The Recursive Knowledge Development Model for Virtual Environments - Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments - page 18

Vygotsky's Social Development Theory
and Zone of Proximal Development

especially at the elementary and secondary levels,
utilizes drill and practice strategies.

Programmed Instruction Vygotsky (1978) proposed that social interaction

profoundly influences cognitive development.
His theory centers on the belief that biological
and cultural development do not occur in isola-
tion. He believed that the development process
that begins at birth and continues until death is
too complex to be defined by stages. His work
describes a phenomenon he termed the Zone of
Proximal Development which is defined as the
distance between the actual knowledge level as
determined by independent problem solving and
the level of potential development as determined
through problem solving in collaboration with
more capable peers.
A central concept in Vygotsky's theory is the
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which may
be explained as zone of potential for cognitive
development that limited to a certain time span.
He defines the ZPD as having four learning stages.
These stages range between the lower limit of what
the student knows and the upper limits of what the
student has the potential of accomplishing. The
stages may be further divided as follows (p.35):

Programmed Instruction is a teaching method
where new material (or knowledge) is presented
to students in a graded sequence of controlled
steps. Students progress through the programmed
material by themselves at their own speed and after
each step they then test their comprehension by
answering an examination question or filling in
a diagram. Immediately they are shown the cor-
rect answer or given additional information. The
majority of computer software in use today utilizes
programmed instruction principles. Many online
learning environments employ operationalized
behavioral teaching and learning assumptions
through electronically delivered Programmed
Instruction.

Constructivism

Constructivism is generally considered to re-
flect a postmodern view of knowledge. It views
knowledge as a product of reality. Constructivists
consider learning to be an active process where
knowledge is contextualized rather than acquired.
Personal experiences guide the construction
of knowledge. Learners continuously test their
knowledge construction through social negotia-
tion. The learner is not a blank slate ( tabula rasa )
but brings past experiences and cultural factors
to a situation. Vygotsky and Bruner contribute
unique constructivist approaches that are worthy
of consideration when discussing construction of
virtual learning environments; Vygostky for his
belief in the social construction of knowledge and
Bruner for his leadership in discovery learning for
personal knowledge.

• Stage 1: Assistance provided by more ca-

pable others (experts or teachers)

• Stage 2: Assistance by self,

• Stage 3: Internalization,

• Stage 4: Recursiveness through prior stages.

Vygotsky's theory promotes contexts in which
students play an active role in learning. Roles of
the teacher and student are therefore shifted, as a
teacher should collaborate with students in order
to help facilitate meaning construction. Learning
becomes a reciprocal experience for the student
and teacher. The transfer of knowledge from
facilitator to learner in knowledge development
occurs through the gradual release of responsibil-
ity from the inter-psychological plane of teacher
and student to ultimately the intra-psychological