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Social Development Theory Paper

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Lev Vygotsky founded the social development theory. He is seen as one of the leading psychologists in education. The social development theory basically says that the potential for cognitive development relies mainly on the zone of proximal development, or what we know as ZPD. The ZPD places emphasis on what social interaction and how important it is for the developing child. This paper will go into more depth of what ZPD is, how it benefits children, and opinions on the theory.
The ZPD is a level of development attained when children engage in social behavior. Whether the child has mastered full social interaction will determine if a child will obtain full development of their ZPD. It has been shown that children acquire knowledge better when teachers make sure that they learn within their ZPD. The ZPD stresses the importance of social interaction and how often the child participates in sociocultural activities for learning and development.
The idea behind ZPD is that children learn best when working together with others, and it is through such …show more content…

This places much responsibility on the part of teachers and parents as agents of development for children. The goal is to assess each child's ZPD for a given activity and then pitch sensitive instruction to children at their upper limit of the zone. This point is where children learn with the assistance of their instructor. As the child learns, their skill level increases, and the teacher gradually reduces the assistance and gives the opportunity for the child to perform on their own. This is called scaffolding. Eventually, the child masters the required skills needed to accomplish the task. Once the task is accomplished, the result is the development of a new, higher

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