Learning Rant—ZPD
Hi there, quick rant about the Zone of Proximal Development.
It’s a really cool concept. It was coined (albeit in Russian) by Soviet scientist Lev Vygotsky in the early 1900’s. It didn’t reach the English-speaking masses until the late 70’s when a translation of his work became available.
It’s delightful to see that his ideas are still so relevant nearly a century later. They’re viewed as foundational to learning theory, and rightly well-loved and -cited. However, as with any widely popular construct, it’s easily watered down, its nuanced contours sanded off by the volume of eager people rushing to get in the Zone.
What is the Zone of Proximal Development?
Put simply, it’s the things you can’t do on your own, but can do with help. It seems to be a magical space where learning happens.
In application ZPD is often reduced to a rather obvious insight—if you’re teaching someone, don’t teach them something they already know nor something they can’t possibly grasp yet. This is valuable, but like, duh.
Here comes the rant. There is more to ZPD than managing the appropriate level of difficulty for a learner. It has other implications:
- Vygotsky posited that what you can do with help is in some ways a better form of assessment than what you can do on your own. Two people who perform equally on their own may perform very differently with help, which is very informative in trying to help either of them learn.
- If you can do something with help, Vygotsky takes that as evidence that you can one day do it on your own. How might that change how you view your students/children/employees?
- ZPD is more than plunking the right content in front of someone’s face based on a quiz score. Vygotsky framed learning as a fundamentally social enterprise. We learn in partnership with others, and we’re motivated by social relationships. So ZPD is a tool of empathy/awareness for more knowledgeable people who are trying to help other less knowledgable people in a joint social endeavor.
Most things we do that are of any consequence we do in partnership with other people, and often with help. How can ZPD help you rethink how you give and receive help in growing together with the folks you care for? #endrant
