Vygotsky for Educators

Lev Vygotsky's approach to children's learning and development centers on adult mediation: adults engage children in age-appropriate activities and promote in this context the development of new motives and tools for thinking, problem solving, and self-regulation. Although this approach has earned widespread recognition in the global scientific community, English-speaking educators remain relatively unfamiliar with its contemporary elaborations for practical application. Yuriy V. Karpov offers the first comprehensive English introduction to contemporary elaborations of Vygotsky's ideas and their practical applications from birth through adolescence. He demonstrates the advantages of the Vygotskian approach over both traditional and constructivist education. This volume will prove an invaluable resource for educators and students in teacher education programs, as well as for everyone interested in educational and developmental psychology.

Introduction: 'there is nothing more practical than a good theory'; Part I. Mediation from Birth through Adolescence: 1. The Vygotskian notion of mediation as the major determinant of children's learning and development; 2. First year of life: infant-caregiver attachment as the foundation of further development; 3. Second and third years: from object-centered explorations to exploration of the world of social roles and relationships; 4. Three- to six-year-olds: why sociodramatic play is important and how to promote it; 5. Mediation of preschoolers' activities to promote school readiness; 6. Learning at school: children not only learn, they develop as well; 7. Understand adolescents and make a difference!; Part II. School: What to Teach, and How to Teach: 8. American cognitive psychologists and Russian Vygotskians about the content and process of learning at school; 9. What do students learn in 'traditional' schools?; 10. Does constructivist instruction present a good alternative to 'traditional' teaching?; 11. The Vygotskian theoretical learning approach as an alternative to 'traditional' explicit instruction and to constructivist instruction; Conclusion: don't blame it on genes!

Yuriy V. Karpov is Professor of Psychology and Education and Associate Dean at the Graduate School of Education of Touro College, New York. He is the author of The Neo-Vygotskian Approach to Child Development (2005), as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters in English, Russian, French and Spanish. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology and is a member of the American Educational Research Association and the International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology.