VYGOTSKY, L. S. Educational Psychology. Boca Raton, Florida: St. Lucie
Press. 1997. (Translation of Robert Silverman and introduction
of V. V. Davydov)
Gordon Wells wrote:
>
> xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu writes:
> >the child teaches himself (...) in educational process, the student's
> >individual experience is everything (...)The educational process must be
> >based on the student's individual activity, and the art of education
> >should involve nothing more than guiding and monitoring this activity
> >(...)KNOWLEDGE THAT IS NOT GAINED THROUGH PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IS NOT
> >KNOWLEDGE AT ALL (...)the teacher is the director of the social
> >enviroment in the classroom, the governor and guide of the interaction
> >between the educational process and the student (...)Education is
> >realized through the student's own experience, which is wholly
> >determined by the environment, and" (Ch. 4, p. 47-50)
>
> Thanks for the fascinating set of quotes from Vygotsky's 'Educational
> Psychology" (btw, could you please provide publication details). The
> emphasis on the primacy of experience is very reminiscent of Dewey. But
> what I find surprising in the above passage is the playing down of the
> role of co-participation in social activity and hence of the contribution
> of others in the zpd. Dewey, too, would place more emphasis on the
> interactional role of the teacher, I think, than is suggested in this
> quote.
>
> >THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER THEN
> >REDUCES TO DIRECTING AND GUIDING THE ENVIRONMENT.
> This sentence sounds more like the child-centred pedagogical approach
> derived from Piaget than the Vygotsky who wrote: "The teacher, working
> with the school child on a given question, explains, informs, inquires,
> corrects, and forces the child himself to explain. All this work on
> concepts, the entire process of their formation, is worked out by the
> child in collaboration with the adult in instruction." (Thinking and
> Speech, pp.215-6, Minick's translation, 1987).
>
> What I find surprising is that the passage quoted came from a text
> explicitly addressed to the practicalities of using psychological
> understandings in educational contexts. It seems almost diametrically
> opposed to the more theoretical account quoted above from Thinking and
> Speech.
>
> Do other share my surprise?
>
> Gordon Wells
> OISE/University of Toronto