a more competent individual. Scaffolding is the structure that the more competent individual provides to help a child perform a difficult task successfully; this structure is gradually removed over time as the child becomes more skillful. The response should include a concrete example of each of these concepts.
b. Responses will vary considerably depending on the grade level, topic, and specific form of scaffolding chosen. A response should identify a topic or skill that most students at the grade level identified would find challenging but not impossible. It should include both an appropriate form of scaffolding (see the Development and Practice feature "Scaffolding Children's Efforts at Challenging Tasks" for examples of forms that scaffolding might take) and a description of how the scaffolding is gradually removed over time.

Suggested Response: The response should appropriately include reference to ZPD, self-talk, inner speech, internalization, and scaffolding. Following is an example:
When learning about Vygotsky's theory I began in my zone of proximal development, because I could not understand the theory without support from my teacher and classmates. Scaffolds used during instruction included lectures, textbook readings, and focus questions and practice exercises in the study guide. When I was first studying the material in the textbook, I occasionally talked aloud to myself in attempts to understand complex ideas. Gradually I internalized and appropriated definitions of key terms and illustrative examples. Now I am using inner speech as I formulate a response to this question.