Learning About Learning

An important researcher and theorist in the area of the social theory of learning was L. S. Vygotsky. He gave us some important concepts, such as the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), scaffolding, and mediation, to name a few. His work is foundational, and dovetails with other concepts we are examining. Please take a look at an explanation and some examples.

This important theorist helped lay the groundwork for the Learning Community and Community of Practice approaches. Included in this explanation is a brief treatment of three theories of cognitive development which have influenced education for the past eighty years. Vygotsky helped develop the third and most comprehensive of these approaches.