Культурно-историческая психология Cultural-Historical Psychology

2020. Т. 16. № 3. С. 15—26 2020. Vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 15—26

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2020160303 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2020160303
ISSN: 1816-5435 (печатный) ISSN: 1816-5435 (print)
ISSN: 2224-8935 (online) ISSN: 2224-8935 (online)

Zone of Proximal Development,

Scaffolding and Teaching Practice
Arkady A. Margolis
Moscow State University of Psychology & Education (MSUPE), Moscow, Russian Federation
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9832-0122, e-mail: [email protected]

The construction of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) in the context of teaching activity is
discussed in the paper.ZPD is compared and contrasted with the concept of scaffolding as introduced by
Jerome Bruner. In the context of its potential for operationalisation in the form of teacher activities, the
author examines key ZPD content given by Lev Vygotsky in terms of the complex interaction of sponta-
neous (everyday) concepts formed prior to the beginning of school education with scientific (theoretical)
concepts formed during schooling. Vygotsky’s main idea about the leading role of scientific concepts in the
restructuring of previously formed spontaneous concepts, as well as in the development of the child’s holis-
tic thinking, leads to the conclusion that it is possible also to directly influence the spontaneous formation
concepts change through the organisation of collectively distributed forms of educational activity and in a
polylogue based the Socratic method. The leading psychological processes, which ensure the development
of spontaneous concepts through their greater generalisation and awareness, comprise the processes of exte-
riorisation of spontaneous concepts, reflection and subsequent interiorisation of a collectively constructed
concept. Therefore, the activities of teaching in constructing a ZPD include providing conditions for the
distribution of individual operations in the course of a joint learning action and facilitating a polylogue
to ensure the effective functioning of these psychological processes in the course of specifically organised
learning activities.

Keywords: zone of proximal development, scaffolding, cultural-historical psychology, Vygotsky, teaching.

For citation: Margolis A.A. Zone of Proximal Development, Scaffolding and Teaching Practice. Кul'turno-istoricheskaya
psikhologiya = Cultural-Historical Psychology, 2020. Vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 15—26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/
chp.2020160303

Introduction tional practice.The list of successful attempts to create

such a learning model consists of the system of devel-
In the context of child development, one of the most opmental education developed by Daniil Elkonin and
cited concepts in Lev Vygotsky’s cultural-historical psy- Vasily Davydov for elementary school students,and a
chology is the zone of proximal development (ZPD). ZPD number of preschool education curricula based around
continues to arouse research and practical interest due to ZPD include “Development” (Razvitiye), “Golden Key”
its role in constructing a model of education that is aimed (Zolotoy Klyuchik) and “Tools of the Mind”. The attempt
at developing a student’s thinking and personality rather at a mass transition to an activity-based methodology
than memorising and reproducing information [7]. aimed at developing the thinking and personality Rus-
Figs. 1—2 present the number of publications per sian school pupils as part of the development of a new
year on the topic of ZPD in the international (Web of state standard for general education (2009) did not yield
Science Core Collection, WoS CC) and national (Rus- the desired transformation. “Traditional” subject teach-
sian Science Citation Index, RSCI) abstract databases of ing, based primarily on training pupils’ memory capac-
scientific publications in 2000—2019. ity, continues to be carried out in the majority of classes
The total number of publications in the Web of Sci- in Russian schools, while genuine goals of education are
ence Core Collection referencing the ZPD concept for reduced to the need to pass the unified state exam. Such
the period 2000—2019 was 830. results naturally raise the question as to why previous
As can be seen from Fig. 2, the total number of publica- attempts to introduce ZPD development-based ap-
tions in the Scientific Electronic Library eLibrary.ru, con- proaches into education have mostly been unsuccessful.
taining the concept of the zone of proximal development In our opinion, the answer to this question is connect-
(ZPD) for the period 2000-2019 accounted for 2600. ed, first of all, with the fact that neither Vygotsky nor
However, there are only few practical examples of his followers offered a clear and understandable (specifi-
the implementation of the ZPD concept in in educa- cally to teachers) model of teacher activity to construct

CC BY-NC

15
 Margolis A.A. Zone of Proximal Development, Scaffolding...
Марголис А.А. Зона ближайшего развития, скаффолдинг...

Fig. 1. Number of publications on the topic of ZPD in 2000—2019, Web of Science Core Collection (WoS CC)

Fig. 2. Number of publications on the topic of ZPD in 2000—2019, Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI)

a ZPD. Instead, ZPD tends to be described mainly from concept given in a series of lectures during this period
the perspective of the student’s development, rather in Moscow and in Leningrad, as well as in several major
than the teacher’s actions. Thus, developing a model of works published during his lifetime and later included
teacher activity aimed at creating the ZPD is a key task in other publications [5], do not always coincide with
that largely determines the successful implementation of each other. This is partly due to the fact that Vygotsky’s
the idea of development in school education. scientific thought never stood still, but rapidly devel-
oped in accordance with his own understanding of the
equivalence between a scientific concept and the mean-
Zone of Proximal Development: ing of a word. Here, his most important thesis was that,
concept description at the initial moment formation of meaning, the process
has not terminated, but, on the contrary, has just begun.
The ZPD concept can be considered in terms of “... On the other hand, this issue is also associated with the
the distance between the actual level of development process of involving a new concept in an increasingly
as determined by independent problem solving and the complicated list of contexts and processes studied by
level of potential development as determined through Vygotsky, inevitably leading to the incorporation of the
problem-solving under adult guidance, or in collabo- ZPD concept into a more general system of concepts in
ration with more capable peers” [3]. ZPD was first in- cultural-historical psychology. As a result, the meaning
troduced in the works of Lev Vygotsky at a relatively of the ZPD concept changes depending on its place in
late period from 1932 to 1934. Various definitions of the this system of concepts and in the description of various

16
 КУЛЬТУРНО-ИСТОРИЧЕСКАЯ ПСИХОЛОГИЯ 2020. Т. 16. № 3
CULTURAL-HISTORICAL PSYCHOLOGY. 2020. Vol. 16, no. 3

processes and objects studied within the framework of methodology and analysis of the development of psycho-
the emerging cultural-historical theory. logical systems — and (later) an experimental researcher
If, instead of focusing on the chronological line of who studied the process of forming concepts and mean-
development of scientific research that led Vygotsky ings (the Vygotsky-Sakharov method of double stimu-
to formulate the ZPD concept, we trace the logical se- lation) — was replaced by Vygotsky the practicing re-
quence of the development of his scientific ideas, the ap- searcher trying to understand not only how it works, but
pearance of the concept of the ZPD can be simplistically also how it could be organised within the framework of
represented as a result of studying the following interre- Learning as a social institution (the study of complex
lated set of research subjects and related inferences. processes of interrelation between previously-formed
1). Theoretical study of the processes of develop- everyday concepts and scientific concepts formed in the
ment and transition from already established, matured course of organised school education). This also includes
psychological functions to those that are in the process the study of the role of play as an activity aimed at devel-
of being formed and therefore are not observable in the oping the most important components of a child’s psy-
present, but may become observable in the near future. chological functions, including those necessary for his or
2). Locating the functional development mechanism her next stage of development and learning.
in the cooperation of a child with an adult and in pro- In the context of the present work, it is this part of
cesses of imitation. Vygotsky’s works expressing his ideas about the rela-
3). Experimental study of processes of meaning for- tionship between everyday and scientific concepts that
mation and the development of understanding, which are of maximum interest to us in the context of under-
support the possibility of cooperation with an adult and standing the role of the teacher and the specifics of his
the further development of a child in the directions pro- or her activities in the process of organising education
posed by an adult, while the speed of this development is on the basis of the ZPD concept. It should also be noted
determined by the individual possibilities of meaningful that, although this particular part of Vygotsky’s work
imitation. did not attract much interest among researchers associ-
4). Diagnostics of different levels of possible coop- ated with Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT),
eration with adults as different opportunities for mean- its remarkable popularity among practicing teachers led
ingful imitation, and, consequently, different levels of to a rather somewhat simplified consideration of how
development of still-emerging and developing func- the concept of the ZPD can be understood and made to
tions along with the determination of the development “work” in education practice.
potential of different individual students. The task here The various explanations of the concept of the ZPD
is not to diagnose what is already the result of previous addressed to teachers basically boil down to a simplified
development processes, but rather to analyse what is just view of the ZPD as a special type of assistance provided
emerging (the future stage of development, which most by a teacher to a pupil to help solve tasks that the child
of the traditional tests “do not grasp”), and what can be cannot solve on his or her own. Such recommendations
influenced in the learning process. often take the form of video materials made available on
5). Study of the relationship between everyday and the Internet (Table 1).
scientific concepts as a projection of the problem of the Most of these videos end with a positive and encour-
development of meanings in the course of cooperation aging statement that the organisation of this type of as-
with an adult and the particular case of a more general sistance (the specific content and organisation of which,
relationship between development and learning. as a rule, are not disclosed) promises success in teaching,
6). The study of the ZPD from the point of view of understood as gains on the part of students in terms of
what can be influenced in the transition from a laborato- the ability to solve similar problems on their own in the
ry and experimental situation to the practice of school- next step of their learning. In fact, such an application
ing rather than in terms of the phenomenology of devel- of ZPD with direct references to Vygotsky and cultur-
opmental processes and analysis of those processes that al-historical theory comes down to the need to provide
determine its regularities. timely assistance to a child facing difficulties in solving
It was here that Vygotsky the theoretician, who con- tasks on his or her own. Even given the apparent trivial-
sidered development from the point of view of a general ity of this statement and the intuitive agreement of most
Table 1
Examples of videos on the concept of the zone of proximal development
(according to YouTube, data as on June 22, 2020)
No. Title of the video Views Link (URL)
1 2 3 4
1 Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development 337 000 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BX2ynEqLL4
2 Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development — 385 967 https://youtu.be/MluvBAtv8oo
ZPD, Scaffolding, MKO | (Psychology Theories)
3 Zone of Proximal Development 141 850 https://youtu.be/7Im_GrCgrVA
4 Zone of Proximal Development 104 729 https://youtu.be/rX8lRh1u5iE
5 Zone of Proximal Development 84 000 https://youtu.be/Du6vqSOj7UU

17
 Margolis A.A. Zone of Proximal Development, Scaffolding...
Марголис А.А. Зона ближайшего развития, скаффолдинг...

of the teachers with this thesis, it is supported by scien- lution prior to its independent implementation relies on
tific justification in the form of the ZPD concept, in fact, the child’s orienting and experimental activities, in the
transforming the latter from a deep and complex scien- process of which he or she tries to find the connection
tific concept into an Internet meme. between the present conditions and the required result
and build his or her understanding of the way to solve
the problem. This searching process, according to Brun-
Scaffolding: a way of constructing the ZPD er, may require the support of an adult as an “activator”
or an independent concept outside of the child’s cognitive activity, who, depending on the
of cultural-historical psychology? specific conditions of collaboration with the child, im-
plements one of the following functions.
The professional activities of a teacher aimed at as- 1. Recruitment (gaining and maintaining the child’s
sisting students in the process of solving learning prob- interest in the task).
lems have been repeatedly exposed to scientific scrutiny. 2. Reduction in degrees of freedom (DOF)1, i.e., a de-
One of the best-known empirical studies of problem- crease in the complexity of the task to a level at which
solving processes engaged in by students in the context the child can act independently.
of guidance from a more experienced partner (i.e. anoth- 3. Maintenance of direction (keeping the goal of solv-
er student) or adult was carried out by Jerome Bruner ing the task).
and his colleagues in 1976 [28]. This resulted in the con- 4. Marking critical features, including differences
cept of scaffolding (literally a temporary structure erect- between the intended and achieved result of the child’s
ed to help with the building or modification of another action (in fact, this is one of the most significant func-
structure), denoting a special type of support given by a tions associated with setting the conditions for the child
teacher to a student when performing a task that the lat- to reflect on his or her actions).
ter might otherwise not be able to accomplish. 5. Control of the child’s level of frustration in the pro-
According to Bruner, such tasks, whose major attri- cess of solving a problem, which comprises an important
butes are specific to human activity and communication, aspect not only in terms of cognitive guidance of a child,
are engaged in almost from the moment a child is born. but also as motivational-affective measurement of coop-
This applies both when problems are solved during the eration with him.
learning process and through special actions undertaken 6. Demonstration or modelling, which is considered
by adults or more skillful peers to help the child in solv- not as showing a ready-to-use model of solving a prob-
ing such problems. Bruner et al. argue that such actions lem by an adult, but rather as a means of idealising and
do not occur, for example, in primates, where, although highlighting a general way of solving: this can also in-
young individuals can observe the demonstration of cer- clude idealising (objectifying) the action approach (at-
tain behaviors, they are not involved in collaboration tempts at solving a task) carried out by the child him- or
under guidance in solving the problems that are initially herself. Along with the marking of the critical features of
beyond their capabilities. a task, modelling creates the necessary conditions for the
Bruner et al. argue that a child’s capability to solve child to realise that his or her mode of action is different
a problem with the help of an adult that could not be from the required one, thus facilitating the development
solved unaided emerges due to two important circum- of the child’s independent action.
stances. Firstly, this occurs due to the adult’s “control- Having gained significant popularity since its in-
ling” of those elements of the task that are initially be- troduction by Bruner et al. in 1976 (Fig. 3), the scaf-
yond the learner’s capability, thus allowing him or her to folding concept came to be perceived as a particular
concentrate upon and complete only those elements that way of constructing the ZPD. This perception was
are within his or her range of competence. As a result, the not inhibited by the omission of such a connection in
child may later develop an independent problem-solving Bruner’s work, whose bibliography did not mention
capacity to an extent that greatly exceeds the previous any of Vygotsky’s works. However, following its ap-
capability. Secondly, the condition for this possibility is pearance in the work of Courtney Cazden (1979) [9],
the need to comprehend the solution method, which may the apparent connection between these concepts was
precede the very implementation of such a method. In explored in the work of an increasingly significant
other words, the child must come to an understanding of number of researchers [20].
how the problem can be solved before the conditions for Over time, the use of the term “scaffolding” in various
the implementation of the sequence of actions leading to contexts has become so profuse that, according to a num-
its solution appear. ber of researchers, it started being used synonymously
The process of comprehending the correct decision by with any kind of support provided to a student in the
comparing the means and the necessary results enables learning process [16]. As a consequence, its applicability
a child to distinguish good problem-solving strategies in educational research has become very controversial
from bad ones under circumstances in which the child [15]. One attempt to systematise the results of studies
cannot develop his or her own good strategy. According on the concept of scaffolding is presented in the work
to Bruner, the ability to “recognize or comprehend” a so- of Janneke van de Pol [25]. This systematic review cov-

1
Concept developed by Nikolai Bernstein

18
 КУЛЬТУРНО-ИСТОРИЧЕСКАЯ ПСИХОЛОГИЯ 2020. Т. 16. № 3
CULTURAL-HISTORICAL PSYCHOLOGY. 2020. Vol. 16, no. 3

Fig. 3. Number of publications on scaffolding in 2000—2020, Education, Educational Research and Psychology sections,
Web of Science CC

ers 66 articles published in indexed databases between implementation and control over the problem solution
1998 and 2009, including 8 studies aimed at evaluating from a teacher to a student.
the effectiveness of learning through scaffolding. The au- Investigating the content of psychological processes
thors of the scrutinised articles argue that, despite the unfolding within the framework of scaffolding, a number
fact that no consensus exists with respect to the defini- of authors analyse the processes of interiorisation of the
tion and understanding of scaffolding in the professional provided support [20], development of mutual under-
community, some clearly common characteristics shared standing or intersubjectivity [14, 16] and the formation
by most researchers can be distinguished. of shared meaning [22].
The first general characteristic of scaffolding can be According to Van de Pol [25, 2010], analysing the
referred to in terms of “limited or adjusted support”, usu- scaffolding concept provides the possibility to create
ally understood as providing the students with teaching three different classifications on its basis. One such clas-
support to the extent necessary for them to successfully sification, which is based on the description of various
solve a learning problem in cooperation with the teacher. means and techniques of adult support provided to a stu-
Here, the teacher’s support should either be at the same dent, comprises six main types: modelling, adjustment/
or a slightly higher level as the current level of the stu- calibrating of the required level of support, providing
dent’s performance. The different nature and scope of feedback, instructing (demonstrating), questioning and
the assistance provided by teachers is based on diagnos- cognitive structuring (decomposition) of the problem
tic data and evaluation of school pupils’ actions in the being solved [23].
process of independent problem-solving. Such support The second classification, based on the description of
is not just differentiated, but it seems to be adjusted to the teacher’s functions in the framework of joint action
the student or built on top of his individual action. Since with the student, is given in the original work of David
the differentiation of this type of assistance to different Wood [28] (as described fully above) and includes: re-
children is based on the results of diagnostics organised cruitment, reduction in “degrees of freedom” of the stu-
in the process of joint activity, many authors mention a dent’s action, maintenance of direction, marking critical
direct and immediate connection between the concept of features, control of student frustration and, finally, dem-
scaffolding and such concepts as dynamic assessment [10; onstration of a model of the correct performance of the
11; 15; 21], formative assessment [25] and online moni- action.
toring or online diagnosis [14]. Another classification of the teacher’s actions in the
The second shared characteristic relates to the es- process of guiding the student in the framework of joint
sence of the “scaffold metaphor as a temporary structure actions through scaffolding was offered in the works of
erected to help with the building or modification of an- Joyce Many [12] and Elaine Silliman [17]. This classi-
other structure”, understood as the provision of adult fication is connected with the distinction between the
support to the student, which in the process of joint solv- means by which such guidance is provided and the goals
ing of a learning task will fade to the point of complete or intentions that the teacher sets for him- or herself.
withdrawal (just as the need for scaffolding disappears The integrative framework obtained through a com-
with the construction of a building). bination of six types of means (techniques) and five types
The process of reducing the amount of teaching sup- of goals (Table 2) can be an effective tool for analysing
port required by the student and its gradual withdrawal both the content of the teaching guidance provided to
or fading from the space of joint action with the student the student within their joint action, as well as the direc-
is strongly related to the third common characteristic tion of such guidance.
of the scaffolding concept shared by most researchers, Any combination of scaffolding means with scaffold-
namely the transfer of responsibility for joint action ing intentions can be construed as a scaffolding strategy

19
 Margolis A.A. Zone of Proximal Development, Scaffolding...
Марголис А.А. Зона ближайшего развития, скаффолдинг...

Table 2
Analysis of scaffolding strategies (Van de Pol et al, 2010)
Scaffolding goals
Support for metacognitive Support for cognitive activity of students Support for student affect
performance of students
A. Directions of support B. Cognitive C. Reduction in D. Recruitment E. Contingency Management /
structuring degrees of freedom Frustration Control
Means
Feeding back Giving hints Instructing Explaining Modelling Questioning

as long as three general conditions for this type of sup- According to Irina Verenikina, the reason why the
port are met (limitation, gradual reduction and transfer scaffolding metaphor became so widespread among both
of responsibility). Although most researchers focused on researchers and teachers is due to its close relationship
describing and theorising scaffolding, some of them stud- with the latters’ intuitive ideas of what effective learn-
ied the effectiveness as well. In general, they all showed ing is, i.e. understood as providing structured support
positive results. Further studies aimed at assessing the to children in the process of solving training tasks. At
effectiveness of scaffolding should be associated with the same time, the metaphor appeared to be too broad,
solving a number of difficulties arising in this case [25]. becoming, in essence, an umbrella term for the provision
The first and possibly most important problem is that of teachers with clear and explicit instructions that help
the three key characteristics of this type of cooperative them to ensure the practical development of students in
assistance cannot be completely separated from one an- their learning process [26].
other. The teaching support, adjusted and adapted to the Moreover, due to its consideration outside the con-
current level of the student’s performance and action lim- text of cultural-historical theory, the concept of scaf-
its, decreases and “fades away” as the student’s individual folding is generally considered as a teacher-initiated,
actions expand, leading to a gradual transfer of responsi- directive instructional strategy, which conflicts with the
bility and control over the implementation of joint action initial understanding of teaching as inter-action of the
from the teacher to the student. Thus, one feature actually teacher and students to build new knowledge together.
“flows” into the second, and the second into the third. In Some enquirers even consider this concept as a regres-
this regard, it is the first feature that turns out to be the sion to an era prior to Piaget, whose research revealed
most important due to its role in causing the further chain the very significant role of the activity of the child him-
of joint action transformations to arise [25]. or herself in the process of shaping his or her own devel-
The second problem lies in the attempt to assess the opment [20].
effectiveness of this type of teaching action. To account Thus, scaffolding is often criticised as being an exces-
for these, the need to take into account not only the sively narrow way of operationalising the concept of the
characteristics of the student’s actions and personality, ZPD due to its focus on the disadvantages of dominant
but also his or her behaviour patterns when interacting teacher actions, whereas Vygotsky’s focus remained on
with the teacher and type of communication, significant- the joint actions of children and adults. This leads some
ly complicates the choice of proper assessment tools. researchers to the conclusion that, despite some corre-
An additional difficulty that arises with such an as- lation, the scaffolding metaphor fails to capture the es-
sessment approach consists in the need to take into ac- sence of Vygotsky’s ZPD concept, inappropriately rep-
count and describe in detail the context of teacher-stu- resenting the interactions of two actors as a one-sided
dent interaction. This can also exert a significant impact influence on the part of the teacher (“a street with one-
on the effectiveness of the teacher’s actions in the enact- way traffic”).
ment of scaffolding strategies [25]. According to Verenikina [26], such a view may be
explained in terms of Vygotsky’s cultural-historical
theory having appeared in a wide professional discourse
Criticism of the scaffolding technique after an earlier popular representation of a child as an
active builder of his/her own development carried out
At the same time as the scaffolding concept was gain- in the course of numerous discoveries in the process of
ing in popularity, the number of researchers criticising the his interaction with the environment. This cognitive or
use of this metaphor in general — and its correlation with individual constructivist point of view associated with
the concept of the ZPD in particular — grew. Much of this the works of Piaget that appeared before the works of
specific criticism revolved around two main positions: Vygotsky, whose emphasis is placed on the role of social
• although scaffolding is used to represent the imple- interactions mediated by signs (social constructivism),
mentation of ZPD in training practice, it is understood formed a stable attitude on the part of most researchers
too narrowly and fails to fully take into account the rich that the source of a child’s development consists, first of
meaning of the ZPD concept; all, in his or her active interaction with the environment.
• scaffolding is not directly related to ZPD, since In this context, any interaction with an adult — espe-
the former is about Learning, while the latter is about cially with a teacher, who is a truly active participant in
Learning and Development. their joint action (and not only the authors of the term of

20
 КУЛЬТУРНО-ИСТОРИЧЕСКАЯ ПСИХОЛОГИЯ 2020. Т. 16. № 3
CULTURAL-HISTORICAL PSYCHOLOGY. 2020. Vol. 16, no. 3

scaffolding think so, but also Vygotsky himself) — can be remark, we can conclude that the time characteristics of
considered as a limitation of the child’s activity, imme- scaffolding appear to be much shorter, being determined
diately coming into conflict with the previously formed by the time of solving the task with adult support. In
views of the researcher in line with Piaget’s theory. other words, since the period of ZPD existence is de-
Nevertheless, in the opinion of the present author, this termined by the rate of maturation of the child’s capa-
does not necessarily contradict the position of cultural- bilities and the level of influence of the adult and culture
historical theory. on this process, it is a significantly longer process. From
From this point of view, the criticism of the concept of this point of view, we can say that a direct comparison
scaffolding appears to be curious because it illustrates the of scaffolding and ZPD looks incorrect to a certain ex-
fact that previously formed spontaneous notions do not tent, since in one case we are comparing problem-solving
disappear completely within the framework of children’s performance with the help of an adult, and in the other,
development from the beginning of concept formation in a complex process of the development of psychological
the course of the organised learning; moreover, even the functions under conditions of social interactions medi-
researchers’ previously formed notions of the processes ated by signs.
of the development of these concepts in children do not Following Luis Moll, Smagorinsky points to another
disappear, entering into complex relations with the new essential feature that is often overlooked in the process
ideas, whose balance never exactly coincides with the au- of elaborating the ZPD concept through such a literal
thors’ understanding of these new ideas. It would seem understanding of the “tomorrow” metaphor, comprising
that the more urgent this problem of synthesis of old and the role of social context in the construction of a ZPD
new scientific concepts is, the less defined and more meta- [19]. From his study of aspects of educational processes of
phorical these new ideas become, as seen in the case of the migrant children, Moll came to the conclusion that their
concepts of the ZPD and scaffolding. previous social and cultural experience (largely different
An attempt to reveal the content of a metaphorical ob- from that in the United States) played a significant role
ject (ZPD) through a metaphorical description of actions in interacting with their teachers [13]. This conclusion,
in it (scaffolding) should initially lead to a significant which correlates with the concept of cultural means,
level of uncertainty and a wide variety of interpretations directly coincides with a much deeper understanding
up to incredible simplifications and inversions in under- of what is mastered by pupils in the framework interac-
standing the key ideas that the authors of the terms put on tions with teachers. The result of mastering, obtaining
in the form of the metaphors under consideration. and comprehending such means largely depends on the
Peter Smagorinsky articulated another strong posi- social context, including the past experience of students.
tion regarding the concept of scaffolding as having no According to Smagorinsky, the child’s past — especially
direct relation to the concept of the ZPD [18]. In Sma- social and cultural — experience has a significant influ-
gorinsky’s opinion, one of the reasons for the prevalence ence on the process of generalisations. As a matter of
of the extremely simplified understanding of the concept fact, while the research carried out by Vygotsky and
of the ZPD by teachers and its identification with the his colleagues emphasised understanding of the past, as
scaffolding method is the aim of individual teachers and previously-formed everyday concepts, the formation of
schools to obtain rapid positive results under the con- which took place in a different social context outside the
ditions of ongoing internal and external accountability organised learning, Smagorinsky and Moll mainly focus
evaluations. Many researchers have a literal rather than on previous cultural context and experience, which has
metaphorical, understanding of the ZPD, according to the experience of another social or ethnic group affili-
which a student will be able to act effectively and inde- ation, rather than individual childhood experience. To
pendently tomorrow, if he or she is provided with prop- summarise the position of many of the researchers [27]
erly organised support today. described above, we shall note that the scaffolding meth-
Expanding on Smagorinsky’s critical ideas, we note od, being a fairly effective method for solving a number
that one of the most important differences between the of professional challenges and involving the teacher’s
ZPD and scaffolding concepts is that the dimensions structured and limited support to students in the process
(primarily, the time dimension) of these concepts turn of solving learning tasks, does not have a direct relation
out to be completely different. The duration of interac- to the ZPD concept or its implementation in profession-
tion and existence of scaffolding as a specific (albeit very al practice. Neither the way of organising the students’
complex in structure, form and purpose) adult support to learning activities in accordance with the notion of
a pupil in the process of solving a learning task is limited ZPD, the processes of interaction between the teacher
by the duration of its solution. Thus, the time character- and students, nor the chronotope of such interaction (its
istics of the ZPD are by no means determined or limited correlation with the time dimension), coincide with the
by the parameters of time spent on a joint solution of a way it is described through the scaffolding method.
specific task with an adult or even a whole series of such In Russia, the concept of scaffolding, never the subject of
tasks. Rather, the time span of ZPD is determined exclu- much enthusiasm among researchers and educators, played
sively by the speed of development processes and those an insignificant role in bringing together the concepts of
social interactions that pave cultural or “artificial” ways learning and development. However, if we look at another
for this development, mediating them with various sign- example of the development and propagation of the concept
symbolic means that transform both the content and di- of “developmental education”, which is close in meaning, we
rections of infant thought development. To sum up this can see an almost identical mechanism of transforming an ac-

