This study aimed to investigate elementary school EFL teachers¡¦ use of scaffolding strategies for enhancing EFL students¡¦ cognitive engagement, and to examine whether the teachers¡¦ beliefs correspond to their strategy use. The three main focuses of the study included: 1) the types of scaffolding strategies used by elementary English teachers to enhance EFL students¡¦ cognitive engagement; 2) the processes of using these scaffolding strategies; 3) the teachers¡¦ beliefs in using these scaffolding strategies. The present study utilized an exploratory-explanatory case study design. Two elementary English teachers participated in this study. Data were collected from interviews and classroom observations during late-August to mid-October 2007. The researcher carried out all the interviews and classroom observations after she got the two teachers¡¦ permission to participate in this study. Five hours of interviews and eleven hours of classroom observations were collected from one teacher, while one and a half hours of interviews and nine hours of classroom observations were collected from the other. The interview data were audio-taped and then transcribed word by word. The classroom observation data were video-taped, and the useful parts were transcribed word by word. The researcher adopted constant comparative method and the template approach for data analysis. The process of data analysis with the use of constant comparative method included categorizing the types of scaffolding strategies from the collected data and analyzing the two elementary English teachers¡¦ beliefs of using scaffolding strategies. In addition, Gallimore and Tharp¡¦s (1990) six teaching strategies were used as a template to confirm that there was no missing code in the data analysis process. The three major findings of this study are as the following: 1) the two elementary English teachers in this study believed that cognitive engagement is classified into three categories: attention, memory, and critical thinking; 2) the two elementary English teachers in this study used scaffolding strategies in different ways to help students achieve different categories of cognitive engagement; 3) the two elementary English teachers¡¦ different beliefs of cognitive engagement played an important role in their use of scaffolding strategies, and they guided students to achieve different levels of cognitive engagement in class based on their beliefs. The findings of the present study, in general, respond to EFL teachers¡¦ perceptions of ZPD (Vygotsky, 1978) and scaffolding (Wood, Bruner, & Rose, 1976) which pointed out the importance of teacher¡¦s role in assisting students¡¦ second language learning. The expected findings discussed are as the following: 1) similar scaffolding strategies for enhancing students¡¦ cognitive engagement found in the present study were recognized in previous studies; 2) teachers¡¦ beliefs played an important role in teachers¡¦ use of scaffolding strategies. Unexpected, or interesting findings discussed are as the following: 1) one teacher in the present study believed that cognitive engagement was a sequential concept; 2) the two teachers in the present study showed different perceptions of the role of EFL teacher in initiating students¡¦ critical thinking; 3) The two teachers in the present study were not aware that students could be active listeners or learners in class; 4) The two teachers in the present study put more emphasis on students¡¦ memory of vocabulary and sentences than on critical thinking. Three pedagogical implications are suggested in this study: 1) Elementary English teachers need to be aware that critical thinking of some students¡¦ might need assistance from teachers; 2) elementary English teachers need to be aware that step-by-step assistance is more likely to help students achieve critical thinking; 3) teacher education should provide related courses about cognitive engagement, and practice teachers should learn how to assist students in engaging cognitively in English class. Finally, this study suggests three directions for further research: 1) the future study should investigate on teachers¡¦ beliefs or perspectives on using scaffolding strategies in class; 2) the future study should take students¡¦ perspectives into account to identify the effectiveness of scaffolding strategies in enhancing EFL students¡¦ cognitive engagement; 3) the future study should take parents¡¦ expectation or perceptions of English teaching into account to investigate how parents¡¦ expectations and feedback influence teachers¡¦ scaffolding strategies.

The purpose of this study was to attempt to enhance performance in the Australian Mathematics Competition of a group of Western Australian Year 9 students, to a level beyond that which they might have been expected to attain, through the use of a heuristic-based intervention technique using Vygotsky's zone of proximal development principle.Since 1978, students of mathematics in Australian high schools have been meeting the challenge of the Australian Mathematics Competition. This national competition aims to provide students with a sense of achievement in mathematics and to emphasise the importance of this subject in the high school curriculum.Vygotsky's zone of proximal development refers to the difference between a student's actual developmental level and the student's potential developmental level given adult assistance. In effect, this means that while students may achieve to a plane commensurate with their actual developmental level, they will progress into their zone of proximal development with assistance and their level of achievement will rise. Vygotsky's concept of Intervention coupled with Siegler's concept of heuristic-based strategy learning provided a methodology suitable for enhancing and maximising developmental effects in this study.The study involved three distinct stages: the preparatory phase, the treatment phase and the concluding phase.In the preparatory phase, student's actual developmental levels were determined based on their performance in the 1979 Junior level Australian Mathematics Competition paper. This data facilitated identifying the paths that learning should follow in order that students' problem solving skills should improve. During this phase, students also attempted an Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) test entitled 'Test's of Reasoning in Mathematics' (TRIM). This measure was used to monitor expected development ++ / in mathematics reasoning ability for students over the period of the study.The treatment phase involved the students in over 35 hours of instruction which exposed them to a heuristic-based intervention technique designed to enhance their performance in problem solving. Students practised various problem solving techniques and the Australian Mathematics Competition ittself became the focus for improved performance.An index of improvement was provided in the concluding phase of the study by scores obtained from the treatment group on the 1982 Intermediate level Australian Mathematics Competition paper. Scores were significantly higher than the national average of either the Year 9 or Year 10 groups. The second ACER 'TRIM' test verified that the students achieved their expected development in mathematics reasoning ability during the study.The implication of this result is that the practice of restricting students to year groups or courses on the basis of age should be examined in the light of the Vygotskian principle.

