Lev vygotsky sociocultural theory

Lev Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist who is most known for his theories on developmental psychology. He published on a wide variety of topics. His ideas changed over the years. He pioneered the concept of the zone of proximal development see also Scaffolding , as well as the role of culture and language in cognitive development.

A brilliant intellectual, developmental psychologist, social activist, and teacher whose work revolved around education, Vygotsky died on June 11th, , aged Lev was born to the Vygodskii family, a non-religious and affluent family of Jewish ancestry. The entire family moved to Gomel and Lev was schooled at home until He then entered a private Jewish Gymnasium, graduating with distinction.

Despite his passion for social sciences and humanities, young Lev gave in to family pressure and applied to medical school. However, it only took him one semester to switch to law school.

Lev vygotsky contribution to education

Concomitantly, Lev was also attending lectures at the Shaniavskii University, showing an active interest in the history, culture, tradition, and identity of the Jewish people, linguistics, literature, philosophy, and psychology, and vehemently criticizing Zionism and socialism. Unfortunately, Lev would never obtain his university degree.

In , Lev saw his formal studies disrupted by the October Bolshevik Revolution in Petrograd and Moscow and decided to return to Gomel. However, in , the Bolsheviks captured Gomel and, from to , Lev actively participated in the social transformation of his hometown, becoming a prominent representative of the local Bolshevik government.

His two daughters, born in and respectively, as well as his other relatives, never changed their Jewish name. Following the Congress, Vygotsky was offered the possibility to become a research fellow at the prestigious Psychological Institute in Moscow.