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As a student, I would sometimes feel overwhelmed by the bulk of information we learn every single day. At times like these, I do find it especially helpful when my teachers consolidate and link what we have learnt to previously taught topics. This is largely aligned with Piaget's concept of assimilation and has indeed been useful to me over the years.

Additionally, I personally find that Vygotsky's concept of scaffolding has been an incredibly useful and pervasive learning tool throughout my learning over the years.
When I was younger, teacher prompts in the form of gestures, verbal hint, and pictorial clues were most commonly used to guide not just me but my classmates in the right direction towards the correct answer. As I got older, the type of scaffolding I experience naturally changed as well. Teachers provided support in terms of supplementary readings and guided frameworks, which made tasks easier for me to complete whilst still presenting enough of a challenge for independent growth and learning. The development-appropriate scaffolding I have received all these years have most definitely been beneficial for my learning.

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For me, the most important strategy that was effective for me as a learner was scaffolding.

As a learner, I don't listen very well so for me to really master a certain subject, I do require handholding at the different stages of learning. A simple strategy that worked well for me was "I do, we do, you do". The teacher will first show the concept works. Then the teacher will do it with me, or watch me do it and finally to test my understanding, the teacher will have me attempt the questions on my own. For myself as a learner, the "we do" part is especially crucial as there are many times I misunderstand when certain concepts are taught. The effective teachers that taught me all had something in common,  at the "we do" part, they would let me attempt questions WHILE explaining to me why I was doing certain steps. I remember particularly well that I had problems learning the concept of division. My teacher then had me come up to the whiteboard where I attempted the question in front of the class. While guiding me, she also used my mistake to show the class where I had understood the concept wrongly. Then, using my mistake as an example, she pointed out how I could have understood wrongly and corrected my point of view. It was something that helped me a lot as it cleared up my misconception right at the start, before the learning could take root in my mind.

In conclusion, for me, appropriate scaffolding is something very important as we want students having difficulty to know why they are making certain mistakes and how they can avoid them in future.

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3 very prominent moments in my life that, till now I can still remember, there was a gradual climb to my learning, were in my Secondary School days, Polytechnic days and during the times I was an intern starting off in the Outdoor and adventure industry, of which all 3 has bits and pieces of references to both Piaget’s and Vygotsky’ theory for cognitive developments.

I was a lazy and somewhat difficult student in secondary school. In those 4 years, I remember having the same math teacher from start till end. She saw me fail in math till I manage to pull of a Bs and As for my maths in my final year in secondary school. Scaffolding and Zone of proximal development from Vygotsky were 2 prominent things that I remember happening with her. My class in general was weak in maths. So he scaffolded her lessons to really break things down for us to grasp the understanding and slowly and gradually increased it’s difficulty for us. For me, she was always the More Knowledgeable Other who constantly guided me through and made sure I was able to reach to the point of independently being able to solves the math problems.

Then came polytechnic, one facilitator had always taken time to interact with as many of her students as she possibly could. Interacting about anything that interests the students. For me, she used to always check-in with me to see how I was coping with school and issues out of school. She shared with her about the prospects of the job and why she continued doing what she does. On top of interacting with me, she always had me doing my own journals. Posted me questions and asking me to write about what I thought about them. Sometimes about topics in school, sometimes about actions I have done.

My mentor/supervisor during my internship was really the type who doesn’t like to spoon feed. He is really an advocate of experiential learning, which doesn’t really link much towards either Piaget or Vygotsky. However, what he does is. Once I have created an experience of doing something, and it has been created into a schema for me and I have become comfortable with that, what he does is, he puts me in disequilibrium. He pushes and challenges my schemas of what I thought I knew. For example, all activities that I have done was always done for school students and youths. That created a schema in my mind that these are all only for youths. When he realised that, he pulled me out of working with youths and got me to start learning about working with corporate clients. Thinking that I would be learning a whole array of new activities, this was when I was placed in a new situation. Doing the exact same activities that I would do for youths or kids as young as 8, 9-year-olds, now doing it for corporate adults as old as 50 years old! I was thrown off, not knowing if it was possible, how can I do something so ‘kiddish’ for adults so old! It was here that I had to make accommodation to what I already know and created a new schema in my mind.

