Vygotsky’s Notion of “Scaffolding” in Relation to Children’s Use of Ict
Fadel Alfatlawi
Vygotsky’s notion of “Scaffolding” in relation to children’s use of ICT
Introduction
The idea of ‘scaffolding’, although not new and often practiced intuitively by parents, has recently met with renewed interest among educational professionals.
Scaffolding is an interactive process that provides a learner with temporary and gradually decreasing support to accomplish a task or solve a problem. This allows the learner to extend his/her reach in the development of knowledge and to organise information into mental schemas.
There are many kinds of scaffolding, as many as there are techniques of teaching. Scaffolding can be administered not only be teachers, but also by peers or peer groups. Purpose and motivation are kept in the forefront.
Who was Vygotsky?
Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was one of the great psychologists of the twentieth century, even though he never received any formal training in this subject. One of the first to respond critically to Piaget’s ideas, he also had a profound interest in literature, science and medicine.
Vygotsky was born in 1896 in Orsha, a small town near Minsk in Russia. He graduated 1917 from Moscow University (in literature). From 1924 to
1934, he worked at the Institute of Psychology in Moscow. During this time, he conceived his historical-cultural theory of psychological phenomena and wrote about 200 works; several of these have been lost. His works were only published after the death of Stalin.
Vygotsky was a very gifted teacher himself and he was particularly interested in the education of handicapped children. He succumbed to tuberculosis in 1934.
Vygotsky’s way of thinking
Vygotsky found that even though the contemporary Gestalt theory described complex psychological phenomena, it did not explain them. “Insisting that psychological functions are a product of the brain’s activity, he became an early advocate of combining experimental cognitive psychology with neurology and
Vygotsky’s notion of “Scaffolding” in relation to children’s use of ICT
Introduction
The idea of ‘scaffolding’, although not new and often practiced intuitively by parents, has recently met with renewed interest among educational professionals.
Scaffolding is an interactive process that provides a learner with temporary and gradually decreasing support to accomplish a task or solve a problem. This allows the learner to extend his/her reach in the development of knowledge and to organise information into mental schemas.
There are many kinds of scaffolding, as many as there are techniques of teaching. Scaffolding can be administered not only be teachers, but also by peers or peer groups. Purpose and motivation are kept in the forefront.
Who was Vygotsky?
Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was one of the great psychologists of the twentieth century, even though he never received any formal training in this subject. One of the first to respond critically to Piaget’s ideas, he also had a profound interest in literature, science and medicine.
Vygotsky was born in 1896 in Orsha, a small town near Minsk in Russia. He graduated 1917 from Moscow University (in literature). From 1924 to
1934, he worked at the Institute of Psychology in Moscow. During this time, he conceived his historical-cultural theory of psychological phenomena and wrote about 200 works; several of these have been lost. His works were only published after the death of Stalin.
Vygotsky was a very gifted teacher himself and he was particularly interested in the education of handicapped children. He succumbed to tuberculosis in 1934.
Vygotsky’s way of thinking
Vygotsky found that even though the contemporary Gestalt theory described complex psychological phenomena, it did not explain them. “Insisting that psychological functions are a product of the brain’s activity, he became an early advocate of combining experimental cognitive psychology with neurology and
References: Ivic, I. (1994) Lev S. Vygotsky, in: Prospects: The Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, vol. XXIV, no. 3/4, 1994, p. 471–485 (Paris, UNESCO: International Bureau of Education) McKenzie, J McKenzie, J. (1999) Scaffolding for Success, in: FNO, From Now On, The Educational Technology Journal, vol. 9, no. 4, 1999 (http://www.fno.org/dec99/scaffold.html) Sewell, D Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) Mind in Society (London, Harvard University Press) Further reading