PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological
Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: [tips] Re: need
identification assistance
The
Wikipedia article onVygotsky gives you much useful info. He has a
cognitive developmental theorywhich differs from Piaget. Where
Piaget focused more on the child developing cognitively
A couple of years ago, I had a student who was Russian. She perked up
immediately when she heard me discuss Vygotsky. Apparently, all Russian
students know him and are required to read his works. She was happy she
wouldn't have to actually read any more of his actual works though. I
guess
Forgot to mention that most Education majors are
familiar with Vygotsky, because his methods are much more descriptive of what
our schools consider "education" than Piaget. I try to point out that
Piaget might describe why a child learns something, but Vygotsky guides the "how
to."
I
The Wikipedia article onVygotsky gives you much useful info. He
has a cognitive developmental theorywhich differs from Piaget. Where
Piaget focused more on the child developing cognitively through ordinary
experiences with his/her world rather than specific instruction, Vygotsky
stressed
Marxist? social-developmentalist? How odd? I'm a major fan of Vygotsky
but if that is part of his identity--which seems totally inappropriate--it
could explain why it's taken Western culture so long to embrace his work.
I find his perspective on how children learn to be far more helpful than
On the first day of class, I ask my senior capstone history systems
students to do the following:
1. Define psychology. After all, they are graduating with a degree in
the area. This should be easy! This semester, 4 out of 32 identified
it as a science. I do tell them that if that many are