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Throughout my primary and secondary school years, what made it easier for me to learn, remember and understand better was having a more knowledgeable other available to provide guidance (in this case, a teacher) when encountering new concepts or information. Having the teacher provide concrete examples of the concepts usually helped me understand it better and allowed me to link the concept to a real world scenario or situation. It was also helpful for me to have discussions with classmates about the new information learnt. I have found that having scaffolding has helped in my learning. This aspect of my learning mostly resonates with Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development.

However, when I am introduced to something new that I might not have any frame of reference for, Piaget’s theory resonates more. An example would be experiencing disequilibrium while learning philosophy during my undergraduate programme. My worldview had to broaden to accommodate these new ideas and theories that often question my current understanding of the world. In this case, I would have to expand my schema to make sense of this knowledge. It is the disequilibrium that advances my understanding of what is taught.

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During my primary and secondary school days, teachers taught using the more traditional or conventional approach – teacher centred learning. My teachers presented the information to students, who were expected to passively receive the knowledge being presented. I learnt (or at least tried to learn) by listening and trying to retain the information in my mind. During Math lessons, teachers flashed the answers using the ‘OHP’ and we tried to make sense of our mistakes. We were given lots of drilling and did many practice papers. This is in line with Piaget’s constructivism ideas, that schemas develop from our surroundings and experiences. Piaget maintained schemas can develop and change as children assimilate new information to existing understandings and accommodate by adjusting existing understandings to fit new experiences.

In my upper secondary days, I started to clear my doubts in mathematics with a friend who was very good in the subject. Whenever I could not solve a problem, she explained to me the concepts and changed my misconceptions. We discussed and solved the sums together. And I could understand her and started to perform better in the subject. I felt more confident and began to challenge myself to do more difficult problems. That was the turning point for me to start liking the subject. This method resonates with Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development, which emphasizes on two principles – More Knowledgeable Other and Zone of Proximal Development.

In conclusion, I have realized that I learn best in a non-judgmental environment, through scaffolding and by asking a lot of questions.

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I learn better when teacher explains concepts with examples, show me how to do it and later I practice doing it myself. Take Mathematics for example, teacher model how to do the question, he verbalise his thinking and show me step by step instruction. He will point out my mistake if any and make me do correction. This is in line with Vygotsky’s concept of Zone of Proximal Development and scaffolding as well as the use of language to verbalise the process.

I can also understand and remember better when teacher uses analogies and acronyms. They help to link new concept to what I am familiar (my existing schema) which is Piaget’s theory of Assimilation.

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Throughout my school life as a student, I met many teachers or educators who were passionate in teaching and had applied many strategies in their teaching.

Apparently, not all lessons I could not comprehend and follow through. I was a very quiet student back then and always afraid of asking for help. On the other hand, I am a student who is a visual learner who learns better through hands on approach and with lots of scaffolding needed even till now. I could grasp easily with concreate examples given to illustrate what I am learning, a lot of prompting from the teachers and teachers who gave modelling to the related topics and I would refer to guided notes by myself at home; as independent learner. With this, it is so much related to both Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theory.

I could vividly remember how my Chemistry teacher taught us the concept to understand a periodic table easily. She broke down the information into different sections and categorised it according to the properties. She explained step-by-step on how to retrieve the correction information from the table, had few examples before letting the students to attempt the practice paper, used visual cards and coloured markers on visualiser to differentiate the elements on the periodic table. It took me a very short time to understand the period table and I aced at it back then in secondary school. The whole process of learning was closely guided with lots of teacher prompting.  I resonate it to Vygotsky's theory as it comprised of concepts Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).

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My Further Math tutor in my Junior College was able to explain explicitly and clearly complex math concepts. This was achieved by solving math questions on the board and explaining each step thoroughly before moving on to the step next. Through the step-by-step problem-solving approach, the teachers guided me to recognise when to apply the mathematical properties or formulas to simplify complex math equations. In fact, for very challenging concepts, the teacher painstakingly explained the transformation from one step to the next, and even, reinforced very complex concepts with multiple work examples.

I can relate to Vygotsky's theory of sociocultural development on Zone of Proximal Development where the child cannot solve problem alone but can be successful under adult guidance with a more knowledgeable other.

As my teacher showed the step-by-step workings on the board, she scaffolded the complex and abstract math concepts into concrete and understandable steps and therefore, I looked forward to attend her tutorial class and felt great sense of achievement when I was able to solve similar questions independently while I attempted the assigned homework.