Poor learner performance in mathematics is consistently observed throughout the education system in South Africa and starkly pronounced in historically disadvantaged schools in historically disadvantaged environments. Despite interventions such as nofee paying policy, a National Strategy for Mathematics, Science and Technology and National School Nutrition Programme, poor learner mathematics performance remain endemic. Learner achievement studies have mainly focused on identifying individual characteristics, ignoring the protective processes that promote mathematical resilience. This study aims to explore how disadvantaged learners in disadvantaged environments learn mathematics in the Further Education and Training band. A two-stage or phased sequential exploratory mixed-method design, with the qualitative phase preceding the quantitative phase was anchored within the socioecological resilience perspective. The study framework that draws from the work of Vygotsky, Carroll and Skovsmose, focuses on the dynamic interactions between learners and the connection between the home and the school. In this framework, learner mathematics achievement is a means towards the learner’s foreground. Mathematical learners who displayed improvement in their mathematical achievement, as identified by their previous achievements within the Further Education and Training band were targeted in this study. A total of nine Grade 12 learners (five boys and four girls) learning mathematics in disadvantaged environments from Johannesburg West and Johannesburg Central Education Districts were purposively selected for Phase 1 and one-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with them. A questionnaire that was supported by findings from the interviews was administered to 461 respondents (55% (253) female and 45% (208) male) learning mathematics in Grade 10, 11 or 12 in Phase 2 to develop a Mathematical Resilience Scale within a South African context. Thematic analysis and exploratory factor analysis are the two main data analysis techniques sequentially utilised in the study. Results of this study reveal a variety of processes undertaken by mathematical learners to develop mathematical resilience. These processes include access to social-relationships that give rise to the use of assessment feedback as a learning strategy for learning mathematics. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / PhD / Restricted

The purpose of this position paper is to propose a comprehensive theoretical model of what can and does occur in the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) to extend thinking, learning and construction of meaning within a shared reading activity setting, including the development and emergence of language, literacy and social skills. By incorporating Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective, Jean Piaget's dialectical learning, and the concepts of metacognition, mindfulness, and mind-mindedness, a model depicting the dynamics of a shared reading activity is proposed. Implications for research and practice are discussed, including suggestions for future research and ways to foster effective teaching practices. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study is to find out how five-year-old children describe air and its properties from a sociocultural perspective. Semi-structured group interviews with children two and two were performed with artifacts to give the children something to discuss around. As artifacts were a plastic bag, balloon pump, balloon, scale, pinwheel and soap bubbles used. The children show ability to use air and other concepts related to air, an example being blow, to describe the activities connected to the artifacts. The children can describe the properties of air with the help of artifacts and each other and the properties described were air exists, take up space, can be captured, be moved, weigh, is invisible, can be used as a force and is everywhere. The children did not relate the contents of soap bubbles to air. / Syftet med undersökningen är att ta reda på hur femåringar beskriver luft och dess egenskaper utifrån ett sociokulturellt perspektiv. Semistrukturerade gruppintervjuer med barn två och två genomfördes där artefakter valdes för att barnen skulle ha något att diskutera kring. Som arte-fakter användes en påse, ballong, ballongpump, våg, vindsnurra och såpbubblor. Barnen visar att de kunde använda begreppet luft och andra begrepp kopplade till luft så som exempelvis blåsa, för att beskriva aktiviteterna kopplade till artefakterna. Barnen visade även att de kan förklara luftens egenskaper med hjälp av artefakterna samt varandra och egenskaperna som förklarades var: luft finns, tar plats, kan avgränsas, förflyttas, väger, är osynligt, kan verka med en kraft och finns överallt. Barnen visade ingen koppling att såpbubblor innehåller luft.

