Teachers across the world often ponder what kind of instruction is optimal for a child. This is something that has puzzled developmental psychologists for a century.
The relationship between specific subject-matter instruction and its consequences for psychological development was a problem that the developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky (circa 1930s) sought to address, and he came up with an innovative concept called the “zone of proximal development.”
This concept holds that, through the assistance of a more competent person, a learner will be able to gather skills that are beyond his or her actual developmental abilities. At a minimum level, a learner will be able to reach the level of proficiency possible to accomplish independently. However, the learner will be able to reach a much higher level of proficiency with the assistance of a competent instructor.
In the 1950s, Jerome Bruner came up with the concept of “instructional scaffolding,” wherein learners are provided scaffold/support initially and it is gradually withdrawn, resulting in learners mastering the goals at a level greater than what would have been possible without support. Teachers foster patterns of talk that scaffold students to explore new ideas, learn things and move on to a new “zone of proximal development.”
In practice, the zone of proximal development sits between what a learner can do unaided and what lies entirely out of reach. Skilful teaching meets the learner in that zone, offers just enough support to make the next step possible, and then steadily removes it as the learner grows more capable.
Illustrative material on the zone of proximal development drawn from the State of Victoria (Australia) Department of Education professional-learning resources.