Lev Vygotsky

Now, here is a chap with the most amazing mind!, allot of what he has written at first has seemed just so confusing, but when I slowly get the hang of the language he uses and what he means, I can see he really had a great perception of how the learners minds work. I found a web site that helped me see some implementation of the tools that Vygotsky proposed for educators to use, Information on Tools of the Mind is now at http://web.archive.org/web/20Information on Tools of the Mind Following the links from this web address I was able to see some real ways of using his theories, which gives me something concrete to grasp hold of in a mental picture for myself to start understanding.
The way Vygotsky talks about us learning from the outside, from the social context that we are in as children, the environment around us. His theory of The Zone of Proximal Development,gives the individual the tools to step up to the next level of learning and understanding, using external help. The way our cognition grows and matures is not independent of our social environment but because of it. Now this has rather profound implications for how we as educators teach in this country and all over the world, we funnel these little ones into a class room and try to teach them. The use of scaffolding or mediation ( when an educator or peer ) assists with the solving of problems by tips, hints or demonstrations. These learning tools must be relevant to the individual, they have to be able to make sense of them, using their cognition of the social context they are in. I think their peer group is a very strong way for them to grasp this learning. Setting tasks and giving the students time to work in groups can be one of the ways to aid this learning process.
http://chd.gmu.edu/immersion/knowledgebase/theorists/constructivism/vygotsky.htm
http://www.funderstanding.com/vygotsky.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Vygotsky
http://www.kolar.org/vygotsky/
http://tip.psychology.org/vygotsky.html