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I believe both Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories were used interchangeably in my schools. In my early years at the age of four to five the kindergarten’s structure seemed more aligned to Piaget’s developmental stages. Following the preoperational stages the focus was on experiential play, social play and pretend play with an emphasis on language. Basic concepts like colors, matching and letters and math were introduced. There was some recalling of information (memory) and basic inferences during story time.

However in primary school there was a slight overlap in both Vygotsky and Piaget’s theories. Particularly in the lower primary there were still lots of direct instructions given in most of the lessons. My teachers would reinforce our concepts after every lesson and use basic logical examples especially for math. There was some influence of Vygotsky’s theories with leading questions by teachers and mini group work elements. As I grew older the classroom strategies were more aligned to Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal development than Piaget. I was assigned my class based on my needs and grades. Particularly in upper primary and secondary onwards Vygotsky’s theory of scaffolding became more evident with teachers encouraging  group activities, peer tutoring and guided learning thus allowing me to be a more independent learner.

However, peer tutoring and guided learning involves lots of time and interest and involvement of peers. Particularly in my teenage years there was lots of resistance and disinterest in group work and often the time spent during discussions were unsupervised and futile.
Rote learning was a common practise as a punishment or before exams and this did not benefit me in any way. My learning style leans towards a kinaesthetic and visual learner based on understanding rather than memorising.  I only understood and learnt this at a later stage as there was no emphasis to be aware of and benefit from one's learning style.

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During my school years, particularly during secondary school,  I was either excelling in some subjects, or failing badly for the rest of the subjects. There was no in between. For subjects that I was excelling in, I was asked by the teachers to guide other classmates who needs more guidance. We studied in a group, discussing concepts that they were unsure of. This social setting is in line with Vygotsky's theory, whereby our cognitive abilities are guided and constructed socially.

For subjects that I was weaker in, I had great support from my teachers. They wrote various guides for me to follow, having individual consultation sessions with me. During lessons, teachers would break down various key concepts into chunks, as a form of scaffolding. During that point of time, I was clearly in the Zone of Proximal Development, and the MKO are my teachers, who were guiding me to achieving better results.

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Yes, some of the strategies used  by my teachers is a combination of both Piaget's and Vygotsky's theory for cognitive development.

Some of the strategies used were:
- Using diagrams and graphic organisers to summarize complex chapters
- Breakdown comprehension passages to scaffold and explain the author's context
- Having peer teaching, by articulating what you have learnt to further increase retention of information as my teacher always believe that when you explain the thought process, you will tend to understand better
- Using sounds to learn the spelling of words
- Using mnemonics, creating jingles to remember key information such as the accounting format
- Using self directed learning by asking us to research on the topic prior to the lesson and tapping on the research outcome to further teach the concepts.

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Did any of the strategies used or activities done by your own teachers resonate with what you have learnt from Piaget’s or Vygotsky’s theory for cognitive development?

Yes. The example I’m going to use is the Hands-on Sourdough making class by a famed baker. I attended this class with 2 other students.

Environment/Setting:

There was a huge emphasis on physical environment. The physical environment was well-designed and ignited a sense of intrinsic motivation in myself to learn; Each student had their own printed notes and workstation consisting of baking tools and ingredients. The physical environment thus enabled active exploration and maximized curiosity to take place, highlighting Piaget’s belief on self-discovery being crucial in one’s learning.

Process:

The session started with a theory 101 lesson on sourdough. She tapped on our prior knowledge of how regular white bread, making references to our local bread brand – Gardenia, and mentioned that the key difference between the two was that in sourdough, it is naturally leavened with wild yeasts and not packaged yeast. Through this, my teacher applied the notion of Assimilation and Accommodation when introducing new material, enabling us achieve Equilibrium throughout the process.

As my teacher went through the notes, she asked open-ended questions that paved the way for peer discussions between us 3 and took on the role of a facilitator. She was not quick to give answers and gave us time to reflect and think of solutions independently. After doing so, she led a whole-class discussion where each of us shared our thoughts. In doing so, I was able to learn differing opinions, and this heightened my learning experience. This is in line with Piaget’s view that the role of teachers is to provide appropriate learning experiences and materials to stimulate students to advance their thinking.

