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Useful for maths questions/tasks and can be connected with ICT.

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Enriching mathematics for all learners

A free-to-use collection of mathematics activities, lessons and problems designed to nurture curious, resourceful and confident learners of mathematics. Produced by The University of Cambridge.

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The Nrich Maths Project Cambridge,England. Mathematics resources for children,parents and teachers to enrich learning. Problems,children's solutions,interactivities,games,articles.

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Glossary of key terms, further reading and other areas of support for teachers.

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Computing in the national curriculum - a guide for primary teachers

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Building knowledge and understanding through interacting with others.

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Builds childrens knowledge from their prior understandings of subjects and topics

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The zone of proximal development (ZPD) has been defined as:

"the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86).

Lev Vygotsky views interaction with peers as an effective way of developing skills and strategies. He suggests that teachers use cooperative learning exercises where less competent children develop with help from more skillful peers - within the zone of proximal development.

Vygotsky believed that when a student is in the ZPD for a particular task, providing the appropriate assistance will give the student enough of a "boost" to achieve the task.

The ZPD has become synonymous in the literature with the term scaffolding. However, it is important to note that Vygotsky never used this term in his writing, and it was introduced by Wood et al. (1976). Once the student, with the benefit of scaffolding, masters the task, the scaffolding can then be removed, and the student will then be able to complete the task again on his own.

Wood et al. (1976, p. 90) offer the following definition of scaffolding:

'Those elements of the task that are initially beyond the learner's capacity, thus permitting him to concentrate upon and complete only those elements that are within his range of competence.'

It is important to note that the terms cooperative learning, scaffolding and guided learning all have the same meaning within the literature.

ZPD Example

Maria just entered college this semester and decided to take an introductory tennis course. Her class spends each week learning and practicing a different shot. Weeks go by, and they learn how to properly serve and hit a backhand.

During the week of learning the forehand, the instructor notices that Maria is very frustrated because she keeps hitting her forehand shots either into the net or far past the baseline. He examines her preparation and swing. He notices that her stance is perfect, she prepares early, she turns her torso appropriately, and she hits the ball at precisely the right height.

However, he notices that she is still gripping her racquet the same way she hits her backhand, so he goes over to her and shows her how to reposition her hand to hit a proper forehand, stressing that she should keep her index finger parallel to the racquet. He models a good forehand for her, and then assists her in changing her grip. With a little practice, Maria's forehand turns into a formidable weapon for her!

In this case, Maria was in the zone of proximal development for successfully hitting a forehand shot. She was doing everything else correctly, but just needed a little coaching and scaffolding from a " More Knowledgeable Other" to help her succeed in this task. When that assistance was given, she became able to achieve her goal. Provided with appropriate support at the right moments, so too will students in classrooms be able to achieve tasks that would otherwise be too difficult for them.

Wood and Middleton (1975) - Scaffolding

The following study provides empirical support both the concept of scaffolding and the ZPD.

Procedure: 4-year-old children had to use a set of blocks and pegs to build a 3D model shown in a picture. Building the model was too difficult a task for a 4-year-old child to complete alone.

Wood and Middleton (1975) observed how mothers interacted with their children to build the 3D model. The type of support included:

* General encouragement e.g., 'now you have a go.'

* Specific instructions e.g., 'get four big blocks.'

* Direct demonstration, e.g., showing the child how to place one block on another.

The results of the study showed that no single strategy was best for helping the child to progress. Mothers whose assistance was most effective were those who varied their strategy according to how the child was doing. When the child was doing well, they became less specific with their help. When the child started to struggle, they gave increasingly specific instructions until the child started to make progress again.

The study illustrates scaffolding and Vygotsky's concept of the ZPD. Scaffolding (i.e., assistance) is most effective when the support is matched to the needs of the learner. This puts them in a position to achieve success in an activity that they would previously not have been able to do alone.

Wood et al. (1976) named certain processes that aid effective scaffolding:

Gaining and maintaining the learner's interest in the task. Making the task simple. Emphasizing certain aspects that will help with the solution. Control the child's level of frustration. Demonstrate the task.

Freund (1990) - Dolls House Study

Freund (1990) wanted to investigate if children learn more effectively via Piaget's concept of discovery learning or by guided learning via the ZPD.

She asked a group of children between the ages of three and five years to help a puppet to decide which furniture should be placed in the various rooms of a dolls house. First Freund assessed what each child already understood about the placement of furniture (as a baseline measure).

Next, each child worked on a similar task, either alone (re: discovery based learning) or with their mother (re: scaffolding / guided learning). To assess what each child had learned they were each given a more complex, furniture sorting task.

The results of the study showed that children assisted by their mother performed better at the furniture sorting than the children who worked independently.

Educational Applications

'From a Vygotskian perspective, the teacher's role is mediating the child's learning activity as they share knowledge through social interaction' (Dixon-Krauss, 1996, p. 18).

Scaffolding is a key feature of effective teaching and can include modeling a skill, providing hints or cues, and adapting material or activity (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). In the classroom, scaffolding can be performed with just about any task.

