Vygotsky’s Theory
John’s problem behaviours can be explained using Vygotsky’s theory and the theory can be applied by scaffolding. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development asserts that social interaction is vital to cognitive development, given that cognitive development abilities are constructed and guided through social interactions. Thus, social influences, in particular, instructions from a More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) are of importance to child development. Additionally, the potential for cognitive development lies within the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which is a level of development that a child attains when he engages in social behaviour. Scaffolding is the temporally support offered to a child by a knowledgeable other to enable a child to perform a task until he gains the independence to do the job on his own. It can be achieved by modifying the quantity and quality of support during the training to fit the child’s current level of performance.
Since culture serves the mediator for development, as in Vygotsky’s theory, the MKOs in John’s, life, including his parents and teachers can apply two interventions to solve his problem behaviours. First, his parents can try to spend more time interacting with him and encourage him to have friends to play with rather than playing video games and watching TV. Through social interactions with other children and with his parents, his cognitive abilities can develop as well as his discipline.it could also prompt him to engage in physical playmaking him healthier as he is an obese child. Second, his teachers can identify John’ ZPD and use it through scaffolding help him to facilitate meaning construction. The reason is that humans use tools such as writing and speech, which develop from culture to mediate their environments (Shabani, 2016). So, by promoting learning contexts in which John plays an active role in learning, he can internalize the tools leading to higher thinking skills.
Reference
Shabani, K. (2016). Applications of Vygotsky’s sociocultural approach for teachers’ professional development. Cogent Education, 3(1). doi: 10.1080/2331186x.2016.1252177