The Zone of Proximal Development in Vygotsky's
Analysis of Learning and Instruction
Chaiklin (2005) argues, "A theory of learning that can explain how intellectual capabilities are developed is needed" (p. 39). She imparts to the reader a brief history surrounding the popularity of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and its influence in psychology, and educational research in teaching and learning across various subject matters. Seemingly, her epistemological, ontological and axiological frameworks confirm her beliefs on the plausibility of the zone of proximal development in contrast to normative and various political assertions surrounding the goals of instruction and resources which are available to achieve these goals. Apparently, she supports Vygotsky's concept of zone of proximal development as the optimal choice for children in contemporary society.
Her article is instructive because she includes scholarly interpretative literature on the concept of the zone of proximal development and more importantly she provides readers an opportunity to critically examine how Vygotsky developed his social position on psychology. Her article is also an example of Vygotsky's psychological tools, e.g., artifacts, symbols, and text, etc., and his cultural mediation model. This can be viewed as an organized learning activity or medication through another human being via the written text.
The ZPD can be connected to an experience that I had with 7th grade boys who had a desire to play on Jordon Elementary School's basketball team several years ago. This school was named after Michael Jordon's father and the school's population consisted of a cross sector of students throughout the Roger's Park community. My ex-husband, Rodney and I volunteered to coach these students because they were considered educationally challenged and really didn't display any athletic acuity in basketball in the eyes of their peers and the other coaches. Rodney emerged as their head coach and I became their assistant coach. I believe that this culturally mediated experience represents an organized learning activity because the young boys learned more than just how to play basketball. We help to lay the groundwork for them to hopefully succeed in life beyond basketball. Kozulin (2003) argues, "Vygotskian theory
stipulates that the development of the child's higher mental processes depends on the presence of mediating agents in the child's interaction with the environment" (p. 19).
On our first day of practice, we mutually set the ground rules between the boys and ourselves about how we were going to achieve our goals. My ex-husband told the boys a little bit about his background and I also did the same. Then we allowed the boys to also share a little bit about themselves. This opportunity allowed us to get to learn about one another.
While Rodney focused on building their athletic skills, I used the time
with the boys to focus on building their character. In this context, (Chaiklin 2005) reports Vygotsky's concept of psychological tool, e.g., artifacts, symbols, text , etc. and the cultural mediators are the students who become "appropriated in the context of particular sociocultural activities" during the middle school years (Kozulin 2005). Moreover, all of us agreed on the importance of punctuality, attendance, self/mutual respect, and proper attire, e.g., gym shoes, short, t-shirts, etc. because it was a team effort. Each person had a responsibility to themselves and their other team mates. The boys seemingly bought into this approach because they were apart of the decision making process from the onset.
While most of the boys complied at each practice session, we did have one student who appeared behaviorally challenged and was acting out in class. I relate chaos theory to this process because it threatened disequilibrium among the other students in class, administrators, teachers, fellow team mates and ourselves and the experience became nonlinear. The experience with this behaviorally challenged boy comports with what one of our doctoral students said during our point-counterpoint class discussion, "schools and classrooms are set up as linear so we buck up against it because they are not linear. I would have never thought about it as a theory, but it's what you do anyway." In the role of the experienced other, it became our responsibility to convey to this boy how his questionable behavior threatened himself, other people and his opportunity to play basketball. This connects to blaming the child as another doctoral student argued, "We blame the child who can't adapt in schools when it's more than that." This boy began to straightened out his behavior if for no other reason than to have the opportunity to play basketball. I also want to point out that he was also academically gifted, particularly in math. We didn't lose hope with him.
Rodney and I met regularly with the boys and their athletic skills began
to show improvement.. Most of the boys complied with the ground rules that were laid out from the beginning. As a result, they were allowed to play in the tournaments despite their level of skills. The boys also saw how their competitors were violently acting out on the floor during games and they also saw they conducted themselves in a respectable manner. We provided praise to them even though they may have come up short in skill level while playing against their opponents. Our team developed a sense of pride and also came in second place in the tournament.
At the banquet, Rodney and I received awards presented to us by Delores Jordan who is Michael Jordan's mom. I was truly surprised because I didn't expect such recognition. Chaos theory can also be witnessed in this experience with the 7th grade boys because the gym teacher wanted us to return and work with the other students. However, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) now required background checks for all its volunteers. Rodney agreed to have one done and I refused because I thought it was too intrusive and I don't trust the system with stuff like that. Besides, I just merely took time out of my life to help some disabled students.
In closing, in defining the zone of proximal development, Chaiklin (2005) quotes Vygotsky, "what the child is able to do in collaboration today he will be able to do independently tomorrow" (p. 40). I perceive the zone of proximal development to simply mean what a child is able to do presently with the assistance of cultural mediators, e.g., parents, peers, teachers, community, institutions, etc., he/she will be able to do independently in the future. Upon hearing an update on the 7th grade boys who we had coached, most of them went on to high school and were doing well.
Copyright @ Barnes 2007
