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VYGOTSKY’S DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION With Elena Bodrova, Ph.D. and Deborah Leong, Ph.D.
1994 (28 min) $250.
ISBN: 1-891340-62-X View a short clip from this film. Visit our Support Materials section to view or download the Learning Guide and Discussion Topics for this film.
Best known for his concept of the Zone of Proximal Development, the margin at which optimal learning takes place, Lev Vygotsky’s work has much relevance in formulating thoughtful educational practices.
Film content: Vygotsky’s own, tragically brief, life that exposed him to a wide sweep of humanity. His concept that humans construct knowledge, rather than taking it in as they do food and air. This he shared with his contemporary, Jean Piaget. His concept that learning can lead mental development. In this he differed from Piaget. His concept that development cannot be separated from the social context in which it occurs. Individual lives are very much shaped their particular social environment.
His concept that language plays a central role in mental development.
Visuals: Rare archival materials documenting Vygotsky’s life during the dramatic years of early 20th century Russia Contemporary film sequences from three classrooms: an urban Head Start and two multi-aged primary classrooms Carefully rendered graphic representations of important concepts Fascinating film of a pre-literate Papua New Guinea village during a visit by anthropologist Margaret Mead, to demonstrate how social context shapes thought processes
Lev Vygotsky’s life: Born in 1896 in a small city in Belorussia, then a part of the Russian Empire University study in Moscow before the Russian Revolution
Work in a wide range of environments during the first decade of
the Communist era including teacher training
Wrote seven books and dozen of articles. Died in 1934 of tuberculosis, age 37. His work was banned in the USSR for decades after his death as being subversive.
Consultants: Elena Bodrova, Ph.D. was born and educated in the Soviet Union, immigrating to the United States in the early 1990’s. She studied under A.N. Leont’ev who had been a student of Vygotsky’s. In the United States, Dr. Bodrova has been a professor and has lead many teacher workshops for the Mid-Continent Research in Education and Learning Institute (MCREL).
Deborah Leong, Ph.D. received her doctorate in psychology from Stanford. She is a professor of psychology at Metropolitan College of Denver and the author of several books on constructivistic education.
Other films with Drs. Bodrova and Leong as consultants: SCAFFOLDING SELF-REGULATED LEARNING IN PRIMARY CLASSROOMS BUILDING LITERACY COMPETENCIES IN EARLY CHIILDHOOD Related film: Part of the GIANTS OF PSYCHOLOGY series
"I liked the film very much and particularly liked the Margaret Mead films, which visually supported Vygotsky's emphasis on the social context of learning. Bravo." — George Forman, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst A review of this film: Reviewed by Belinda L. Robinson - Jones, Coordinator, Educational Media Center/AV Services, Ohio University-MATC - Zanesville Campus Library, Zanesville, Ohio 43701 How do school-aged children learn? How is knowledge displayed in children? What are the steps in children's mental development? These and other questions are addressed in Vygotsky's Developmental Theory: An Introduction. Elena Bodrova and Deborah J. Leong, professors of Early Childhood Education at Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colorado, and co-authors of the book Tools of the Mind: The Vygotskian Approach to Early Childhood Education (Merrill/Prentice Hall, 1996) provide a biographical sketch of Russian educational psychologist Lev Vygotsky and also incorporate Vygotsky's history and scholarly development into an analysis of his theories on children's mental and intellectual development. Vygotsky's Developmental Theory: An Introduction explains how this early 20th century thinker has impacted and continues to affect the intellectual lives of children into the 21st century. Viewers will learn how Vygotsky overcame overwhelming odds to become a leader in the field of early childhood education and how French cognitive theorist Jean Piaget played an influential role as his mentor. Using three classrooms as examples in the film, including a Head Start and two multi-age primary classrooms, Bodrova and Leong describe some of the major issues in the area of child development, including Vygotsky's theories on how children construct knowledge; the process of learning and how it leads to intellectual development and the interconnectedness of development and social context. Footage of the indigenous people of Mannis, New Guinea is used to show Vygotsky's theories on how (based on social context) non-Western cultures have different ways of classifying and describing experiences. Bodrova and Leong also deconstruct some of the more difficult terms in this field of study, including "multiple classification", "The Zone of Proximal Development" (ZPD), "Levels of Independent Performance", "Levels of Assisted Performance", the differences between "lower intellectual functions", "higher intellectual functions" and the critical role of language in the mental functions of children. Enhanced with tasteful, original music by Thad Davidson and eye-catching animation and graphics by Mark Wright, this video-based textbook includes a well-written script with clear voice-overs, and a balance of scholarly and theoretical commentary. It is fused with clear, historical film and archival footage. Early childhood majors and educators in the field would find this introductory film indispensable. Recommended for film and video collections in the area of Education.
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