21
 Margolis A.A. Zone of Proximal Development, Scaffolding...
Марголис А.А. Зона ближайшего развития, скаффолдинг...

tual pedagogical practice into a formal-developmental, but, Further efforts to clarify and saturate this method
in fact, still a traditional one. As in the case with the concept of pedagogical work with the deeper scientific content
of scaffolding, a large number of teachers, who had become originally formulated by Bruner and his colleagues — or
acquainted with Elkonin and Davydov’s ideas of develop- its more accurate positioning in the system of the con-
mental education, but who had not entirely mastered the cepts of the cultural-historical theory — will make it
in-depth essence of this approach, shortly after argued that possible to move from simplified versions of such teacher
they themselves used the elements of developmental educa- actions to more complex and appropriate tasks aimed at
tion. However, behind this mechanism is a lack of a clear de- students’ cognitive development. In fact, if we continue
scription of professional activities aimed at the development a series of metaphorical remarks on this topic, we can say
of students (irrespective of whether it is the construction of that the main credit for the emergence and dissemination
the ZPD of an individual or the development of the whole of the concept of scaffolding is that it turned out to be a
class within a specific program of subject teaching), as well “Trojan horse”, by which means the idea of development
as the formal nature of the professional generalisation itself, (and, consequently, the ZPD) was able to penetrate into
carried out by the teacher in the course of mastering new the “fortress of traditional education”, changing the very
professional practices. Typically, it is only the external char- essence and direction of pedagogical action.
acteristics of the new approach to professional actions that
are “captured” by the professional concepts formed within
this process and recorded using the same term used by the Back to Vygotsky: ZPD as the development
developers in scientific literature. Due to the content of this of spontaneous (everyday) concepts
notion being subject to dramatic transformation and simpli-
fication, it is often transformed into something opposite to As noted above, the problem of a simplified interpre-
its original meaning. tation of the ZPD as adult support to pupils in solving
The same idea is stated in Smagorinsky’s paper, in tasks is partially related the definitions of this concept
which the training of future teachers is analysed. [19]. being significantly different in Vygotsky’s works. One
The author’s most important conclusion is that the tra- of these is his famous statement that “what a child can
ditional model of teacher education is disadvantaged by do in cooperation with an adult today, he can do alone
too little emphasis on theory rather than practice which tomorrow”. In this connection, it becomes important to
is usually stressed. This means that, while the graduates understand how Vygotsky defined the ZPD in his later
of such programs master necessary professional knowl- recent works that had implicitly absorbed the history of
edge, it is not at the level of concepts, but, at best, at the previous inquiries.
level of complexes similar to those levels of the develop- In the context of understanding the specifics of the
ment of children’s ideas proposed by Vygotsky. teacher’s actions aimed at building the ZPD, we believe
On the other hand, the way in which most teachers that the most promising works of Vygotsky on the cor-
are introduced to the new content of the concept prac- relation between everyday and scientific concepts are, in
tically excludes any type of generalisation and under- particular, his preface to the work of Josefina Shif “On
standing of new professional notions other than formal. the Study of Scientific Concepts in Schoolchildren”, as
The reason why teachers generally master new content well as this study itself, carried out under the leadership
at the level of complexes and pseudo-concepts rather of Vygotsky, and “Development of Everyday and Scien-
than at the level of concepts is because the conceptual tific Concepts at School Age”, which is a transcript of a
approach to mastering a new professional generalisation lecture given by Vygotsky at the Leningrad Pedological
requires an activity-based means of transferring it. In Institute in 1933.
most cases, the fact that traditional pedagogical profes- Discussing the problem of the formation of scientific
sional development models do not meet these require- concepts in the course of school education in terms of
ments usually results in the formation of professional their relationship with everyday concepts that arise be-
thinking in terms of complexes along with a significant fore and outside school, Vygotsky comes to a number of
simplification of the content being mastered. important conclusions formulated below.
In this regard, many researchers have good grounds 1. The development of scientific concepts cannot be
for emphasising the need for clearer pedagogical recom- based other than on the development of spontaneous
mendations and specifically organised activities aimed at concepts. Since the border between them is fluid, they
mastering scaffolding [25]. flow into each other repeatedly.
Thus, despite the fact that a significant number of 2. At the moment of mastering a new word, the devel-
teachers oversimplify it, the concept of scaffolding rep- opment of the meaning, generalisation or concept fixed in
resents a real step forward in an attempt to construct a it does not terminate but, rather, it is only getting started.
pedagogy of development [20]. In a sense, it has already 3. Piaget considered the correlation between sponta-
fulfilled its mission and become a model of the unit of a neous concepts — that is, the products of the child’s own
teacher’s activity, which is aimed at the development of thought — and of scientific concepts as antagonistic. The
a student’s independent action by providing him or her former are replaced by the latter in the process of devel-
with the necessary support adjusted to the individual oping socialisation at whose apex is learning. The teacher
level of performance, rather than at the direct transfer must consider spontaneous concepts as his or her enemies
of information to students to make them memorise and in order to suppress and destroy them. On the contrary,
reproduce it. according to Vygotsky, it is impossible to imagine the

