The significance of Vygotsky’s theories Essay Example for Free

The significance of Vygotsky’s theories Essay There has been increasing interest in the significance of Vygotsky’s theories and methodologies in education, mainly because these were not completed and empirically tested by Vygotsky himself, and because for Vygotsky, education was â€Å"central to cognitive development† and is â€Å"the quintessential sociocultural theory. † Vygotsky’s theories have been important in creating educational change, and his formulations concerning the â€Å"surrounding situations† in education help us understand the social nature of behavior. Because of the importance of culture and social context to sociocultural theorists, they would naturally be concerned with education as it begins outside the classroom—in the â€Å"real† world. Thus, learning was studied in places where conventional thought deemed that it did not occur in. However, this does not tell much about the source of cognitive skills because of the variability of success of specific tasks, depending on the social context—the â€Å"surrounding situation. † Vygotsky believed that cognitive development per se created potentialities but that learning is required to realize them. He believed that it is important to understand the relationship between instruction and mental development to understand many aspects of teaching and learning. Vygotsky differentiated between spontaneous and non-spontaneous development—between a concept whose meaning is experienced and that whose meaning needs to be explained systematically, for example. The issue of diversity is a considerable challenge to sociocultural theorists today. Sociocultural theories can help in teaching socially and culturally diverse learners. The Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition (LCHC), an institution which has made significant contributions to sociocultural theory, has helped in testing, analyzing, and expanding ideas on the social nature of human thought. Two of the LCHC’s most important products are the Fifth Dimension, a computer-based curriculum for academically challenged students, and La Clase Magica, an offspring of the Fifth Dimension focused on diversity. The idea of the social nature of human thought has existed for a long time, although it was Vygotsky who â€Å"solidified† the whole paradigm. Socio-cultural research on education is in its early stages. The increasing diversity in the world of education means that researches will need to work with many cultures in mind, and will need to collaborate across cultures. It can be expected that knowledge of the social nature of thought and its relationship to education will increase an necessary to accommodate the rapidly changing realities of modern times.