Vygotsky presents an evolution in the idea of teaching- the idea that learning is a socioculural process that is internal and external to the learner. Before him, the theorists we have been exposed to have offered models of learning and knowing that are entirely student-centered. He criticized the “stimulus-response framework”, something emphasized with Skinner’s behavioralist thinking, as being a poor way to observe human behavior, and that a new system considering broader aspects of human observation was necessary to better understand learning and thinking (Vygotsky 1978, P.60). The idea of learning as a social process would go on to inspire the work of those who came after him- Posner and Brown- as they would broaden learning by including in the process of learning the idea of being situated (i.e., in a context). The precursor to these ideas is emphasized heavily in his writings, where on P.57 he states “The internalization of socially rooted and historically developed activities is the distingnishing feature of human psychology, the basis of the qualitative leap from animal to human psychology” (Vygotsky 1978). I find it interesting to think that while we see the idea of learning as a sociocultural process as pretty common, at the time it was really revolutionary. I wonder if schools back then were so intensively learner focused there was little consideration ot the social aspects of learning, or if it just flew under the radar? Did people really see learning as a highly individual task back then, in comparison to education today?
I still have some confusion on the signs and tools aspects of Vygotsky. They are clearer than they were upon first read but I still feel shaky on identifying in unique and new situations what elements qualify as which. Internal and external to me did not simply my confusion, as there are still so many internal and external elements to consider in each situation. It especially confuses me how the sign is not something given but is something that arises in meaning by the user. Vygotsky indicates this on P.45-46 when he clarifies “This means that sign-using activity in children is neither simply invented nor
passed down by adults; rather it arises from something that is originally
not a sign operation and becomes one only after a series of qualitative
transformations” (Vygotsky 1978). For example, with the classic tanker activity with AST, what would one classify as the sign and what would one classify as the tool? Can we even define these terms objectively, given the personal internal meaning Vygotsky believes learners take from external things? He alludes to this on P.50, mentioning “The content of the thinking act in the child when defining such concepts is determined not so much by the logical structure of the concept itself as by the child’s concrete recollections” (Vygotsky 1978). With that said, how do we clearly evaluate learning and thinking with Vygotsky? We briefly touched on it in class but I am not sure how we can tell who knows what (who is learning may be a little more clear).