Monday, September 28, 2009

Rachael Matchett

My understanding of the zone of proximal development is this: it is the space between which a child completely understands the concepts of what they are learning and the extent to where they need a teachers help. I first learned about the zone of proximal development in my psychology class a year ago. It was very confusing at first, but after some examples were given, it was easier to break down. However, I think that this article did a poor job of giving the exact definition of the zone of proximal development. Had I not known about this concept before, I would have been completely lost. The authors did a good job though when it came to giving the example of the two twelve year olds and how one has a mental development of an eight year old and the other has the mental development of an eleven year old. When looking back on my academic past, I can remember specific times where the zone of proximal development was highlighted. When I began first grade, I was about six or seven years old. I would say that my mental ability was around a five or six year old. I did not struggle with school; I just was not as advanced as a second grader. I often copied my classmates when they did something funny or an action that was liked. At home, I was more of the leader since I had two younger brothers. I would notice that they would copy my actions sometimes. When it came to simple tasks though, I would need help from my parents. I could not cook anything on my own. If I wanted to make anything, my parents would have been right there to guide me. When I was fifteen I was learning to drive. I knew all the rules for the road, but when it came to driving alone, I was not capable. My zone of proximal development would have been the space in between driving independently and not driving at all. I struggled in math when I was this age too. I was a sophomore in high school and I very much needed as much help as I could get. I was in a lower math class then all of the other students. So my real age was fifteen, but my mental abilities were about thirteen or fourteen. My zone of proximal development was much different than all of my friends.

1 comment:

  1. I agree that the article did not do a very good job at describing ZPD and the example of the two children was helpful.

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