• Lev Vygotsky was born in 1896 in Orsha, Russia (what is now Belarus)

• He graduated with a law degree from Moscow State University in 1917

• In 1924, he attended the Institute of Psychology in Moscow

• It was at the Institute of Psychology that Vygotsky began to explore the ideas of cognitive development, which is a part of his studies that he has become famous for.

• He died in Moscow of tuberculosis in 1934.

• Social Historical Theory of Cognitive Development– Social and cultural interactions are critical to learning

– Mind is product of social/historical change

– Learning cannot be independent of social and cultural forces that influence individuals

• When asking children ages 4-8 to use memory aids to remember things, they did not use them and did not remember well

• When asking children 9-12 to use memory aids to help them remember things, they did use them and remembered better

• Younger children think they can remember anything on their own – They don’t know their capacities and limitations or

how to use external stimuli to help remember things

• Role of language is critical to thinking• Thought develops from social to individual– Thought and language are related– Developing internal dialogue has 3 steps

• First the child refers to absent objects interacting with others

• Second the child begins to direct comments to herself referring to absent objects but says them out loud– This is when egocentric speech occurs

» The child talks out loud about things that others will have no idea what they are talking about

• Third these comments are directed internally and turns into inner speech by way of internalizing social interactions

• “Distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (Vygotsky, 1935, p.86).– Level of assisted performance – Level of independent performance

1. Are children with 6 or more years of schooling likely to recall more common items that fall into culturally recognized categories than children with two years of schooling) recall? What about common items that fall into universal categories?

2. Are children with 6 or more years of schooling more likely to cluster items in culturally recognized categories than are children with fewer years of schooling – as a “tool” to help them remember?

3. When culturally recognizable items and universally recognizable items are grouped together, how many and what items will the more schooled children remember? less schooled?

• Children with 6 or more years of schooling (the 6th graders) will be able to remember the cultural items better then children who have had fewer years. (2nd graders).

• The 2nd graders will be able to remember the universal items better then the cultural items

• The 6th graders will have a better memory overall• The 6th graders will be able to find commonalities

and categorize the items to help them remember and the 2nd graders will not at this stage in their development.

Cow

Fish

Monkey

Cat Dog Horse

Lion

Mouse SnakeRabbit (Bunny)

Wind

Clouds

Snow (Christmas Tree)

Rain

Sun Rainbow

Tornado

Star

Snowman

Lightning

Scissors

Paper

Backpack

(School) Bus

Chalkboard

PaperclipCalculator Pencil

Book

Glue

Indian

Jack-O-Lantern(Pumpkin)

Skeleton

Bat Gravestone (R.I.P.)

Witch

Turkey (Pilgrim’s) Hat Corn

Ghost

• We had 4 different sets of 10 note cards. Each child went through three trials of memory. We interviewed ten children from both the 2nd grade and the 6th grade.

• The first trial the child was given 10 cards that fell into a universal category; (Animals or weather). They were given 2 minutes to look at the cards, and do whatever they needed to, to best remember as many of the cards as they could. After the 2 minutes we took the cards away and the kids told us as many as they could remember.

• The second trial the child was given 10 cards that fell into a cultural category; (School Supplies or Holidays). They were given 2 minutes to look at the cards, and do whatever they needed to, to best remember as many of the cards as they could. After the 2 minutes we took the cards away and the kids told us as many as they could remember.

• The third trial the child was given 20 cards with 10 cards from whichever universal category they had not seen and 10 cards from whichever cultural category they had not seen. They were given 2 minutes to look at the cards, and do whatever they needed to, to best remember as many of the cards as they could. After the 2 minutes we took the cards away and the kids told us as many as they could remember.

• While the child was working Rachel and I would write down their learning strategy to see if we could tell if they could see commonalities or categories within each trial set.

• After the children had remembered every card they could, Rachel and I would ask them how they remembered as many as they did and if they saw anything in common in the cards that they had just looked at.

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Savannah 7 Tiffany 7 Britain 7 Emily 7 *Elizabeth 7 Benjamin 7 Joshua 8 William 8 Jorge 8 Kim 8

Trial 1 (Universal)

Trial 2 (Cultural)

Results are out of 10 cards each time.*Did not complete the survey.

2nd Grader’s Separate Trials: Universal Vs. Cultural

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Savannah7

Tiffany 7 Britain 7 Emily 7 *Elizabeth7

Benjamin7

Joshua 8 William 8 Jorge 8 Kim 8

Trial 3 (Combined)

Number of Universal

Number of Cultural

Number of N/A Answers

Results are out of 20 cards each time.*Did not complete the survey.

Gave an answer for a previous category

2nd Grader’s Combined Trials: Universal & Cultural

Of the 10 second graders that we interviewed...

In The Separate Trials:• Four out of ten remembered more

universal items then cultural. (40%)• Four out of ten remembered more

cultural items then universal. (40%)• Two children remembered the exactly

the same about of universal and cultural items. (20%)

Universal

Cultural

Tied

In the Combined Trials• Four out of ten remembered more universal items

then cultural. (40%)• Three out of ten remembered more cultural items

then universal. (40%)• Two children remembered the exactly the same

about of universal and cultural items. (20%)• One student did not complete this part of the

survey and her previous result showed her remembering more cultural then universal which would have even up the data.

Universal

Cultural

Tied

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Christina11

Gerardo 11 Israel 11 Irvin 11 Neida 11 Odalys 12 Nina 12 Julio 12 Mario 12 Lupe 12

Trial (Universal)

Trial 2 (Cultural)

6th Grader’s Separate Trials: Universal Vs. Cultural

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Christina11

Gerardo11

Israel 11 Irvin 11 Neida 11 Odalys 12 Nina 12 Julio 12 Mario 12 Lupe 12

Trial 3 (Combined)

Number of Universal

Number of Cultural

6th Grader’s Combined Trials: Universal & Cultural

Of the 10 sixth graders that we interviewed...

In The Separate Trials:• Four out of ten remembered more

universal items then cultural. (40%)

• Six out of ten remembered more cultural items then universal. (60%)

Universal

Cultural

In the Combined Trials• Three out of ten remembered more universal

items then cultural. (30%)• Six out of ten remembered more cultural items

then universal. (60%)• One child remembered the exactly the same

amount of universal and cultural items. (10%)

Universal

Cultural

Tied

• For the 6th graders we had to go in near the end of the school day and we were sitting out in the hallway. Some kids got very easily distracted.

• Had some children lose focus very easily and some that didn’t finish the survey which affects the equality of ages in our data.

• Used two different schools in two different cities for the two grade levels and this might affect the difference in the data.

• Small sample size

•The 6th graders did remember more cultural items then universal.

•On average the 6th graders did remember more then the 2nd graders.

•The 6th graders did use commonalities and memory aides. They also looked at both the words and the pictures when studying

•The 2nd graders would often look through once and give up. Not one 2nd grader used a memory aid!

•The 6th graders did not remember more then the 2nd graders based on combined trial totals in that both only achieved 14 out of 20 at most.

•The second graders remembered almost exactly the same number of universal and the cultural items