Consider these guidelines for scaffolding instruction (Silver, 2011).

Assess the learner's current knowledge and experience for the academic content. Relate content to what students already understand or can do. Break a task into small, more manageable tasks with opportunities for intermittent feedback. Use verbal cues and prompts to assist students.

A contemporary application of Vygotsky's theories is "reciprocal teaching," used to improve students' ability to learn from text. In this method, teacher and students collaborate in learning and practicing four key skills: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. The teacher's role in the process is reduced over time.

Vygotsky's theories also feed into current interest in collaborative learning, suggesting that group members should have different levels of ability so more advanced peers can help less advanced members operate within their zone of proximal development.

References

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Dixon-Krauss, L. (1996). Vygotsky in the classroom. Mediated literacy instruction and assessment. White Plains, NY: Longman Publishers.

Freund, L. S. (1990). Maternal Regulation of Children's Problem-solving Behavior and Its Impact on Children's Performance. Child Development, 61, 113-126.

Silver, D. (2011). Using the 'Zone'Help Reach Every Learner. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 47(sup1), 28-31.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Wood, D., Bruner, J., & Ross, G. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of Child Psychology and Child Psychiatry, 17, 89−100.

Wood, D., & Middleton, D. (1975). A study of assisted problem-solving. British Journal of Psychology, 66(2), 181−191.

How to reference this article:

McLeod, S. A. (2012). Zone of proximal development. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html

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The zone of proximal development (ZPD) has been defined as: "the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86).

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'Tell me, how you did this? What did you do? How did you achieve it? What difficulties did you encounter?'
Allows children to say what they thought and experienced rather than provide a rehearsed answer that they believe is wanted from the teacher.

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The official website of author Aidan Chambers. His books
include the novels Dance on my Grave, Postcards from No Man’s Land,
Breaktime, Now I Know, The Toll Bridge, This is All, Dying to Know You, children’s novels The Present Takers
and Seal Secret, books for teachers, student and librarians Tell M…

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Vital to understand what children think, allows their opinions to be considered. Can support their undertsanding by informing teachers of any misconceptions that pupils have.

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Variety of topics to boost my knowledge and help support children's learning.

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Allows children to understand the variety of materials and what they can be used for. Also allows them to determine which material is best suited for a practical challenge.

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Allows children to understand programming, directions and enables them to plan out a route before programming it into the BeeBot.

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Sumdog website

Teaches topics such as addition, multiplication, division etc through games where pupils can score points.

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Working with Primary 1's and helping them to say the sounds and put actions with them. This helps them to associate an action with a sound. Often found in their workbook next to their handwriting exercises.

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White - General Information and Theories
Yellow - English and Literacy
Red- Maths
Green - Science
Blue - Computing and ICT
Purple - General Websites

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Shows pupils the correct way to form letters in their books and will benefit them in their handwriting long-term

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Scratch allows children to program 'sprites' to complete certain tasks such as drawing, moving about and creating their own games.

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Scratch is a free programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations.

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Allows for discussions and pupils can see where the good aspects of a discussion were such as explaining reasons and asking others. They can also see where discussions were let down such as interruptions and participants not listening. Teacher can keep track of data on smart board for children to see how a discussion progressed.

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Talk Factory is a simple online tool and related apps which support learning by helping students understand how to engage in productive, supportive discussion in primary and secondary schools. It helps to develop an inclusive classroom where ideas can be explored as described in the English National Curriculum (2014):

We suggest pupils first are helped to understand why it is helpful to have a set of rules to support productive discussion and then their discussion can be coded to evaluate their success. An interactive whiteboard can support whole class discussion, laptops and tablets can support group work.

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Talk Factory is a simple online tool and related apps which support learning by helping students understand how to engage in productive, supportive discussion in primary and secondary schools.

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Science Teacher in the USA who shows numerous interactive science experiments

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Great quiz game where you can create and play your own quizzes for any subject. The variety of games and Blooket avatars makes it extremely interactive and interesting for both teachers and pupils.

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Primary 1 children can trace over their name with a whiteboard pen and then practice on the lines below. Picture slightly similar to the school ones.

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Example of programming.

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Kahoot enables children to test their knowledge through a game of multiple choice. There are numerous quizzes that are made up or you can make your own in a specific topic. Allows children to understand where they went wrong as the correct answer is revealed.

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Join a game of kahoot here. Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that makes it fun to learn – any subject, in any language, on any device, for all ages!

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Insight into science technology engineering and mathematics

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Can help children understand addition, multiplication, division and subtraction. Also enables them to understand and create patterns and measure objects in unifix cubes.

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Allows children to read and listen to stories, improving their vocabulary, pronunciation, reading and listening skills. Keeps them excited about learning through a variety of stories.

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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iMovie allows children to develop their literacy and ICT skills by telling stories through videos. Inspired by school BAFTA movie awards on OU.

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Reading Schemes allow children to read at their level and gradually improve their understanding. The banding each contain a variety of books which are correct for the child's level.