Before the practical element of lesson started, my teacher assessed each of our ZPD when it comes to making Sourdough; She questioned on our past experiences on making sourdough, if any, and immediately I felt like she had a clear gauge on each of us can do, and how much help each of us would need in order to make sourdough. As 3 of us had differing levels of ZPD, with mine being the biggest (learning curve is the highest), my teacher provided me with the most support. First, she placed me directly next to her just so I could have the best view on the process – Autolyze, Bulk ferment and Shape. Second, after her demonstrations, she would pay more attention to how I replicate her steps and similar to the ‘I do, You do and We do’ method, she would attempt to correct my mistakes, if any and watch as I continue on independently. This links back to Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development whereby one is only able to learn successfully under the guidance or in collaboration with a more knowledgeable other, in this case, it is my teacher. Such is thus, in line with Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive abilities being socially guided and constructed.

Conclusion:

I see both Vygotsky and Piaget’s theories unfolding in my sourdough class. Some instances depict ‘Development precedes learning’ while other instances depict ‘Learning precedes development’. I developed both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation throughout the class despite having first experienced intrinsic motivation due to the physical environment.

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I would like to think my  learning style is very much leaning towards Vygotsky sociocultural theory  where I would use intrapersonal form of interaction such as making inner or private speech to understand new information or situation. Many a times in the process of learning something new, I am also comfortable to seek out More Knowledgeable Others for interpersonal interaction form of learning where I rely on language used during discussion and presentations that allows me to construct new schema.

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I have a vague memory of my school years. I was very quiet and will avoid any interactions. However, I do remember that the way I learnt in primary school was different than I was in secondary school. I felt that the teachers in my primary school were rather authoritarian in class. There was hardly any involvement with students. Hence, it was challenging for students like me to seek understanding. In fact, over the years, it turned into an undesired routine. I was quite comfortable doing independent exploration rather than seeking help from teachers and friends.

It was only during my secondary school years that I had the privilege of having younger teachers teaching the class. These teachers were more enthusiastic and experimental. The strategies used by my teachers definitely resonated with what I have read about the Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theory. There were a lot of interactions between the teacher and students. Even though I didn’t quite enjoy it, I do realize that it was much easier for me to remember information through these activities. There were many social interactions among peers, and I learnt better when I participate during group discussions. With these interactions, I am glad that it has helped to develop and improve my cognitive processes as well.

Vygotsky believed that, "when a student is in the zone of proximal development (ZPD) for a particular task, providing the appropriate assistance will give the student enough of a "boost" to achieve the task". I do agree on that. I felt that my teachers did apply the concept of ZPD. They identified what we already knew, and taught us something new to add to it.

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During my Secondary school years, my Math teacher would explain and show us step by step on how to solve Mathematical problems. Once done with her explanation, she handed out worksheet for us to practice based on the concept we just learnt. The underlying reason is to find out whether the class was able to follow her lessons and applied the concept taught to us earlier on. There were times when I still had some difficulties solving the math questions. Thus, I would seek help from her for guidance and hint.

As I was better than my peers in Mathematics, she appointed me to lead a group of students who were very weak in their Mathematics for the after school Math programme. Worksheets for after school programme were prepared by the Math department. My role was to provide assistant and guide my two classmates who had difficulties solving the Mathematical problems. This benefited me as it allowed me to retain and grasp Mathematical concepts well.

To me, this is in line with Vygotsky Theory of Cognitive Development in Social Relationship where students learn from their peers (More knowledgeable other) as scaffolding. There’s certain knowledge that my classmate already capable of but they just a need a little bit of help from their teachers and friends (More Knowledgeable Other) to be able to help them reached to the next level. This applied to me as well when I had difficulties understanding the lesson. I would seek help from my teachers and peers.

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I remember having to do lots of reading, memorizing, and copying in school when I was a younger learner. In those days, group work, presentation or assignment were rarely or never heard of. I was “forced” to learn as much and as fast as I can.

I remember I hate to be left alone to do self-reading (independent learning). I feel very insecure as I do not know how to learn from mere reading. I need to read many times to understand if no one is there to explain the content.

I learn best when I like the subject. Interest will motivate me to spend more time and effort in that subject. I feel that I am a visual learner, I need to see (be it picture, illustration, or video), feel and have hands -on experience. (Piaget’s theory on Direct/Concrete experience) A teacher explaining concepts and ideas in smaller chunk, repeat and reinforce important information will help me learn better than to talk for hours without checking on my understanding at all.  In addition, learning through games and friendly competition among friends help to make learning fun and less stressful for me.
In primary school, my group of friends and I grew to love Chinese so much that we always asked for extra lessons. We started speaking and using the language more often. I remember that was how my Chinese teacher motivated us to be the top students. (Vygotsky’s theory on social interaction and language)

When I was doing English Literature for O’ level, I was lucky to have a teacher who clearly knew about Vygotsky’s theory on ZPD and scaffolding. He was always around to guide and knew exactly where and how to assist. I am grateful and remember him till this day. He has made the learning so much easier for me.

