Vygotsky’s theory in-play: early childhood education

ABSTRACT

According to Lev S. Vygotsky (1896–1934), the highest levels of abstract thinking and self-regulation in preschool development are established in pretend play using object substitutions. An extensive research literature supports Vygotsky’s empirical model of the internalization of self-guiding speech (social speech > private speech > inner speech). Vygotsky also introduced an entirely new way of assessing the child’s ability to learn by using the assistance of a more knowledgeable person – the zone of proximal development. These concepts are fundamental to Vygotsky’s theory of how consciously directed mental functions develop as neurological systems. A chronology is provided to clarify the out-of-sequence and often piecemeal publication of his writings, revealing their theoretical cohesiveness and integrity.

KEYWORDS:

• Private speech
• zone of proximal development
• object substitution
• self-regulation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 A poignant image later used by the philosopher of art Ernest Gombrich in his 1985/1963 book Meditations on a Hobby Horse.

2 The concept of paradigmatic change in scientific theories had just come into mainstream psychology with the publication of T.S. Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1970).

3 L. Smolucha and F. Smolucha first presented F.Smolucha’s translations at the APA Convention in 1986 in a paper titled Vygotsky’s Theory of Creativity, published in the German journal SPIEL Jg. 5 (1986) Heft 2.

4 Directions for how to play these finger games can be found in an article from Parents magazine https://www.parents.com/baby/development/growth/baby-games-you-can-play-with-your-fingers/

5 Smolucha and Smolucha (1988) introduced Synergistic Psychology as a synthesis of major psychological theories using Vygotsky’s model of verbal interactions as the key unifying concept. In 1997, they self-published a Human Development textbook based on their synergistic model (in classroom use until 2006). Their most recent publication advancing Synergistic Psychology was Smolucha and Smolucha (2018).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Larry Smolucha

Francine Smolucha, Ph.D., Educational Psychology, University of Chicago (1991); Retired psychology professor, Moraine Valley Community College, Palos, Hills, Il. Visiting Lecturer at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Department of Art Education and Art Therapy, (1991–1996); Publications include her translations of Vygotsky’s writings and her own original research on creativity, pretend play, and private speech. Conference presentations (APA, SRCD, NAEA, UN/INSEA, AERA, British Psychological Association, ISCRAT, IAEA, IALS). Co-authored (with her husband Larry Smolucha), numerous research monographs on Vygotsky and creativity, as well as the college textbook Developmental Psychology: A Synergistic Approach (S.P. Press, 1996).

Francine Smolucha

Larry Smolucha, M.A., psychology, University of Chicago (1992); M.F.A., sculpture, The University of Chicago, (1978). Independent Scholar, most notably a former Visiting Lecturer at The School, The Art Institute of Chicago, Department of Art Education and Art Therapy (1992-1996). Conference presentations and published journal articles in the United States and Europe, in the psychology of art and creativity. Contributor to the U.S. Department of Education’s E.R.I.C. Document Collection. Among his selected publications are ‘Levels of Discourse in Psychotherapeutic Interactions,’ Journal of Literary Semantics (1994); The Visual Arts Companion (Prentice Hall, 1996) and also, co-authored (with his wife Francine Smolucha), numerous research monographs on Vygotsky and creativity, as well as the college textbook Developmental Psychology: A Synergistic Approach (S.P. Press, 1996). His principal interests include the psychology of creativity and psycholinguistics.