Yesterday's class revolved around Vygotsky's influence on educational practices and the constructivist approach. His Social Cognitive Theory was influenced by Marxism and opinions of people like Engels and Piaget. Interestingly, Vygotsky was born in Russia in 1896, the same year Piaget was born in Switzerland. Vygotsky had access to Piaget's publications, but Piaget was unable to study Vygotsky's work because of the Soviet government ban from 1936-1956. In the most simplest term, the difference between the two theorists is that Piaget believed development causes learning which leads to language, while Vygotsky claimed language is the mechanism of change which leads to learning which causes development; a chicken and the egg type argument.
After a brief lecture on all of this, the professor showed the class a youtube video of twin babies carrying on a conversation. Sitting in one big circle, she demonstrated the Paideia seminar format, and posed the discussion question of what would Piaget say was going on and what would Vygotsky interpret from the video. We were then told to pick a side, and the discussion began with everyone defending their favorite theorist. I believe Vygotsky's theory that language drives learning and development is true, mostly because metacognition is an internalized form of self talk which narrates intended actions. This belief will drive my future practices within a classroom, and create an atmosphere that is rich in language.
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