22
 КУЛЬТУРНО-ИСТОРИЧЕСКАЯ ПСИХОЛОГИЯ 2020. Т. 16. № 3
CULTURAL-HISTORICAL PSYCHOLOGY. 2020. Vol. 16, no. 3

formation of scientific concepts outside of spontaneous certain moment, forming verbal thinking, which leads to
concepts rather than on their basis. Scientific concepts a qualitative change in each of them.
do not flow through different channels, but developing The above position of Vygotsky can also be applied
through interaction and change. The development of sci- to the problem of the content of school education. In
entific concepts is a process, rather than a one-time action. terms of the development of this position, children study
It is constructed on the basis of everyday (spontaneous) at school not only in order to embrace a certain set of
concepts, which become increasingly generalised and knowledge, most of which will never be useful to them
conscious in the course of organised learning. Scientific and much of which will become outdated by the time
concepts cannot be memorised; rather, the child’s thought they finish their education. Rather, the purpose of school
must rise to this level of generalisation [4]. education consists, first of all, in the formation of scien-
From this point of view, it is legitimate to argue that tific concepts based on the material of school subjects,
in the process of interaction between a teacher and a stu- ensuring the development of the child’s entire thinking
dent, which is constructed as a ZPD, the teacher must (including his or her everyday concepts). If the achieve-
create conditions for the development of spontaneous ment of this goal can be combined with the acquisition
concepts of the student. In this case, the ZPD can be of the knowledge that will be needed in life, then this
seen as a space (or unit of learning) in which, in the pro- turns out to be doubly useful. However, if the process of
cess of specifically organised student-teacher interaction mastering this knowledge itself does not cause the mo-
(or interaction between students organised by the teach- tivation to acquire it, but, on the contrary, is accompa-
er), the development of spontaneous concepts and their nied by a crisis of interest, then the above “mechanism”
transformation into scientific concepts can be ensured. of education simply does not work. On the other hand,
By forming a scientific concept, education paves the if the learning does not result in scientific concepts of
way for increasing the level and degree of generalisation of a high level of generalisation and arbitrariness in their
spontaneous concepts as a unit of the child’s own thinking. use (awareness), then the mechanism of the “education-
At the same time, the ZPD shows a prognosis and the abil- al transformer of spontaneous thinking” also does not
ity to transform spontaneous concepts in the learning pro- work, since the necessary means which, like a locomo-
cess. The formation of scientific concepts becomes a means tive, begin to “drag” spontaneous concepts to a higher
of increasing the consciousness and generalisation of spon- level, are not created. Learning which fails to form sci-
taneous concepts as units of the child’s everyday thinking. entific concepts does not become the ZPD of thinking.
A person thinks with reference to spontaneous con- Thus, the concept of the ZPD cannot be reduced to the
cepts that are limited in the degree of generalisation and question of organising a teacher’s assistance to a child in
their awareness. Education, forming scientific concepts as the process of solving tasks. This position is an extreme
methods of higher generalisation based on the course con- oversimplification, resulting in the very essence of the
tent, creates conditions for thereby increasing the qual- concept of the ZPD being misunderstood. As consistent
ity of spontaneous (everyday) concepts that a child may with Vygotsky’s initial position, ZPD is a mechanism
use outside the course. Vygotsky repeatedly emphasised for the influence of learning on a child’s development
that the child’s thinking is a unified and holistic process. through the formation of high and arbitrary generalisa-
By creating more perfect means and units of thinking in tions and the restructuring with their help of all other
the process of organised learning, these means (scientific units of thinking (spontaneous concepts) formed on the
concepts and the methods of generalisation associated basis of material outside the educational substance.
with them) transform all the others (everyday concepts), The mechanism of how learning leads development is
increasing the level of their generalisation and awareness associated with scientific concepts formed in the course
(which, in fact, was exposed to Shif’s scientific scrutiny). of organised learning rebuilding the whole process of the
In this context, the formed scientific concepts them- child’s holistic thinking (including his spontaneous con-
selves become the ZPD for the development of sponta- cepts), making them more generalised and conscious.
neous concepts, i.e., children’s thinking. The degree of The power of spontaneous concepts lies in the fact
formation of scientific concepts can be a tool for assess- that they have personal meanings, they are emotionally
ing the further transformations of spontaneous concepts. coloured, being the results of generalisation of the child’s
Learning through the formation of scientific concepts own sensory or objective experience.
and their influence on spontaneous concepts is the most At the same time, most of the scientific concepts
important “mechanism” for the development of holistic related exclusively to verbal definition do not possess
processes of schoolchildren’s thinking. such sensory experience, vivid impression and personal
The idea that the formation of scientific concepts meaning, which creates, according to Vygotsky, the risk
does not lead to the destruction or disappearance of of formalism in the process of their assimilation only
learners’ spontaneous concepts, but, rather, to their reor- through memorisation, and not through the develop-
ganisation, is related to the more general theoretical po- ment of thinking as actually occurs in most cases within
sition of Vygotsky on the reorganisation of some psycho- the framework of “traditional” education.
logical functions and the formation of new psychological In their genesis, spontaneous concepts are generally
systems, whereby previously independent psychological products of a child’s dynamic independent activity (al-
functions do not only develop themselves, being mediat- though, as a rule, they are mediated by interaction with
ed by sign means, but also form new associations of these a collective adult), while scientific concepts are the result
functions. For example, thinking and speech start from a of the direct interaction between student and the teacher.

