How much do you know about Lev Vygotsky?

Lev Vygotsky: Soviet psychologist and his major ideas

• Lev Vygotsky believed that human mental and cognitive abilities are shaped by the use of language and tools in the process of interacting and constructing the cultural and social environment.

• He saw mediation as the key to human development, leading to the use of cultural tools and becoming a pathway for psychological development through the process of interiorization.

• Vygotsky introduced the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which refers to the gap between a child's current level of development and the level they are capable of reaching with tools provided by others with more knowledge.

• Vygotsky viewed play as a crucial aspect of children's development, as the best sandbox to build and develop practice of mediation.

• Vygotsky was born in Orsha, Belarus, and raised in Gomel, where he was homeschooled until 1911 and then obtained a formal degree with distinction in a private Jewish gymnasium.

• In 1913 Vygotsky was admitted to the Moscow University by mere ballot through a "Jewish Lottery".

• Vygotsky completed his dissertation titled "The Psychology of Art" and a book titled "Pedagogical Psychology" by 1925.

• Vygotsky died of a relapse of tuberculosis on June 11, 1934, at the age of 37, in Moscow.

• His most important and widely known contribution is his theory for the development of "higher psychological functions," which emerge through unification of interpersonal connections and actions taken within a given socio-cultural environment.

• Vygotsky studied child development and the significant roles of cultural mediation and interpersonal communication.

• He observed how higher mental functions developed through these interactions, and also represented the shared knowledge of a culture.

• Vygotsky introduced the term "Zone of Proximal Development" (ZPD) to characterize an individual's mental development.Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development and Thinking and Speech

• The ZPD is the distance between the child's current developmental level and the level they can reach with the assistance of a more capable instructor.

• The ZPD is a prospective view of cognitive development, not retrospective.

• The MKO is typically assumed to be an older, more experienced teacher or parent, but can also be a learner's peer or someone younger.

• Inner speech develops through the accumulation of long-term functional and structural changes from external speech.

• Vygotsky believed that in its mature form, inner speech would not resemble spoken language as we know it.

• Vygotsky described the connection between speech and the development of mental concepts and awareness in his book Thinking and Speech.

• Vygotsky believed that thought itself developed socially.

• Vygotsky's books and research were banned after his death until Stalin's death.

• Vygotsky's ideas became the cornerstone of modern educational approaches in the USA.

• Cultural-historical Activity theory or Activity theory is an umbrella term for a theoretical framework based on Vygotsky's ideas.

• Vygotsky's closest associates Kolbanovskii, Zankov, and Shif edited Thinking and Speech, which was published posthumously in 1934.

• Vygotsky's legacy was carried on in research by his collaborators and students.