Zpd Vygotsky

ZPD and whole class teaching: Teacher-led and student-led interactional mediation of tasks (Guk and Kellogg, 2007) focused on Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which has been associated with individual scaffolding of learners. In the article, the authors pointed to the fact that, teachers who must teach a whole class, seem to dismiss the concept of ZPD as unworkable. The authors examine the process of thought for educators to further understand the use of Vygotskys theory, when faced with whole classrooms of children rather than single learners, as they face the difficultly of applying the process of ZPD (Guk & Kellogg, 2007).

A key component in incorporating ZPD within the classroom can seem problematic when faced with whole classrooms of students rather than a single student. The notion of any given group of students having a common ZPD seems farfetched for most educators. This instance is key, as it forces teachers to plan activities for whole classes instead individuals. Another key component stems around the question of how to get the teacher to organize the social environment into group work in which an “inter-mental development zone” is created largely through the use of exploratory talk. (Guk & Kellogg, 2007, p.284) These key elements clearly relate to my research question in which, I would like to know if the five key strategies of the Disciplinary Literacy principles of Teaching and Learning: 1) knowledge and thinking go together, 2) learning is an apprenticeship, 3) teachers mentor students, 4) assessment and instruction drive each other, and 5) classroom culture socializes intelligence; affect the conceptual knowledge, habits of thinking and pedagogical strategies of mathematics students.

I thought that the article clearly demonstrated the use of multiple references to give a non-bias view of each side of interactional mediation of tasks by Teacher to student and student to student. Evidence was presented that in the situation...