Abstract
The importance of Vygotsky’s thinking is reflected in how—despite being condemned and censured under Stalin in the CCCP where he worked—he is so often cited in educational work today. Vygotsky was something of a polymath, and appropriately his thinking has influenced a number of key areas of educational work. This chapter will explore some of Vygotsky’s most influential ideas, and in particular consider how they can inform the study and practice of education. Vygotsky posited a notion of conceptual development which highlighted the importance of the interaction between spontaneous conceptions and scientific or academic conceptions—the latter reflecting the formalised knowledge adopted within a culture, such as the formal concepts developed in the sciences. This kind of learning is therefore situated in a social context and mediated by cultural tools, such as language. From this perspective, the potential of a learner is best judged in terms of their capability within a supported teaching context (the so-called zone of proximal development), and effective teaching can be seen as a form of scaffolding of learning. Some of Vygotsky’s once-radical ideas have over time come to seem obvious to teachers (as his theory of cultural mediation might lead us to expect), but his work continues to drive thinking in areas such as social constructivism, cultural–historical activity theory and learning communities.
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Newman, F., & Holzman, L. (1993). Lev Vygotsky: Revolutionary scientist. London: Routledge.
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Taber, K.S. (2020). Mediated Learning Leading Development—The Social Development Theory of Lev Vygotsky. In: Akpan, B., Kennedy, T.J. (eds) Science Education in Theory and Practice. Springer Texts in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43620-9_19
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