Staying in “the Zone”

by Violet Dickson

Cluster Specialist, Arts, AV Technology & Communication

“Instruction must be oriented toward the future, not the past.” Vygotsky

 

During Spring Break, I had the opportunity to work with a group of newly certified teachers in Trinidad to help them design a new curriculum for 15-18 year old young men in their Youth Training Center. The curriculum would be designed around Trinidad’s competency standards for vocational qualifications, so once students completed the program, they could receive certification in the area of Technical Assistance in TV and Video Production. With valuable skills and certification, these students would have a much better chance of getting a good job with a bright future.

 

As I worked with these teachers to develop lessons for the course, my focus was initially on how to create a logical flow so each lesson would build on skills and concepts learned in the previous lesson, allowing students to connect new learning with past experiences and prior knowledge. I was reminded of how important it was, when teaching students something new, to help them make necessary connections by working within their “zone of proximal development”. However, I soon realized that I was participating in an exchange of ideas with a group of adults where our interactions flowed back and forth, and at various times, I was both the teacher and the learner; the practitioner and the facilitator.

 

The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is not a new concept. It originated with Vygotsky, a Russian theorist and psychologist during the Russian Revolution, whose writings were unknown in the West until they were published nearly 50 years later. According to Vygotsky, all learning occurs in this “zone”. The zone refers to the distance between what a student is capable of doing independently, and what a student can potentially achieve when provided with educational support from an adult or through collaboration with more knowledgeable peers. In other words, it is the range of possibilities that a person can achieve with collaborative assistance from others who have knowledge or skills in a particular area. 

 

Vygotsky believed a person’s zone of proximal development was not stagnant, but continuously changing as he or she completed increasingly more difficult work over time with direction and support. This concept originally referred to one's ability to solve problems within a social context. However, Tharp and Gallimore (1988) pointed out that it could also be expanded to examine other zones, including cultural zones, individual zones, and skill-oriented zones. 

 

Tinsley and Lebak (2009) identified a "Zone of Reflective Capacity" in their study of adult learning. This zone shares some of the same attributes of the ZPD, but focuses more on an adult's capacity for reflection as he or she collaborates over an extended period with other adults who have similar goals. Tinsley and Lebak found that, as adults shared ideas, feedback, and analysis during collaboration, their trust, respect, and mutual understanding of each other grew as did their ability to examine their own practices and reflect on their own learning. 

 

Here's a look at a step-by-step process by which teachers can apply the zone of proximal development/the zone of reflective capacity when working with adult learners:  

1. Provide a social context of support where participants become well-acquainted with each other’s practices and viewpoints. 
2. Provide a structure for collaboration where those of varied backgrounds and levels of knowledge can discuss topics openly. 
3. Make sure the assistance is relevant to the participants’ own purposes. 
4. Make sure that the assistance provided enables participants to achieve or perform (in collaboration with others) at a level beyond what he/she could do on their own. 

The journey I shared this spring with a group of teachers from Trinidad illustrates what individuals can accomplish when they work together to improve instructional practices. My strength was in designing curriculum, but I needed a better understanding of Trinidad culture as well as that country’s educational standards. I also needed the teachers’ level of expertise in the field of TV broadcasting in Trinidad. On the other hand, they needed my expertise in designing appropriate experienced-based lessons that would engage the learners as well as meet the standards required for certification.  

 

Through this process, I learned that teachers, like all learners, can operate within the zone to construct new understandings and draw on the guidance and assistance from a range of resources available to them through others (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988). As we “stay in the Zone”, we become better equipped to “aim our instruction toward the future, not the past” (Vygotsky, 1978). 

 

For more information, see:  

• Crawford, K. (1996) Vygotskian approaches to human development in the information era. Educational Studies in Mathematics. (31) 43-62. 
• Lebak, K. & Tinsley, R. (2010). Can inquiry and reflection be contagious? Science teachers, students, and action research. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 21, 953-970. 
• Tharp, R & Gallimore, R. (1988). Rousing Minds to Life. Cambridge University Press. 
• Tinsley, R. & Lebak, K. (2009). Expanding the Zone of Reflective Capacity: Taking separate journeys together. Networks, 11 (2). 
• Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.