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Through years of learning as a student, I realised that I learn best through hands-on approach. I needed to look, see and feel things, given real life experiences and examples and a lot of guidance. This is very much the basic concept in both Piaget and Vygotsky's theory which is to provide concrete illustrations and experiences of abstract concepts.

As a student, I was afraid to ask my teachers when I do not understand the lessons. I would rather approach friends who studies well to explain things to me. With that, I realised that I learn even better through friends. Even during group work, I was able to feel more confident  to share and participate. This is in line with Vygotsky's theory that development cannot be separated from its social context and interactions. This is even more prominent during tertiary school days where learning is more independent and that we rely more on peers than the teachers. Social interactions also influences my thoughts and ideas on things; be it educational and also in life.

Teachers often gave instructions to scaffold our learning and to complete tasks. However, most of the time, it was done for the masses and not suited to individual needs. There was no such thing as differentiated instructions those days. So students like me; whom very often takes a longer time to visualise, process and understand concepts, were being left behind.

I was lucky to get the same Math teacher in my first three years of secondary school. She had made learning a lot easier for me by making me write notes, draw and citing real life examples on usage of some Maths concepts.  I also got used to her teaching styles and expectations. This is similar to Piaget's theory of assimilation, the use of prior knowledge and creating schemas. It was easy to go back to the notes during revision for exams.

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From my school experience, I find that I learn well when my teachers use concrete and relevant examples to illustrate a theory or concept that may be difficult to understand. It is a lot easier for me to remember and recall what the concept is about when I could associate it to the example that was provided. Graphic organisers, mind maps and charts were also very helpful as it gave me a guide as to how I can mentally structure the massive amount of content learnt, which reminds me of the "filing cabinet" or otherwise known as schema, found in Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

I think it is important for teachers to provide a way for students to organise the content they have learnt instead of just through individual topics separately, because even though some students may be able to do so on their own, others may not. This corresponds to Vygotsky's idea of a more knowledgeable other (MKO) such as a teacher, who can help students to develop skills in retaining content that they struggle with during independent learning.

Another key point brought forth by Vygotsky - the role of social interaction - also often played a key role in my learning. It is not just from my teachers, but very often my peers as well, whom I gained knowledge from. When I was in upper secondary, I was one of the weaker students in my class and I often turned to my classmates for help when I faced difficulties in my homework. From time to time, my teachers also had us to engage in pair or group discussions on specific content that was being taught and I think giving us the opportunity to articulate what we have learnt brings our understanding to a higher level. On the other hand, it is the inability to articulate certain concepts in words that made me realise that I do not actually understand a concept well enough. Like Vygotsky mentioned, language is a key to learning as it can be both an indicator of cognitive development and a tool for developing our cognitive functions.

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I learn best with teachers who used differentiated instructional strategies thus adapting to my different ways of learning.
The following are strategies/activities that I  find effective to my learning:

1. Use of misconceptions to spark discussions

This method is used mainly by my science teachers. This method was widely used at higher levels of learning. I like this method as it makes me aware of the misconceptions that I have on the topic. This strategy also gave me an opportunity to discuss my alternative ideas and this helps to bring equilibrium between my "naive" ideas and science concepts.

"Cognitive conflict" is in line with Piaget's theory on the state of disequilibrium. According to Piaget, a learner construct knowledge through the process of assimilation and accommodation with the new ideas. When the new information conflicts with previously formed mental structures, this results in disequilibrium and this will motivate the learner to seek for equilibrium.

The use of argumentative discussion is in-line with Vygotsky social theory of cognitive development. According to Vygotsky, social interaction and language provide the mechanism and tools to help develop understanding that learners would not be able to acquire on their own.

2. Use of mnemonics, analogies and associations

Besides breaking down concepts into bite-size chunks, these teachers also help to develop my learning skills by introducing useful methods to help me remember and compartmentalize my concepts so that they can be easily retrieved.  These methods were related to the use of analogies, mnemonics, associations and graphic organizers.. This is in-line with Vygotsky's ZPD where he recognizes the importance of social interaction with a more knowledgeable person to help the learner develop further.

