In light of Vygotsky’s developmental theory, discuss Gal\'perin\'s program (syst

Question

In light of Vygotsky’s developmental theory, discuss Gal'perin's program (systemic-theoretical instruction) for elementary math. Specifically, explain: (50 points) (1) How children learned the concept of number as a tool for measurement. (2) In what way was that experimental instructional design successful in helping children advance their logico-mathematical thinking? Explain how a genuine concept of number mediates children's thinking and helps them overcome ‘preoperational’ ways of thinking (e.g., about the properties and magnitudes of objects). (3) What does that type of instruction say about Piaget's assumptions that logico-mathematical thinking develops spontaneously and does not benefit from social transmission? (4) How is the relationship between teaching-learning and development conceptualized and operationalized in Gal'perin's approach? In what way does systemic-theoretical instruction (teaching-learning) lead to developmental changes (i.e., development of mental processes and functions)? In light of Vygotsky’s developmental theory, discuss Gal'perin's program (systemic-theoretical instruction) for elementary math. Specifically, explain: (50 points) (1) How children learned the concept of number as a tool for measurement. (2) In what way was that experimental instructional design successful in helping children advance their logico-mathematical thinking? Explain how a genuine concept of number mediates children's thinking and helps them overcome ‘preoperational’ ways of thinking (e.g., about the properties and magnitudes of objects). (3) What does that type of instruction say about Piaget's assumptions that logico-mathematical thinking develops spontaneously and does not benefit from social transmission? (4) How is the relationship between teaching-learning and development conceptualized and operationalized in Gal'perin's approach? In what way does systemic-theoretical instruction (teaching-learning) lead to developmental changes (i.e., development of mental processes and functions)? In light of Vygotsky’s developmental theory, discuss Gal'perin's program (systemic-theoretical instruction) for elementary math. Specifically, explain: (50 points) (1) How children learned the concept of number as a tool for measurement. (2) In what way was that experimental instructional design successful in helping children advance their logico-mathematical thinking? Explain how a genuine concept of number mediates children's thinking and helps them overcome ‘preoperational’ ways of thinking (e.g., about the properties and magnitudes of objects). (3) What does that type of instruction say about Piaget's assumptions that logico-mathematical thinking develops spontaneously and does not benefit from social transmission? (4) How is the relationship between teaching-learning and development conceptualized and operationalized in Gal'perin's approach? In what way does systemic-theoretical instruction (teaching-learning) lead to developmental changes (i.e., development of mental processes and functions)?

Explanation / Answer

Question:

In light of Vygotsky’s developmental theory, discuss Gal'perin's program (systemic-theoretical instruction) for elementary math.

Answer:

Vygotsky has said: "Learning is not development; however, properly organized learning results in
mental development and sets in motion a variety of developmental processes that would be impossible apart from learning."

Vygotskian principle was followed by Piotr Gal'perin. Gal'perin's Perspective on Teaching, Learning, and Development is discussed below:

One of the most radical approaches to teaching, learning, and development can be found in works by Piotr Gal'perin, who started his career as Vygotsky's close colleague and went on to establish his own theory of human development that continued and in many ways expanded Vygotsky's framework.

At the center of Gal'perin's theory is the issue of the origins of mind and the nature of developmental cognitive change. Extending Vygotsky's ideas about human development, Gal'perin contended that mental processes should be understood as transformed and internalized material actions that involve cultural tools.

He postulated three stages in the process by which such transformation occurs, progressing from physical action to audible verbalization and to 'internal speech' and other mental operations. Such internalized actions become "the very stuff" of the mind, that is, they give the mind its structure and content.

According to Gal'perin, voluntary attention is not an inherent mental capacity which focuses a mysterious 'mind's eye' on a desired content but, rather, a transformed, initially material, process of monitoring one's own activities.

Take the case of a child's ability to pay attention while writing down words. To be sure, many children come to form this ability without being fully aware of all the stumbling blocks they overcome along the way and all the complexities involved in this process.

As most teachers and less fortunate parents know, a large number of children experience tremendous difficulties in learning how to be attentive while writing. For this ability to emerge, it is not enough to encourage the child to pay attention, because children might simply not know what it takes 'to pay attention'.

Children have to be taught how to monitor their writing activity, like how to notice and correct mistakes in written sentences. This learning involves various material 'supports' such as breaking down words into parts by making pencil marks between syllables, following a certain order provided by the teacher.

These material supports can be abandoned and children proceed to perform monitoring in detailed overt speech. In the final stages, the whole monitoring activity can be performed without overt verbalization, that is, 'in mind' and at the same time as the main activity of writing.

So, the transformation of material actions into internalized 'mental processes', those that are important for children to function as competent members of a human community, is a complex process that always involves mastery of cultural tools -- in this case, knowledge of how to distinguish syllables.

Exploring the process by which cultural tools are acquired by children becomes a pivotal element in studying cognitive development.

So, Gal'perin explored concrete regularities in how actions are transformed from material to mental forms in the course of learning cultural tools of various kinds. Gal'perin arrived at what became the cornerstone of his approach -- the innovative analysis of instructional practices based on different types of cultural tools, and the spelling out of the developmental potential of different kinds of instruction.

Although Gal'perin was interested in the basic regularities of cognitive development, his whole research program took the form of studying how the teaching and learning of specific cultural tools impacts on children's development

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