VYGOTSKY'S SOCIO-CULTURAL THEORY 

   - This theory emphasizes society, the importance of social interactions and a child’s culture. Social interactions have a huge influence on cognitive development, much more than biological factors.

Zone of Proximal Development

• When a child attempts to perform a skill alone, she may not be immediately proficient at it. So, alone she may perform at a certain level of competency. We refer to this as the zone of actual development. 

• The zone represents a learning opportunity where a knowledgeable adult such as a teacher or parent or a more advanced peer can assist the child’s development.

Scaffolding

• Assistance provided by more competent peers or adults to enable the task to be done successfully

•  Scaffolded instruction allows the learner to move through the ZPD

• Modelling; feedback; instruction; questioning; encouragement; task structuring; chunking; breaking the problem down

• Scaffolding is gradually withdrawn

More Knowledgeable Other (MKO): someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a task, process, or concept.