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During my tertiary years, I took French Language for one of my elective modules. As French was totally alien to me, I was very scared initially. Using Piaget’s theory, my teacher brought in flashcards (concrete) with simple greetings/vocabulary words in French. She flashed the cards, read the words and explained the meaning to all the students. She also got me to interact with my team members using the greetings/words that I learnt earlier. This activity definitely helped me to be more fluent conversing in French. As I get better at it, my teacher encouraged me to apply what I had learnt by using appropriate words and greetings during lessons.

Towards the end of the module, I had to do a role play with a partner for about 3-5 minutes. We had to come up with our own dialogues. We were not sure if our tenses, sentences or even our pronunciations were correct. She provided scaffolding by giving us pointers and guided us throughout our task. Without her scaffolding, we would have encountered difficulties during our role play. My teacher or my more knowledgeable other (MKO) played an essential role in helping us to progress through the zone of proximal development for the task that we were assigned.

Even though, I could not converse in French now, I enjoyed her classes a lot back then and had lots of nice memories learning French. Some of my favourite words would be Oui! Merci beacoup! Ecoutez. Sil vous plait. :))

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As a student in 1990s, I remember memorising a lot of definitions, formulas, acronyms etc. to ace a test/exam. I understood that at the end of my school year, my goal would be to do well for my national exams. There is a lot of mind maps, note taking and drilling questions during this preparation of national exam. This is similar to one of the basic components of Piaget's Cognitive Theory, Schemas.

I remember being paired up with higher ability students in school and/or reading buddy during school time. I recalled that before morning assembly we will meet up at reading corner to choose a book. During reading period I will be excused from the assembly hall and will read a book together with my buddy. I have benefited a lot from that as I recall asking meaning of words from my buddy and she will seamlessly explain it to me. Thus it makes me learn to love reading till now. This actually follows Vygotsky's theory of Zone of Proximal Development.

I could also recall doing group work during class time. It would be something like just sharing your thoughts with your peers around/near you or solving questions together. The term my teacher would like to  use is "buzz time". This method actually allows me to be a little bit more confident in a small public speaking setting. This follows Vygotsky's theory of encouraging students in social interactions to promote understanding.

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During my school days, I recalled learning best when my teacher brought in real objects to teach. I could still remember vividly when my teacher used real ingredients to teach us the writing of procedural text. It was fun and chaotic when one of the classmates accidentally toppled the containers and whole class was in a mess.

According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development, children go through stages of learning according to their age (sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage and formal operation stage). When I was in primary school,I remembered my Math teacher using manipulatives to teach us addition and subtraction. For science, my teacher actually dissect an actual eye ball to show us parts of an eye. I understand the different strategies adopted by my teachers as I was at the concrete operational where my thought processes were still concrete and literal.

According to Vygotsky, culture has a major impact on a child's cognitive development. Social interactions with adults and more learned peers can facilitate a child's potential for learning. As I moved on to the next stage where learning became more abstract, i realised my teachers encouraged us to work in groups. We would share our information and tap on the experts in our groups when we encountered difficulties.

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During my JC Math lessons, my teacher would explain to us how to solve the questions. We would copy the solutions in our own notebook. We would then be given similar questions to practice. By referring to the given solutions, we could follow the steps in our workings to finally arrive at the solution. At times when we were unsure, we would ask our teacher for guidance, or discuss with our classmates. This is somewhat similar to Vygotsky’s theory ZPD as my Math teacher is the MKO. There was scaffolding in the sense that we could refer to our notes, and also to consult her for guidance.

Math concepts are usually very abstract. To help us understand some of the concepts better, my teachers would (1) build on our existing knowledge of concepts that we learnt in secondary school, and also (2) share real-life examples with us so that we could better relate to the Mathematical concepts.

For Math, I learn better when there is an expert (teacher) going through examples and questions. Then it’s practice, and more practice. The scaffolding, expert guidance, and relating to real-life examples have made it easier for me to understand the abstract Math concepts.

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Task 1 -
As a student, my learning constitutes a little bit of both theories of Piaget and Vygotsky.  I learn better when I am able to deconstruct what I learn and explain it in my own words. Breaking down of concepts, note-taking, mind maps are some of the learning techniques I've learnt and used.