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Allows children to share their work and achievements with their family. Children can articulate their understanding of ideas by using the microphone function. Homework can also be posted by teachers and the responses received online.

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Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

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Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

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Elementary Learning Experience Platform | Seesaw

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Seesaw is a Learning Experience Platform with 25M+ users, enhancing elementary education, engagement, and school culture while improving academic success.

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Contains a variety of worksheets for varying topics which are suitable for all learner levels.

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Primary Resources - KS2, KS1, Early Years (EYFS) KS3, KS4, Twinkl

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Instant access to inspirational lesson plans, schemes of work, assessment, interactive activities, resource packs, PowerPoints, teaching ideas at Twinkl!

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Once the website is working again, I feel like it would be very beneficial for learning about Science through our experiences of nature and other people around the world using ICT

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Tweets by iSpotnature

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Create and publish stories. Read and Listen to books that have been published. Customise characters and art to include in the story.

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StoryJumper: #1 rated site for creating story books

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Easiest way to create, narrate, and publish your own hardcover and paperback books. Read and listen to books from our worldwide community.

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Variety of subjects with information about each.

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Use BBC Bitesize to help with your homework, revision and learning from KS1 to GCSE. Find free videos, step-by-step guides, activities and quizzes.

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Support citizen science - e.g. snail hunt and then share observations

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This activity introduces Darwin's ideas on evolution by looking at variation, adaptation and distribution of banded snails. Children learn about Charles Darwin, then work as science explorers looking at different habitats and the snails found in them. Using correct vocabulary, they describe habitats and the snails...

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This activity introduces Darwin's ideas on evolution by looking at variation, adaptation and distribution of banded snails. Children learn about Charles Darwin, then work as science explorers looking at different habitats and the snails found in them. Using correct vocabulary, they describe habitats and the snails...

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Create and share books with artwork created by artists around the world.

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Storybird - Read, write, discover, and share the books you'll always remember.

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Become a better writer with Storybird's creativity tools. Online courses, challenges, and reader feedback will help you improve your writing.

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Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths - very beneficial interdisciplinary way of learning

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TED Talks which focus on education are very beneficial for understanding a variety of things such as how children interact with school and other teachers/ psychologists/researchers perspectives.

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TED Talks are influential videos from expert speakers on education, business, science, tech and creativity, with subtitles in 100+ languages. Ideas free to stream and download.

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Citizen Science project - people powered research

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The Zooniverse is the world's largest and most popular platform for people-powered research.

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Lesson plans and ideas for class

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Classrooms and educational tools built for students, teachers, and explorers of all kinds. Powered by the Zooniverse.

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Lots of resources, lesson plans and projects for teachers to provide to pupils. Very informative and interesting.

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home / RHS Campaign for School Gardening

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Inspiration and support from the RHS for schools, providing children with gardening opportunities to enhance their skills and boost their development.

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Explore new environments without leaving the classroom, consolidating pupil understanding as they get visual representations of concepts. Could also play music from YouTube to create an even more improved experience of the environment to really 'transport' pupils to this area/topic.

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Arts & Culture Expeditions - Google Arts & Culture

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Go on a virtual field trip with Google Arts & Culture

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Primary Science Teaching Trust - QR Codes

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Primary Science Teaching Trust - QR Codes

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QR Code trail enables pupils to be detectives and scientists and utilise their problem solving skills.

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PSTT advises teachers to refer to either the CLEAPSS website or SSERC website for up to date health and safety information when planning practical activities for children.

PSTT is not liable for the actions or activities of any reader or anyone else who uses the information in these resource pages or the associated classroom materials. PSTT assumes no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information contained in these resources. PSTT recommends that a full risk assessment is carried out before undertaking in the classroom any of the practical investigations contained in the resources.

All materials are ©Primary Science Teaching Trust (PSTT) and are freely available to download and share for educational purposes. Whilst educators are free to adapt the resources to suit their own needs, acknowledgement of copyright on all original materials must be included. Rights to images included in the resource have been purchased for PSTT use only - as such, these images may only be used as part of this resource and may not copied into or used in other materials.

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Materials Science - Primary Science Teaching Trust

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Discover the Materials Science resource from PSTT! Create a Materials Trail for young students to explore the materials that make up their environment using QR codes and tablets.

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Can create QR codes for variety of sources - e,g. website or event reminder etc.

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QR Code tracking - http://www.tinyqr.com

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Create, manage and track your own dynamic QR codes using TinyQR.com. View pricing details.

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Provide website with Q&A's and they will create QR codes to display around the classroom.

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Step 1: Submit - Input a series of questions and answers

Step 2. Create - Get a QR code for each question

Step 3. Display - Put the QR codes around your school

Step 4. Begin - Students find and answer the questions

(Just cut and paste from a word processor or type directly)

(Automatically generated as text files to read via phones)

(Be creative - different sizes, different places!)

(The team with the most correct answers in the time available wins)

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QR Code Treasure Hunt Generator | ClassTools

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Produce a QR Code scavenger 'Treasure Hunt' - free and easy!