The aim of this study is to investigate the opportunities for oral language development that teachers offer pupils during lessons in Swedish in grade 3. The following questions guided the study: how do teachers perceive that they offer the pupils opportunities for oral language development in their teaching and what possibilities for oral language development do teachers offer pupils? The methods used to answer the questions are interview and observation of two teachers in two different classrooms. In all, two interviews and four observations were conducted. An observation schedule was used during the observations and the interviews were semi-structured, based on the same questions. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. The collected material showed that the oral activities which the teachers said they offered their pupils were working in pairs or small groups, whole-class conversations and drama. The teachers said that they interacted with the pupils through taking turns and asking questions. The activities the teachers offered their pupils during the four observations were whole-class conversations led by the teacher, structured conversations in small groups and spontaneous conversations among pupils and between pupils and teacher, and interactive book reading. The interactions used by the teachers took the form of speech, questions and body language. The conclusion of the study is that teachers must have more tools for taking advantage of opportunities to let the pupils develop their oral language. The view of what oral language development can involve should also be broadened.

This thesis examines the strategies young children use to develop a common set of goals when collaborating on a group art work. Teachers at Sabot School spend a great deal of time in discussion of children's group work. By concentrating on one project in my preschool classroom, I reached a greater understanding of the way children work together on a group project. This understanding enriched my practice of teaching so that I could become a better facilitator of similar projects in the future. The information is valuable to me and the other Sabot School teachers when planning future group projects, especially when discussing strategies for supporting children's group processes. It is also be of value to teachers and education students who are interested in learning about the Reggio Emilia approach in American classrooms, social constructivism in the classroom, and the possibilities of art in early childhood. In this project, my four and five year old students worked together to create a clay sculpture of a wild area outside the playground fence at our school. I was interested in the way I could support this group project using Vygotsky's idea of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). In the ZPD a child can accomplish tasks they are not developmentally ready to master if they have the support of a teacher or more skilled peer. This study revealed that children and teachers can use words and actions to support cognitive as well as social-emotional learning while working together.

The study explored the relationship of play and development in adolescents. It was developed to determine if play in adolescents has a cognitive developmental purpose. The research design was a quantitative study with qualitative elements. The design of the study consisted two groups of participants who engaged in either a computer program to test cognitive skills or a computer game which contains the same tests. The participants (N = 216) were adolescent males and females (ages 12-19) from urban mid-Atlantic Catholic high schools. After vetting the data, the total was N = 167 and only included males (ages 14-19). The study indicated that adolescent males performed the cognitive tasks of memory and reading better in the play condition than the work condition and performed the cognitive tasks of logic and mathematics better in the work condition than the play condition. Differences in performance related to age are not present. This study suggests that play may have an effect on adolescents’ cognitive development; therefore, it can be used as an effective method for some types of instruction. The study may contribute to the literature with the groundwork for further research exploring the cognitive nature of play in adolescents and its potential impact on identity formation.

Student Number : 0111318E - M Ed research report - School of Education - Faculty of Humanities / This research report explores the unique nature of literature and its efficacy as a dialogically mediating tool. In this study, drawing primarily on the theories of Vygotsky and Bakhtin, the dialogical small-group teaching of nine A Level students is considered, (with the teaching aimed to be within this group’s Zone of Proximal Development) it was found axiomatic that there was a supporting framework of schemes, tropes, narrative role taking, schemata theory and genre, among other concepts. Qualitative analysis of the edited transcripts from eight consecutive seminars substantiates these theoretical presumptions and leads to the conclusion that literature, in this case the prescribed poems of Elizabeth Jennings, is an highly efficacious, dialogically mediating, pedagogical tool.

This study examined teachers' learning and understanding of mathematical representation through the Middle School Mathematics Project (MSMP) professional development, investigated teachers' use of mathematics representations in teaching fractions and algebraic functions, and addressed patterns of teachers' changes in learning and using representation corresponding to Teachers' Zone of Proximal Development (TZPD). Using a qualitative research design, data were collected over a 2-year period, from eleven participating 6th and 7th grade mathematics teachers from four school districts in Texas in a research-designed professional development workshop that focused on helping teachers understand and use of mathematical representations. Teachers were given two questionnaires and had lessons videotaped before and after the workshop, a survey before the workshop, and learning and discussion videotapes during the workshop. In addition, ten teachers were interviewed to find out the patterns of their changes in learning and using mathematics representations. The results show that all teachers have levels of TZPD which can move to a higher level with the help of capable others. Teachers' knowledge growth is measurable and follows a sequential order of TZPD. Teachers will make transitions once they grasp the specific content and strategies in mathematics representation. The patterns of teacher change depend on their learning and use of mathematics representations and their beliefs about them. This study advocates teachers using mathematics representations as a tool in making connections between concrete and abstract understanding. Teachers should understand and be able to develop multiple representations to facilitate students' conceptual understanding without relying on any one particular representation. They must focus on the conceptual developmental transformation from one representation to another. They should also understand their students' appropriate development levels in mathematical representations. The findings suggest that TZPD can be used as an approach in professional development to design programs for effecting teacher changes. Professional developers should provide teachers with opportunities to interact with peers and reflect on their teaching. More importantly, teachers' differences in beliefs and backgrounds must be considered when designing professional development. In addition, professional development should focus on roles and strategies of representations, with ongoing and sustained support for teachers as they integrate representation strategies into their daily teaching.