23
 Margolis A.A. Zone of Proximal Development, Scaffolding...
Марголис А.А. Зона ближайшего развития, скаффолдинг...

Most of the definitions of the ZPD relate to the char- with its subsequent interiorisation is seen in the pro-
acter of the interaction between a teacher and a student gram “Philosophy for Children”, which directly uses
in the course of learning — that is, the forms of this kind the method of Socratic debate and group discussion as a
of cooperation and the processes associated with it: imi- mechanism for the development of the initial concepts of
tation, communication, mutual understanding. students on the basis of philosophical issues.
At the same time, the approach to the ZPD concept According to Vygotsky, the role of interiorisation
proposed here following Vygotsky and Shif refers primar- processes prevails (which fully corresponds to his more
ily to the content of interaction between a child and an general methodological position on the role of the social
adult, consisting in the cooperative creation of a scientific in the formation of the psychological); however, from
concept. The development is carried out as a mechanism our point of view, no less important is the role of exteri-
for the influence of more generalised and conscious scien- orisation processes, without which the objectification of
tific concepts on those that spontaneous arise affecting a spontaneous concepts, i.e. their awareness and change,
learner’s entire cognitive holistic process. turns out to be impossible.
In this case, the development of the child’s thinking In fact, it can be assumed that the pedagogical ac-
turns out to be associated, first of all, with the process of tions of an adult in building the ZPD are largely reduced
changing concepts (conceptual change) and cannot be re- to creating conditions for the exteriorisation of sponta-
duced to a teacher’s assistance in the process of his or her neous concepts, their awareness and the development of
interaction with a student. “... what has been achieved in more general and more conscious concepts adequate to
the development of a scientific concept acts as the Zone of the object under study. The specific forms of implemen-
proximal development for an everyday (concept)” [8, p. 79]. tation of such actions of the teacher can be very different:
The ZPD concept, presented by Vygotsky and Shif from the organisation of collectively distributed actions
in the context of the correlation between scientific and of students to jointly solve tasks to Socratic debate in
everyday notions, actually defines scientific concepts as the lessons of “Philosophy for Children” or in the course
the zone of proximal development of everyday concepts of specially organised dialogues based on the educational
and the child’s thinking as a whole. materials of academic subjects.
However, if we examine in detail the very mechanism From the point of view of the goals of which Vygotsky
of the development described by Vygotsky in this con- speaks, it is the method of development of everyday con-
nection, then it implies at least two different processes. cepts — which is actually central to the position of Vy-
1. Formation of scientific concepts as a tool for gener- gotsky himself and associated with the formation of scien-
alisation and development of everyday concepts. tific concepts as a tool for restructuring everyday concepts
2. The process of generalisation and understanding of and thinking in general — that seems the most problematic.
everyday concepts, which to a certain extent occurs au- Firstly, Vygotsky himself sees significant risks in the
tomatically due to the integrity of the thinking process. fact that no training is able to cope with this task, but only
If someone has formed scientific concepts on some sub- that one which really ensures the formation of scientific
ject area, then they will inevitably (and spontaneously, concepts, an example of which can be seen in the system
that is, without additional efforts) begin to rebuild other of developing education. However, as can be seen from
areas of thinking and everyday concepts in them. the implementation of this system, there is still sufficient
Let’s leave aside the fact that the first statement has experimental lack of evidence of significant transfer and
been proven (which is a continuation of the theory of long-term effects outside of educational substance, in-
formal discipline by Johann Friedrich Herbart and the cluding empirical data on the restructuring of everyday
transfer of the achieved effect to other areas), both from concepts under the influence of formed scientific concepts.
a theoretical and an empirical point of view. In addition, from a theoretical point of view, it seems that
Consideration of the second part of the ZPD mecha- neither Davydov’s concept of learning activity nor the
nism, namely the generalisation and understanding of ev- more richly diverse practice of developmental education,
eryday concepts, allows us to consider it as the main con- could convincingly answer a number of important theo-
tent of such an interpretation of the concept of the ZPD. retical questions concerning the students’ spontaneous
In this case, a natural question arises: is the formation concepts and teacher’s actions in this context. In compari-
of a scientific concept the only way to develop everyday son with the formation of dialogical concepts (criticism
ideas and is there a direct means to stimulate their devel- of the concept of learning activity from the standpoint of
opment, not mediated by the formation of scientific con- the scientific School of the Dialogue of Cultures), the role
cepts, but involving other mechanisms and processes? of scientific theoretical concepts as catalysts for changing
In our opinion, such a method consists, for example, the quality of the student’s holistic thinking also remains
in a collectively-distributed form of organising joint so- not fully understood [1; 2; 6].
lution of tasks, in which a given form of distribution of
individual operations or elements of a task in the course
of joint action forces its participants to cooperate, to ar- Conclusion
gue their mode of action — and, ultimately, to awareness,
reflection and development. If the teaching is aimed only at mastering formal
Another example of a psychological process of exte- knowledge rather than at the development of students’
riorisation of spontaneous concepts, dialogue and the spontaneous concepts, then neither the acquisition of
construction of a more complete and conscious concept knowledge, nor the development of students, is fulfilled.

24
 КУЛЬТУРНО-ИСТОРИЧЕСКАЯ ПСИХОЛОГИЯ 2020. Т. 16. № 3
CULTURAL-HISTORICAL PSYCHOLOGY. 2020. Vol. 16, no. 3

For students who are carriers of their own spontane- rise and connection with scientific concepts. The point
ous concepts, the acquisition of knowledge as the main where they meet in the form of a “real”, or actually-
goal of school education is impossible without trans- formed concept, will always be an individually specific
formations of these concepts. Otherwise, new formal centaur of a scientific-spontaneous concept, in which the
knowledge can only be memorised, but cannot be ap- balance of parts is unique and determined by individual
plied in practice, while the initial spontaneous concepts characteristics. At the same time, the student does not
of children’s thinking will remain in their original form form any “pure” theoretical concepts (which we can find
and determine the way students act. It follows that the in science but not in personal competence); they are al-
main goal of any formally organised schooling is not any ways mixed in a certain proportion with conscious and
mere mastering of this knowledge, but one that is simul- generalised initial spontaneous concepts. The greater
taneously accompanied by the transformation and de- the level of abstraction available to the child, the less
velopment of the initial concepts of students. spontaneous initial concepts remained in them.
The formation of a new type of students’ thinking The role of the processes of exteriorisation of initial
occurs, in our opinion, in a fundamentally different way concepts, i.e. their objectification, reflection and trans-
from how it is described in the classical version of the formation into an object of targeted changes as a result
theory of learning activity in the process of forming sci- of the organisation of collectively distributed individual
entific concepts. In accordance with the initial position actions or a specifically organised educational dialogue,
of Vygotsky, it is not scientific concepts that are formed, is a key mechanism for the development of initial con-
but their synthesis with initial concepts as a fundamen- cepts to the level of scientific concepts. At the same time,
tally different, two-sided process not only from top to this activity forms the main content of a teacher’s pro-
bottom, but also from bottom to top by comprehend- fessional actions in building students’ zones of proximal
ing and generalising initial concepts along with their development.

References 9. Cazden C. Peekaboo as an Instructional Model:

Discourse Development at Home and at School. Papers and
1. Berlyand I.E. Uchebnaya deyatelnost v shkole Reports on Child Language Development, 1979, no. 17.
razvivayushchego obucheniya i v shkole dialoga kultur 10. Lajoie S.P. Extending the scaffolding metaphor.
[Educational activity in the school of developing education Instructional Science, 2005. Vol. 33, no. 5—6, pp. 541—557.
and in the school of dialogue of cultures]. Discourse, 1997, 11. Macrine S.L., Sabbatino E.D. Dynamic assessment and
no. 3—4, p. 117. (In Russ.). remediation approach: Using the DARA approach to assist
2. Bibler V.S. Dialog kultur I shkola 21 veka: idei, opyt, struggling readers. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 2008. Vol. 24,
problemy [Dialogue of cultures and school of the XXI century]. no. 1, pp. 52—76.
In Bibler V.S. (ed.), School of dialogue of cultures: ideas, 12. Many J.E. An exhibition and analysis of verbal
experience, problems. Kemerovo: ALEF, 1993. 414 p. tapestries: Understanding how scaffolding is woven into
3. Vygotsky L.S. Razvitie zhiteyskikh i nauchnykh the fabric of instructional conversations. Reading Research
ponyatiy v shkolnom vozraste [The development of everyday Quarterly, 2002. Vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 376—407.
and scientific concepts at school age (transcript of the report 13. Moll L.C. Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development:
at the Leningrad Pedological Institute 05/20/1933). Mental Rethinking its instructional implications. Infancia y
development of children in the learning process]. Мoscow: Aprendisaje, 1990. Vol. 13, no. 51—52, pp. 157—168.
Uchpedgis, 1935. (In Russ.). 14. Palincsar A.S. The role of dialogue in providing
4. Vygotsky L.S. Razvitiye nauchnikh ponyatiy u scaffolded instruction. Educational Psychologist, 1986. Vol. 21,
shkolnika [The development of scientific concepts at school no. 1—2, pp. 73—98.
age]. Мoscow: Preface. Shif., 1935. 80 p. (In Russ.). 15. Pea R.D. The social and technological dimensions
5. Vygotsky L.S. Lektsii po psikhologii. Mishleniye I of scaffolding and related theoretical concepts for learning,
rech. [Lectures on psychology. Thought and Language], 2018. education, and human activity. The Journal of the Learning
459 p. (In Russ.). Sciences, 2004. Vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 423—451.
6. Kurganov S.Yu. Experimentalnaya programma shkoli 16. Puntambekar S., Hubscher R. Tools for scaffolding
dialoga kultur I—IV klassi. shkola dialoga kultur. Idei, opyt, students in a complex learning environment: What have we
perspectivy [Experimental program of the school of the gained and what have we missed? Educational Psychologist,
dialogue of cultures I-IV classes. School of the dialogue of 2005. Vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 1—12.
cultures: Ideas, experience, problems: collection of articles.]. 17. Silliman E.R. et al. Scaffolds for learning to read in an
Bibler V.S. (ed.). Kemerovo: ALEF. 1993. 414 p. (In Russ.). inclusion classroom. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in
7. Rubtsov V.V., Margolis A.A., Shvedovskaya A.A., Schools, 2000. Vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 265—279.
Ponomareva V.V. Naukometricheskiy analis kulturno- 18. Smagorinsky P. Is Instructional Scaffolding Actually
istoricheskogo napravleniya v nauchnikh publicatsiyakh. Vygotskian, and Why Should It Matter to Literacy Teachers?
2009-2019 years. [Scientometric analysis of the cultural and Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 2018. Vol. 62, no. 3,
historical direction in scientific publications in 2009—2019]. pp. 253—257.
Kulturno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya = Cultural-historical 19. Smagorinsky P. Is Instructional Scaffolding Actually
psychology. 2019. Vol. 15, no. 4, p. 119—132. DOI:10. 17759/ Vygotskian, and Why Should It Matter to Literacy Teachers? Journal
chp. 2019150412 (In Russ.). of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 2018. Vol. 62, no. 3, pp. 253—257.
8. Shif J.I. Razvitiye nauchnikh ponyatiy u shkolnika. 20. Stone C.A. What is missing in the metaphor of
[The development of scientific concepts in the student]. scaffolding. Contexts for Learning: Sociocultural Dynamics in
Мoscow, 1935. 80 p. (In Russ.). Children’s Development, 1993, pp. 169—183.

25
 Margolis A.A. Zone of Proximal Development, Scaffolding...
Марголис А.А. Зона ближайшего развития, скаффолдинг...

21. Swanson H.L., Lussier C.M. A selective synthesis of 25. Van de Pol J., Volman M., Beishuisen J. Scaffolding in
the experimental literature on dynamic assessment. Review of teacher—student interaction: A decade of research. Educational
Educational Research, 2001. Vol. 71, no. 2, pp. 321—363. Psychology Review, 2010. Vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 271—296.
22. Tabak I., Baumgartner E. The teacher as partner: Exploring 26. Verenikina I. Understanding scaffolding and the ZPD
participant structures, symmetry, and identity work in scaffolding. in educational research, 2003.
Cognition and Instruction, 2004. Vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 393—429. 27. Veresov N.N. ZBR and ZPD: Is there a difference?
23. Tharp R.G., Gallimore R. Rousing minds to life: Кul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya = Cultural-Historical
Teaching, learning, and schooling in social context. Cambridge Рsychology, 2017. Vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 23—36. DOI: 10. 17759/
University Press, 1991. chp. 2017130102 (In Russ).
24. Valsiner J., Van der Veer R. The encoding of distance: 28. Wood D., Bruner J.S., Ross G. The role of tutoring in
The concept of the zone of proximal development and its problem solving. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,
interpretations. Lev Vygotsky: Critical Assessments, 1999. 1976. Vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 89—100.
Vol. 3, pp. 3—31.

Зона ближайшего развития,

скаффолдинг и деятельность учителя
А.А. Марголис
Московский государственный психолого-педагогический университет
(ФГБОУ ВО МГППУ), г. Москва, Российская Федерация
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9832-0122, е-mail: [email protected]

В статье рассматривается понятие зоны ближайшего развития (ЗБР) с точки зрения возможно-
стей его реализации в деятельности педагогов. Дан сопоставительный анализ понятия «скаффол-
динг» (scaffolding), введенного Д. Брунером; показано сходство и отличие этого понятия от ЗБР.
В контексте возможной операционализации в педагогической деятельности автор рассматривает
описанное Л.С. Выготским сложное взаимодействие спонтанных (житейских) понятий, сформиро-
ванных до начала школьного обучения, и научных (теоретических) понятий, формируемых в ходе
обучения в школе как ключевое содержание понятия ЗБР. Основная идея Л.С. Выготского о веду-
щей роли научных понятий в перестройке ранее сформированных спонтанных представлений и раз-
витии всего целостного мышления ребенка позволяет сделать вывод о том, что наряду с этим возмо-
жен и непосредственный способ воздействия на спонтанные представления с помощью организации
коллективно-распределенных форм учебной деятельности и метода сократического диалога. Веду-
щими психологическими процессами, обеспечивающими при этом развитие спонтанных представле-
ний путем их большего обобщения и осознанности, являются процессы экстериоризации исходных
представлений, рефлексии и последующей интериоризации коллективно построенного понятия.
Деятельность педагога по построению ЗБР предполагает, таким образом, организацию условий для
распределения индивидуальных операций в рамках совместного учебного действия или организа-
цию полилога, обеспечивающих эффективное функционирование указанных психологических про-
цессов в рамках специально организованной учебной деятельности учащихся.

Ключевые слова: зона ближайшего развития, скаффолдинг, культурно-историческая психоло-

гия, Выготский Л.С., педагогическая деятельность.

Для цитаты: Марголис А.А. Зона ближайшего развития, скаффолдинг и деятельность учителя // Культурно-исто-
рическая психология. 2020. Том 16. № 3. C. 15—26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2020160303

Information about the authors

Arkady A. Margolis, Cand. Sci. (Psychology), Professor, Chair of Pedagogical Psychology, Rector, Moscow State University of
Psychology & Education Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9832-0122, е-mail: [email protected]

Информация об авторах
Марголис Аркадий Аронович, кандидат психологических наук, профессор кафедры педагогической психологии, ректор,
Московский государственный психолого-педагогический университет (ФГБОУ ВО МГППУ), г. Москва, Российская
Федерация, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9832-0122, е-mail: [email protected]

Получена 15.07.2020 Received 15.07.2020

Принята в печать 02.08.2020 Accepted 02.08.2020

26