Zone of Proximal Development is one of those buzz phrases you hear bandied about a lot in ed psych. It’s often mis-understood and probably needs some clarification. I think better with pictures so I drew some pictures to talk about ZPD. We tend to think about what we know like the picture below.
But Lev Vygotsky postulated that what we REALLY know looks more like the following:
His point being that we can’t really learn what we already know. That’s the solid blue in the middle. We also can’t really learn something that we don’t know exists. That’s the white area — all those things we don’t know anything about. We can only learn what we know something about and that’s the fuzzy blue area. Lev Vygotsky called this the zone of proximal development and it represents a kind of cognitive zone where people can learn. With help, a person can expand that zone — a teacher can provide a scaffold to extend it.
It’s like this class. In the first week, my scaffolding started with telling you that something existed. It was sort of like throwing you into the pool and telling you to swim — before you knew what a pool was or that it even existed — but the simple act of informing you that the technology existed and providing you with a rationale and a framework within which to learn more constitutes a scaffold. That extended your ZPDs which permitted you to learn more.
October 5th, 2006 at 11:14 am
[...] I like the description of “ZPD” and agree with this. I feel that it shows the different levels of learning. I agree that we know certain things and that there are other things that we can learn with a little help. [...]
October 5th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Good food for thought. I agree that we learn from things that we know already. We just refine and shine. Technology is used to help us enhance what we already know.
October 3rd, 2007 at 7:17 am
[...] For those who are still confused about ZPD, maybe this article from last year will help clear it up. ZPD Zone of Proximal Development is one of those buzz phrases you hear bandied about a lot in ed psych. It’s often mis-understood and probably needs some clarification. [...]
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:11 am
A good explantion of ZPD. You make it very clear to see.
A teacher points in the right direction with a hint of something new but within a setting in which they can use prior knowldge to learn beyond their current capabilities. We don’t need to spell everything out, instead we should allow students to add to what they know by working it out on their own, using our guidance as a map. They will remember this more than what is spelled out for them. They learn better by active engagement than by being told how. This makes sense!
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:25 am
Crystal clear explanation.
A teacher provides an environment where students feel like they are suffering, but they are not given any task that is impossible. We don’t need to hold students’ hands for everything and need to give them some independence to work out problems and extend their undestanding more.
October 3rd, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Wow! I think after multiple classes of this I finally get it. I just needed the picture.
October 5th, 2007 at 7:22 am
Your graphic of the ZPD gives a much better definition of student learning and understanding than what I had learned in a previous class. As teachers, we need to step away from the force feeding lectures and give the students the opportunity to explore learning. Teachers are a gateway to learning, facilitators, and the motivators.
October 5th, 2007 at 7:55 am
[...] For those who are still confused about ZPD, maybe this article from last year will help clear it up. ZPD Zone of Proximal Development is one of those buzz phrases you hear bandied about a lot in ed psych. It’s often mis-understood and probably needs some clarification. [...]
October 5th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
[...] phaedrus » Blog Archive » ZPD phaedrus » Blog Archive » ZPD [...]
October 6th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
I have often heard ZPD used in a variety of forms in education. The most interesting reference I’ve heard lately came from a coach, who discussed working a player’s frustration levels to help make him a better player. Although Vygotsky may disaprrove of this being labeled one’s ZPD, I think it has some merit…
October 2nd, 2008 at 6:28 am
[...] phaedrus » Blog Archive » ZPD. [...]
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
The pictures really clarify ZPD. I’ve had past instructors who never could explain it. They would just read the definition. Teachers are really able to extend students knowledge. We introduce them to new ideas and they continue to build upon those ideas until they are known. They cannot learn something that they know nothing about. It would be like me giving a 1st grader a basal reading book and telling them to read it from beginning to end. Will they be able to do that? Yes, but most cannot at the beginning of the year. As we build upon skills throughout the book they know strategies to teach themselves to read. I can only provide instruction and guidance. I cannot physically make them learn to read.
October 2nd, 2008 at 8:29 pm
The picture is quite fascinating. I like how Vygotsky described why the area on the edge of known was fuzzy because it is what we can learn more about.
October 4th, 2008 at 8:33 am
This makes perfect sense. There has to be some secondary, or background information provided before the “meat” of the lesson can be understood. The example of swimming is actually as good if not better than the visual interpretation of ZPD. This is why we do not teach government to 6 year olds; they do not understand the basics concepts of country or the United States.
October 4th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
You did a great job at explaining the zone of proximal development. I have to be honest, that I had basically only heard the definition of this concept and never really had it explained in simpler terms that I could understand. I think I know exactly what it is now!
October 5th, 2008 at 8:32 am
I have heard about ZPD since my very fist education class, 5 years ago. But, no one has ever been able to offer a definition that actually makes sense to me. In fact, I have heard so many definitions that it has become more confusing since. I now understand why there are so many explanations out there. This puts it all together.
October 5th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
It would be very difficult for anyone to learn about something that they did not know existed. How can you imagine something being there, without some clues as to its existence. The teacher who should know more than the student can provide some direction to the students who can then learn on their own, once they know something is there to discover. But, how did the first learners ever figure anything out, when their was no teacher?
October 6th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
So does the availability of knowledge through technology affect the ZPD of the average student. Since we can ‘plow’ through information at a faster pace, does that help students advance their ZPD at a comparable rate? Or is ZPD a measure of acquired knowledge meshed with a cognitive developmental level that progresses at its own pace?
October 6th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I don’t think it’s generalizable that way.
Having knowledge available — whether it’s via the internet or in a good library — doesn’t matter if it’s only “available.” It has to be implemented in some way, not just available.
I think what ZPD gives is an understanding of — for lack of a better idea — a kind of learning “readiness.” There’s a certain sense of “effectiveness” that comes into play here as we try to make information available to students — a continuum of “first contact” on one end to “final reinforcement” on the other.