Having task suitable to my developmental level helps me in Math and not get overwhelm. Once I practice enough at the level I am comfortable with, I will move on to the next level of difficulty. So tutor will guide me through my state of disequilibrium, until I can understand and can do similar questions on my own without help.

Vygotsky's zone of proximal development states that having an adult like teacher or tutor, or advance peers helping to guide us will entail success for understanding, which greatly helps me. I used to have study group during my tertiary days where we come together, and tap on individual's expertise on certain topics to try explain and guide others. I also believed that teaching is one of the best way to learn, and shows understanding.

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In my secondary school years, my teacher would frequently assign quizzes or tests before the start of every lesson to see if the whole class could recall what was taught in the previous lesson. I would memorize a lot of definitions, acronyms and formulas just to pass the quiz as it will be embarrassing if I could not answer and not able to seat. It was stressful but I was able to answer most of the question posted to me as I drill and push myself to understand and learn before the test. To me, this is similar to one of the basic components of Piaget's Cognitive Theory, Schemas.

I also remembered that teachers loves group work as they can get us to discuss about the topic in a smaller setting. During group discussions, it is where we can share our thoughts and views with our groupmates. During class presentation, we would hear inputs from members of other groups. When we are stuck and did not know what to do, my teacher would come by and scaffold our learning. He would provide hints or possibilities to lead us to the right answer. To me, this follows Vygotsky's theory of Zone of Proximal Development and students will understand better when they have social interactions from the more knowledgeable other.

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I remember a Geography lesson in secondary school where my teacher came into class with a pail of water and some towels. She used the materials to teach us the process of precipitation one step at a time. Using concrete materials like this helped me a lot in school. Unfortunately, not many of the lessons were carried out this way.

In secondary school, I did a lot of note-taking and memorising. Coming from a school with tons of subjects every year (I was from a private school), it was hard for me as an average student to understand all the concepts, so the easiest thing for me was to memorise. I would read the textbooks on my own, write down notes and read them out loud so that I could remember them better. For Math, I had to do a lot of independent practice and revision. The nature of the lessons back in school was that the teacher would simply explain the topics with examples and then we would be buried with homework and practices. There was not much scaffolding or 1:1 tutoring from the teacher. Because of this, I had to come up with my own learning strategies.

I also used to have study buddies. We would meet up almost every night nearing to our major exams to help each other out to explain concepts. I preferred learning from peers as compared to learning from teachers as I could understand them better with their relatable examples.

My learning methods comprised a little bit of both Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories. Even though I did a lot of independent practice and learning in accordance with Piaget’s theory, I also learn well with scaffolding and rely on social interactions with my peers who were more knowledgeable than me, also known as MKO according to Vygotsky.

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Laura J Fernandez (TG02)                                   Task 1 - Individual Assignment 

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Laura J Fernandez (TG02)                                   Task 1 - Individual Assignment 

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As a student, I was termed as a “slow learner”.  I could not progress well and was not given the opportunity to showcase what little I knew.  I was demoralized and to a point, my teacher said that I could never learn.  Learning was extremely difficult for me.  During my time, there were no such thing as a teacher deliberately scaffolding a certain activity for you.  If you did not know the answer, there were no such thing of dropping hints, making us choose between two answers or even providing us additional resources to aid in our learning.  It was just, “You know it or NOT!”.  And if you don’t, you will be labelled.  In the 1980s, people already knew about theorist, Les Vygotsky, Jean Piaget and many others but did not take the extra step to have them looked up in the books.  (I understand that computers were not a thing, then!)

The negative school environment that I was in did not give me the opportunity to shine at my best.  Looking back, if teachers were less demanding and more knowledgeable on how to scaffold students’ understanding in order for them to comprehend the lesson with ease, students will have an easier time and there will only be fewer cases of disruptive behaviors as everybody will want to learn.  I would have benefited from scaffolding.  The teacher could have provided me with the right level of support so that I can carry out my task with minimal interruptions.  Also, by pegging my knowledge, a Developmentally Age-Appropriate (DAP) assignment would be ideal for me to attempt as it defeated the purpose of completing an out-of-my range activity.  As mentioned by theorist, Vygotsky, children learn at their own time.

Children born in this era, whereby, teachers are very much educated and are aware of the various strategies that they can adopt to help that one child in need, are very fortunate.  Every Child matter and all children can learn!