CTET

Lev S. Vygotsky was a physiologist born in Russia in 1986. Vygotsky was most famous for his theory of socio-cultural development and believed that development occurs primarily through interaction with one’s culture.

Key Difference Between Piaget & Vygotsky theory

According to Piaget, mind models the external world. Human Beings make sense of their world by means of their mental structure.

According  to Vygotsky, external world models the mind. Knowledge is internalization of social activity.

Key Points of Vygotsky’s theory 

– supports the emphasis on social interaction as a tool for learning;
– students are able to solve problems cooperatively before they are ready to solve the same problem on their own;
– zone of proximal development (ZPD) is extended when learners are able to socially interact in group problem solving.

– Mediation is Vygotsky’s central concept of viewing child development (imp.) through which human being is able to modify the environment, this is his/her/its way of interacting with the nature.
– Scaffolding is the second concept defined by Vygotsky which stresses the role of a social partner of the student ( a teacher or a more skilled peer.
– Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is Vygotsky’s major concept of defining the gap between actual competence level ( what problem level a student is able to independently solve) and the potential development level (what problem level could he/she/it solve with guidance from a tutor.

IMPORTANT PAST YEAR QUESTIONS

Q 1. Vygotsky belogns to
a. Russia                   b. U.S.A
c. Germany              d. Australia
Ans. a

Q 2. Can there be thought without language?
a. Yes                         b. No
c. Sometimes           d. Rarely
Ans. b

Q 3. Who among the following is the psychologist whose hypothesis, in the most extreme form maintains that language is necessary for thought
a. Piaget                     b. Vygotsky
c. Whorf                     d. H.H.Clark
Ans. c

Q 4. Thinking is one of the several activities of human mind. It is also called
a. free imagination
b. concept formation
c. systematised and directed
d. image formation
Ans. c

Q 5. The raw material of thinking is:
a. symbols                    b. semantics
c. man                           d. child
Ans. a

Q 6. The concept of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) was given by which  psychologist thinker
a. Piaget                    b. Vygotsky
c. Kohlberg               d. Pavlov
Ans. b

Q 7. Which of the following statements are consistent with Vygotsky’s approach to explain cognitive development?
a. Children are like apprentices, manages much of their own learning by observing adults, sibling & peers;
b. Language is a key to the collabrative learning in which children engage;
c. Formal schooling is the main avenue of cognitive during early childhood;
d. Scaffolding & guided participation can be used to help children learn.

Ans. c

Q 8 . Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory suggests that a child’s most important discoveries are guided by
a. other children
b. adult acting as tutors
c. neither other children nor adult acting as tutors
d. both other children & adult acting as tutors
Ans. b