Activity Joint reading of Vygotsky’s “Internalization of Higher Psychological Functions”

ActivityJoint reading of Vygotsky’s“Internalization of Higher Psychological Functions”

Outline

Two ways to interpret: tool=sign

sum

mary

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Background on Vygotsky Development of Knowledge Development of

Cognitive Capacities Self-Regulation &

Children’s Private Speech Social Origins of

Cognitive Development Cognitive Apprenticeship

Outline





Outline

Background on Vygotsky

Psychology in America Up to late 1950s … Behaviorism 1960s-70s … Computational Theory & Piaget 1970s … Vygotsky “discovered”

Russian psychologist ~ 1920s-30s Studied literature as undergrad,

then taught, only later moved to psychology

Died of tuberculosis at 37 Hence, theory left somewhat

incomplete

Piaget vs Vygotsky

Piaget Most important source of cognitive change is child Child as “lone scientist”

Vygotsky Also viewed child as active seeker of knowledge,

BUT… NOT child as solitary agent Rich social/cultural contexts profoundly shape

children’s cognition

Rejection of individualistic view of developing child in favor of a socially formed mind.





Outline

Development of Knowledge

Nature of Knowledge Primary focus on “concepts” (categories)

Concept: a) has a labelb) can be defined by a set of rulese.g. Square; 4 sides, equal sides, etc

A child demonstrates mature understanding of true/scientific concepts when:

a) she knows all of the criteria for that conceptb) she understands that the label for the concept

is arbitrary & conventional

Development of Knowledge

Types of Concepts Pseudoconcept. When a child can use the label

for a concept correctly but is unaware of the defining criteria

Spontaneous concept. A concept constructed by a child that is largely based on her experience, so they are idiosyncratic & personalized. (e.g., criteria for grandmother might include “has a soft lap”)

True/scientific concept. Concepts defined in an abstract & context-independent way, therefore general.

Development of Knowledge Concept Development

Primary goal of instruction is to change children’s spontaneous concepts into their scientific counterparts

This shift takes a long while, as children do not give up their spontaneous concepts easily

Spontaneous concepts “grow up” & scientific concepts “grow down”o Similar to Paiget’s assimilation & accommodationo Spontaneous concepts give children a foothold to

which they partially assimilate a scientific definition

o Over time, grappling with a given concept causes their spontaneous concepts to become ever more accurate, general & abstract





Outline

Development of Cognitive Capacities Human infants, like all animals, are endowed with

basic perceptual, attentional & memory capacities These basic capacities develop during first 2 years

through direct contact with environment Then, rapid growth of language leads to profound

change in thinking This broadens children’s participation in social

interactions with more knowledgeable individuals, who encourage them to master culturally important tasks

Soon, young children begin to communicate with themselves in ways similar to how they communicate with others

As a result, basic mental capacities transform into uniquely human, higher cognitive capacities





Outline

Self-Regulation & Children’s Private Speech

Three Functions of Language1. Communicative speech. External speech

a child uses to communicate with someone else

2. Egocentric/private speech. External speech directed to oneself

3. Inner speech. Internal speech to oneself

Both egocentric/private speech& inner speech function to focus

attention & guide behavior.

Self-Regulation & Children’s Private Speech Piaget vs. Vygotsky• Piaget

• “egocentric” speech reflects the preoperational child’s inability to imagine the perspective of others• children simply run off thoughts in whatever form

they occur, regardless of whether understandableto the listener

• Vygotsky• This “talk to self” functions as self-guidance & regulation• Helps children think about their mental activities &

behaviors & select courses of action• Foundation for all higher cognitive processes (e.g.,

controlled attention, deliberate memorization & recall, categorization, planning, problem-solving, abstract reasoning, self-reflection)

• With age & mastery of tasks, this self-directed speech is internalized as silent, inner speech.

Self-Regulation &Children’s Private Speech So… Who is right?• Patrick & Abravenel (2002) study• 4-5 year olds listened

to a list of colors & then placed color stickers on a page to match list• researchers increased

the difficulty of tasks by giving them longer & longer lists

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10

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Number of Utterances

2.5 3.5 4.5

Mean length of listThe longer the list, the more private speech.

Self-Regulation &Children’s Private SpeechSo… Who is right? (con’t.) Children who freely use private speech during a

challenging activity are more attentive & show greater improvement in performance (Berk & Spuhl, 1995)

Compared to their normal achieving age-mates, children with learning problems engage in higher rates of private speech over a longer period of development (Berk & Landau, 1993)

Vygotsky appears to be correct. Hence “egocentric” speech now called “private speech.”





Outline

Activity

The Social Origins of Cognitive Development

All higher cognitive processes develop out of social interaction

Through joint activities with more mature members of society, children come to master activities & think in ways that have meaning in their culture

HOW???

Cognitive Apprenticeship Joint Activity w/in Zone of Proximal

Development Range of tasks that the learner cannot yet handle

alone but can accomplish with the help of more skilled adults/peers

Scaffolding The changing quality of support over the course of

a teaching session, with mentor adjusting to fit of learner’s current level of performance (support gradually fades)

Proceeds in Phases Model the skill —what and why Let learner imitate with teacher feedback As learner gain more mastery, teacher pulls back

Activity The Cognitive Apprenticeship

of JellyBean into Being a Lineage Elf

MMOGs & This Excerpt Highly graphical 2- or 3-D videogames Online social interaction Persistent virtual worlds

Real-time, perpetually accessible Loosely structured by open-ended (fantasy)

narratives, but… Players free to do as they please “Escapist fantasy” yet emergent

“social realism” (Kolbert, 2001)

Context of Example JellyBean level 10; Myrondonia level 25

routine elven activity: hunting for mithril

JellyBean cries for help against orcs

Elven Dungeon: orcs & zombies

Apprenticeship & Enculturation

Activity The Cognitive Apprenticeship of

JellyBean into being a Lineage Elf

Collaboratively analyze the episode of ‘cognitive apprenticeship’ on your handout. Examine the data

closely & take notes on what features you find most relevant.

How does Myrandonia go about apprenticing JellyBean into being a Lineage Elf?

Highly valued & routine activity Engaged in joint participation Mutually understood & valued goal Models successful performance Focuses learner’s attention on key aspects of

context Entrusts increasingly more control to learner Repeated opportunities for practice & situated

feedback Information given ‘just in time’ in context of use (But what exactly is JellyBean apprenticed into?)

Apprenticeship: How does Myrondonia do it?

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Documents

Activity Joint reading of Vygotsky’s “Internalization of Higher Psychological Functions”