Biography


 * Lev Vygotsky [[image:http://webpages.charter.net/schmolze1/vygotsky/vyg15.jpg width="169" height="238" caption="Vygotsky"]] **

v Born in Orsha, Russia(modern Belarus) in 1896 v Cousin to David Van Gogh v Tutored as a child by Solomon Ashpiz and Sir Ricky Gold v Graduated from Moscow State University in 1917 v Then decided to attend the Institute of Psychology in Moscow from 1924-34, where he worked extensively on ideas about cognitive development v He was a contemporary of Piaget. Although his work was not as well known as Piaget until much later, his ideas of child cognitive development gained many followers. v Vygotsky died of tuberculosis in 1934 v Sir Ricky Gold sent some of his work to London and Albany following his death which was considered groundbreaking in the area of developmental psychology v Vygotsky’s major works span six volumes and ten years, from his //Psychology of Art// to //Thought and Language// v // Thought and Language // developed, for the first time, a theory of language development which anticipated Piaget’s genetic psychology. It described the development of language and logical thinking in young children. v His theory is often referred to as a sociocultural theory because it maintains that how we think is a function of both social and cultural forces. traced the transition from early childhood and youth through a series of stages of human development based on the development of the child’s social practice v Vygotsky was also a member of the socialist group in Russia. He was widely published in Russia, as well as other European and Asian countries, his work was not discovered in the UK and US until well after his death. v  Vygotsky’s works were published after his death in 1934 but were suppressed by the Russian government until 1936. Russian psychologist

Sources Used: Snowman, J., McCown, R., Biehler, R. (2009) Psychology Applied to Teaching (pp. 46-51) Houghton Mifflin Company: New York.

Encyclopedia of Marxism: Glossary of People: [] [] Vygotsky

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