The Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD) was devised by Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist. The ZPD
refers to the area between what a child can learn on their own and what they
cannot do. In this area the child can complete a task with the help of someone
else i.e. teacher, parent, classmate. In order to maximise the amount of
learning children should always be taught in the ZPD in order to challenge them
and keep them interested. If a child is given a task to complete that allows
them to stay inside their ‘comfort zone’ they will become bored and loose
interest in the task whereas if you teach them beyond the ZPD they will
struggle, become frustrated and again loose interest in the task. If children
are always taught beyond the ZPD it may affect their confidence and may affect
their performance in the classroom. Therefore ZPD is highly important in the cognitive development of children.
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