By: Rudy Broe and Marie Bergez

1. RB & MB Vygotsky By: Rudy Broe and Marie Bergez

2. “The very essence of human memory is that human beings actively remember with the help of signs. It is a general truth that the special character of human behavior is that human beings actively manipulate their relation to the environment, and through the environment they change their own behavior, subjugating, it to their control. The very essence of civilization consists in the fact that we deliberately build monuments so as not to forget. In the monument, we see the most profound, most characteristic and most important feature which distinguishes human from animal memory.” RB & MB

3. Objectives RB & MB • By the end of this presentation, viewers will have a greater understanding and appreciation for one of the greatest psychologists of the 20th century – Vygotsky! • We will discuss who this man was • The theories he developed • Specifically dealing with the capabilities of higher and lower mental functions. • Show how our tests supported or refuted his theories on a child’s mental development

4. About Vygotsky RB & MB • Lived from 1896 to 1934 • Born in Czarist Russia • Jewish • Russian Psychologist • In 1917 became a teacher • 1922 Stalin came to power • Died of tuberculosis • 180 works • Works had a huge impact on educational psychology

5. RB & MB What are higher and lower mental functions? • Lower mental function: Elementary perception, memory, attention, and will. These do not disappear in a mature psyche but are structured and organized according to specifically human social goals and means of conduct. • Higher mental function: Memory, perception, and attention, to be studied in terms of how they are organized in concrete human activity, and how this organization changes as a function of social conditions and development.

6. “Elementary functions are said to be characteristic of purely animal, in contrast to human, psychological functioning. Elementary functions develop and mature as the organism develops physically” “With human children, psychological development is not limited to the natural evolution of elementary mental functions with which it is endowed by nature. The child comes to develop higher mental functions which are distinctively human in kind.” “The character of each psychological capacity is determined by the developing relations it bears to the others. As a child develops this system, so it’s innate, elementary functions are totally reconstructed or cease to exist all together.” “From the outset, Vygotsky stressed how the creation of a sign vastly broadens the horizons of the human mind. Signs enable us to master our own psychological functioning.” “We employ signs to draw attention, to aid recall, to represent problems in a way that facilitates their solution and so on. Hence, Vygotsky concluded, the key to the higher psychological functioning lies in the mediating role of the sign.” Vygotsky’s Research on Memory (His thoughts) RB & MB

7. Words to Know Psychologicaltools- mental artificial formations; master the natural behavior and cognitive process of an individual. Mediation - human beings purposefully interpose tools between them and their environment, in order to modify it and obtain certain benefits. Cognitive Development - a wide variety of thought processes and intellectual abilities. Internalization – process of acceptance of set of norms established by people or groups which are influential to individual Zone of Proximal Development – gap between actual competence level and potential development level RB & MB

8. According to Vygotsky… Younger children use a more primitive mental function, so they remember objects simply as images with no relation to other objects. If they use elementary mental functions they will not use a psychological tool. However, they will be able to remember more objects than older children because the lower mental function facilitates their ability to remember individual images. Older children who use psychological tools to aid their memories will remember more objects than younger children who are relying on the type of memory available as a lower mental function. RB & MB

9. Our Experiment Tested a child’s mental capacity to retain images, and tested whether this capacity differed depending on the child’s stage of development. We tested seven first graders and seven fifth graders using twenty images that could be organized into five different groups and in each group four categories. Children attended HFN We performed two separate tests that required the children to memorize all twenty of the images; the second test incorporated a psychological tool. We scored the children based on the number of images remembered and the order the images were recalled in. RB & MB

10. Our Hypothesis The first graders will score higher on the first test and the fifth graders will score lower than the first graders. When given a psychological tool on the second test, the fifth graders will remember more of the images than the first graders. In general, children who use our psychological tool to mediate memory will remember more objects than children who do not use our psychological tool. More older children than younger children will use a psychological tool. More older children than younger children will apply the psychological tool they were taught. RB & MB

11. Rubric

12. Example of Group RB & MB Food Mom Home Baby

13. Scripts First Test Placed 20 images in front of child Asked child to remember images and told them they would need to recall them after a minute. Looked at pictures for 1:00 minute. Recorded images child recalled. Second Test Placed 20 images in front of child Explained our psychological tool Child organized the pictures using our psychological tool Looked at pictures for 1:00 minute Recorded images child recalled RB & MB

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15. Round 1 – Interesting subject RB & MB

16. Observations of First Test: RB & MB • First grades saw images individually • looked up and down the rows in order not finding connection • 5/7 Fifth graders demonstrated having higher mental functions by creating their own psychological tools to organize the photos. • First graders showed no signs of using psychological tools, nor did they explain a pattern in which they remembered. • Fifth graders remember more overall.

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18. Round 2 – Interesting Subject RB & MB

19. Observations of Second Test: RB & MB • Most of the children would scan vertically or horizontally up and down the rows. • Most of the children said that they used our method and that it helped a lot. • Fifth graders demonstrated higher mental functions because they understood the relationship between the images and were able to recall them. • 5/7 First graders showed the ability to use the psychological tool, even though not all of them could explain that it was the reason for remembering.

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22. What we would do differently Put pictures in same order every time Could have pushed them to remember more Tested more children Tested children from public school Tested more boys in fifth grade Given the test in a less distracting place The first test we gave, we allowed the girl to look at the picture for a 1:30 Not allowed for an extra minute at the end of the second test to review the images Waited longer to give the second test RB & MB

23. Conclusion Our hypothesis was not proven to be completely correct The first graders did not recall more images than the fifth graders on the first test as we had predicted Both the first and fifth graders remembered more on the second test when we assumed only the fifth graders would recall more with our psychological tool More older children than younger children did apply the psychological tool (Hypothesis correct!) More older children knew to apply a psychological tool when we did not tell them one ( Hypothesis correct!) In general, the children who used our psychological tool to mediate memory remembered more objects than the children who did not use our psychological tool. The majority of the children we tested fit into the higher mental functioning group because most of them demonstrated the ability to understand and use our tool. RB & MB

24. Questions that came up during experiment Soomin remembered the pictures with his own psychological technique of putting the picture into a story. If we had more fifth grade boy subjects, would they have had similar mental functions? Are these children GT students and would testing public school children bring back lower results? RB & MB

25. Nature vs Nurture RB & MB Vygotsky Rousseau Kant Piaget Locke Khirallah Nature Nurture Montessori

26. El Fin RB & MB