CHCFC505A SS027 Theorist: Vygotsky

[sherry.mcc]

Hello,

I need help with this last question in this assessment.
Rabiyah (4yrs) speaks both arabic and english. she often combines the two when speaking to adults and then laughs because she knows the practitioner does not speak arabic. Rabiyah is very interested in making patterns-with beads, blocks, collage, etc-she will spend long periods of time creating her patterns and will then go into great detail as she describes how the pattern was made. Rabiyah;s father makes lead-light windows as a hobby. He creates beautiful patterns that reflect his middle eastern culture.
The practitioner has displayed a range of pictures that show naturally occurring patterns in the environment. Rabiyah studies them closely

The question is
How you could apply Vygotsky's theory in practice.

I have written so far
By giving hints and propmts?????
Sherry

[Lorina]

Hi Sherry,

I did find some information for you about one of Vygotsky's theories:

Vygotsky believes that young children are curious and actively involved in their own learning and the discovery and development of new understandings/schema. However, Vygotsky placed more emphasis on social contributions to the process of development, whereas Piaget emphasized self-initiated discovery.

According to Vygotsky (1978), much important learning by the child occurs through social interaction with a skilful tutor. The tutor may model behaviours and/or provide verbal instructions for the child. Vygotsky refers to this as co-operative or collaborative dialogue. The child seeks to understand the actions or instructions provided by the tutor (often the parent or teacher) then internalises the information, using it to guide or regulate their own performance.

Shaffer (1996) gives the example of a young girl who is given her first jigsaw. Alone, she performs poorly in attempting to solve the puzzle. The father then sits with her and describes or demonstrates some basic strategies, such as finding all the comer/edge pieces and provides a couple of pieces for the child to put together herself and offers encouragement when she does so. As the child becomes more competent, the father allows the child to work more independently. According to Vygotsky, this type of social interaction involving co-operative or collaborative dialogue promotes cognitive development.

How you could apply Vygotsky's theory in practice.

- Talk to Rabiyah's father, ask him to come and demonstrate his hobby at the centre for the other children to see.

- Demonstrate different ways patterns are formed to Rabiyah.

- Provide a selection of different materials Rabiyah can use to create patterns.

- Provide books to Rabiyah of different patterns from different countries.

- Help Rabiyah to explore the environment within the centre to find natural occurring patterns.

I hope this gives you a few ideas!

Hope you're having a great weekend,

Cheers ,
L.A

[sherry.mcc]

Thank you so much L.A.,
I couldn't quite work out wether they wanted me to put theories as an answer or ???.
Thank you for helping. Much appreciated.

Sherry

[sherry.mcc]

Thank you L.A,
I have just finished SS030 Piaget and the last question is to do with the same story above but I now have to suggest what I would do from a Piagetian perspective.
I have put I would provide pattern activities such as patterns on leaves, sponge printing, and such and such.
Am I on the right track?
Thank you

[Lorina]

Hey Sherry,

Piaget's theory is a little bit different as he has a developed cognitive "stages" that you go through from birth to adolescence. Here is some info:

Sensorimotor: (birth to about age 2)
During this stage, the child learns about himself and his environment through motor and reflex actions. Thought derives from sensation and movement. The child learns that he is separate from his environment and that aspects of his environment -- his parents or favorite toy -- continue to exist even though they may be outside the reach of his senses. Teaching for a child in this stage should be geared to the sensorimotor system. You can modify behavior by using the senses: a frown, a stern or soothing voice -- all serve as appropriate techniques.

Preoperational: (begins about the time the child starts to talk to about age 7)
Applying his new knowledge of language, the child begins to use symbols to represent objects. Early in this stage he also personifies objects. He is now better able to think about things and events that aren't immediately present. Oriented to the present, the child has difficulty conceptualizing time. His thinking is influenced by fantasy -- the way he'd like things to be -- and he assumes that others see situations from his viewpoint. He takes in information and then changes it in his mind to fit his ideas. Teaching must take into account the child's vivid fantasies and undeveloped sense of time. Using neutral words, body outlines and equipment a child can touch gives him an active role in learning.

Concrete: (about first grade to early adolescence)
During this stage, accommodation increases. The child develops an ability to think abstractly and to make rational judgements about concrete or observable phenomena, which in the past he needed to manipulate physically to understand. In teaching this child, giving him the opportunity to ask questions and to explain things back to you allows him to mentally manipulate information.

Formal Operations: (adolescence)
This stage brings cognition to its final form. This person no longer requires concrete objects to make rational judgements. At his point, he is capable of hypothetical and deductive reasoning. Teaching for the adolescent may be wideranging because he'll be able to consider many possibilities from several perspectives.

Sourced from: http://www2.honolulu.hawaii.edu/facdev/ ... piaget.htm

So through a Piaget perspective experiences include:

- Sorting patterns into colours

- Matching pattern cards with objects

- Providing pattern blocks with picture cards

You can also add the experiences you came up with because I think they are relevant...

I'm glad you were able to complete your last assignment,

Hopefully you should be able to complete this one,

Cheers ,
L.A

[sherry.mcc]

Hello L, A.,
Once again thank you for your help.
I can see now what the difference is with this question.
Cheers
Sherry

[cris87au]

Ahhh another Cognitive question. It's an annoying Unit! hehe

With the original question, would my following answer be correct or atleast on the right track?

"I could apply Vygotsky's theory by creating a small group experience which consists of a pattern making experience from various materials (eg, making necklaces with beads that can later be introduced in a dramatic play area) or any other experience that can be implimented socially into the problem."

Thankyou in advance for your advice.

[Lorina]

Hi Cris,

Yep you got it... you're on the right track!

Cheers ,
L.A

[cris87au]

Thanks L.A. Great to know I'm slowly getting use to these Theorists' practices

[WarblerOn]

This is what I said for Provide an example of an educator using the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).

An educator extending a child’s knowledge on its interest of spiders after a spider has come into the room and the child encourages the educator to look at it and engage in conversation about the spider. After ensuring the spider is away from harm, and out of reach of the children; Other than being frightened by the spider, the educator can support the child’s enthusiasm in group activities, research projects or simply by providing information on what the educator knows to add to the child’s knowledge and it’s interest. Pictures and sound knowledge can help extend this knowledge, Asking the child questions on what it knows about the spider can give the educator an idea on the child’s knowledge and what the child doesn’t know

Not sure if it's right, but I remember my teacher providing us an example of encouraging children to learn about spiders, because we actually saw a spider outside our classroom and she extended the conversation as to how we would act professionally and how we would scaffold the children's learning by remaining calm and giving the information needed to encourage that interest