Vygotsky and Meaningful Learning

Vygotsky and Meaningful Learning

  

            We were warned that Vygotsky’s Mind in Society was going to be a hard read, the second hardest book we’ll read this semester, as it was put to us. It gave me pause when the two quotes at the beginning of the book are from Karl Marx and his partner, Friedrich Engels. Sure, reading a book from one of Russia’s most influential psychologist, with quotes from the father of communism is going to be no problem for a free thinking American such as myself, I thought sarcastically. Much to my delight the book focused solely on the science of Vygotsky’s pioneering in developmental psychology. I found myself diving deeper into trying to understand the principles and theories he sets forth. Quite honestly I began to have more questions as I found myself agreeing with his analytic summations. Questions which I will lay out here.

            I also found a greater appreciation of speech and language, the very thing that separates us from the animals. I found myself listening to conversations differently, listening to my children differently, and listening to the how and why of what my wife was trying to communicate to me through language. Speech really is a special way in which we can connect with other humans, and it shouldn’t be taken lightly – to converse and share our thoughts and feelings, ideas and dreams, hurts and disappointments, not only through speech but through these symbols we call letters so that what we write can be read by many more people than we would ever to be able to speak to, and then these letters and words and sentences can last for years beyond that convey a message that is so uniquely yours, it’s beautiful to think about. It really is such a uniquely human treasure that should be cherished more than the rarest gems in the world. Connecting through speech is truly what defines us as human.  

            The main topics we learned reading Mind in Society are as follows: symbols, tools, cognition, internalization, complex thinking, development, and play. Symbols and intellectual tools are the intermediaries between ourselves and the world. They allow our cognition; memory, attention, ability to categorize, and our perception. By appropriating symbols and internalizing them we’re able make sense of what’s around us. Leading us to complex thinking or high order thinking, where we are not just taking visual clues that are in front of us and reacting to them but we are putting deep thought into independent and deliberate action. The zone of proximal development is the area, or window between actual development, where our readiness, desire and motivation have gotten us to and our potential level of development with guidance from an adult or more capable peer. Finally play, where children go mentally, to figure out how things work, and how they can play with the “rules” that they are situated in in their culture.

            Most of my questions came from the culture I’m situated in, I am a father to three children and I work in a special needs school.

            On page 29 I read the following “…young children are likely to fuse action and speech when responding to both objects and social beings. This fusion of activity is analogous to syncretism in perception…”  My question to this: What of the autistic brain? If signs and words serve children first as a means of social contact with other people, does this account for the lack of social interaction of autistic children?

            The beginning of chapter 2, linking tool use and speech which is a dynamic system of behavior, where does ADHD come into play? Is there some disconnect between this link that allows for or manifest itself as ADHD?

            Chapter 3, the section on ‘social origins of indirect memory’ and the page 39 quote “…the central feature is self-generated stimulation, that is, the creation and sue of artificial stimuli which become the immediate causes of behavior” and the thought of children creating sign operation/meaning lead me to ask is this why a therapist using external aides, such as stuffed animals, to help children to verbalize their thoughts, feelings, traumas, etc… is such an effective tool?

            Also in chapter 3 from the studies on page 48 and 49 measuring pictures as memory aides leads me to ask where does short-term memory recall fall in the measurement of overall intelligence.

            On page 51 in reference to tying a knot on a handkerchief as a reminder, as in a physical aide, does that translate to sports, such as physical objects as performance enhancers, fans put on ‘rally-caps’, athletes have routines or superstitions, or an athlete will blame a bad performance on his shoes or the lighting? Physical objects as either the cause or blame for a performance.

            Onto chapter 4, do we now have better, more comprehensive experimentation methods for higher psychological functions as the S—R methods are limited to elementary psychological functions? The t.v. show Brain Games comes to mind.

            Page 71 tests of increasing choice reaction to stimuli games, how does short-term memory/sign assignment process relate to our overall behavior?

            Page 81 and the assertion from Thorndike that mastery of specific skills and materials does not correlate to mastery of other specific skills, How is this relevant, or how does it translate to autistic/Asperger children who are single focused? Or does it not?

            Chapter 7 covers play and the importance of it to the development of children’s high order thinking, what damage to ‘play’ is being done by handing children phones, or electronic devices to keep their attention, or to keep them quiet?

            In conclusion, as I ask how will what I’ve learned from Vygotsky impact my practice, I think not only of my practice but how it will affect my fathering. I think of children’s play and how their imaginations need the room to run and test and explore, and how I as an educator and a father need to facilitate that more by not only limiting time in front of a device but also by engaging in that imaginative play – a box becomes a car, a stick becomes light-saber, a hand gesture becomes a force-field. I need to become more cognizant of the power of imaginative play. In terms of the zone of proximal development I think I can foster more collaborative projects and provide opportunities for students to work together. So much of our focus is on individualized programs for our students and the accommodations they need as an individual I tend to lose focus on the mutual benefit of joint task and joint learning. I will try to carry with me the appreciation of language as symbols and tools and not try to focus on the words that are coming at me but to try to process what is trying to be communicated to me.

            This course is making me think and forcing my mind to expand by soaking up a lot of great information but most of all it is helping me to think, really think about my practice of teaching. I describe it as mindfulness in educating, we are taking into consideration the weight of the lesson, or principle, or theme, or theory we are trying to teach and then we are to tear it down to get at what ‘it’ really is. Then using our design principles we construct authentic activities, knowledge building activities, constructing activities and finally sharing activities. Now with Vygotsky we need to provide play that’ll lead to higher thinking. With our mindfulness in educating we’re not filling up vessels with inert knowledge but we are to fill our students with the fuel to reach their potential.