INTRODUCTION

The work presented seeks to study a theory of great

importance and influence in education such as constructivism
social, whose most representative exponent was the philosopher of Russian origin
Lev Semionovich Vygotsky (1896-1934).

Lev Vygotsky has been considered the precursor of constructivism

social. From it, various social conceptions have developed.
about learning. Some of them expand or modify their
postulates, but the essence of the social constructivist approach remains.

The fundamental aspect of Lev Vygotsky's approach is to consider the

individual as the result of the historical and social process where the
language plays an essential role.

For Vygotsky, knowledge is a process of interaction between the

subject and the environment, but the environment understood as something social and cultural, not
only physical. It also rejects approaches that reduce the
Psychology and learning as a mere accumulation of reflexes or
associations between stimuli y responses. There are traits
specifically humans not reducible to associations, such as the
consciousness and language, which cannot be foreign to Psychology. A
Unlike other positions, Lev Vygotsky does not deny the importance of
associative learning, however, he clearly considers it insufficient.

The work is divided into several points, this in order to be able to distribute the
information, since the object of study, which in this case is the
constructivism, particularly social constructivism, developed by Lev Vygotsky, is
very broad and complex. Therefore, the starting point of this research is
starting with a summary of the biography of this great Russian philosopher, then
the generalities of constructivism theory are presented, which gives rise to
to the social constructivism of Lev Vygotsky, then moving on to understand what
fundamentals and principles of his theory, ending with the contributions of the
same as developmental psychology.

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 VYGOTSKY BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

Lev Semenovich Vygotsky was born in 1896 in the city of Orsha.

Russia (currently, Belarus), in a prosperous Jewish family. Before
to celebrate his first year, his family moves to the city of Gomel.

He developed a fanaticism for theater during his adolescence.

He studies medicine and law at the University of Moscow,

finishing both degrees in 1917. Then, he returns to the city of Gomel,
with the desire to teach psychology and literature. It is then, when,
due to the October Revolution, all were abolished
discrimination against Jews, this leads him to get involved in the activity
politics.

It is key to understanding Vygotsky's work, his effort to

employ the principles of Marxism to address the different
psychological issues and even facing some problems
practical issues faced by revolutionary Russia such as, for example, the
extension of education to marginalized sectors.

In 1924, he presented the core of his theory in the context of The

Second Congress of Psychoneurology in Leningrad, where he expresses
that only human beings have the ability to transform the environment
for their own purposes. This ability distinguishes them from other forms
inferiors of life. Then, I would enter the Institute of Psychology of Moscow.

He wrote about social mediation in learning and the role of the

consciousness. His works were published during his brief existence or in
the years that followed after his death. Unfortunately a climate
negative politics prevailed in the then Soviet Union; among others
things, the communist party censored the evidence and publications
psychological and some of his writings against Stalinism, never
were published.

He died of tuberculosis in 1934. Unlike what happened

with Piaget, Vygotsky did not have the opportunity to review his work. In
In this sense, the balances that are attempted aim to compensate for the absence of
a perspective glance by the author.

Despite its short existence, Vygotsky's production was extensive and

until feverish. The Cold War kept his work unknown in the West.
In the last 20 years, Western psychology has rediscovered the
Vygotsky's work, due, among other things, to the dissemination of works before
ignored. Western psychology has not yet completed the assessment of the
Vygotskian work and many of the recently published texts are
reflections of the debates sparked by this prolific psychologist.

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 FUNDAMENTALS OF THE THEORY
Vygotsky's Constructivism

Constructivism is a position shared by different

trends in psychological and educational research. Among them are
They find the theories of Jean Piaget (1952), Lev Vygotsky (1978), David
Ausubel (1963), Jerome Bruner (1960), and even though neither of them
he referred to his ideas and proposals as constructivist, which clearly illustrate
the ideas of this movement.

The constructivist theory starts from the idea that: 'knowledge is not discovered,
is built.

Social constructivism is that model based on constructivism,

that dictates that knowledge, in addition to being formed from the
environment-ego relationships, it is the sum of the social environment factor to the
Equation: New knowledge is formed from one’s own.
schemes of the person resulting from their reality, and their comparison with
the schemes of the other individuals around him.

Social constructivism is a branch that stems from the principle of

pure constructivism and simple constructivism is a theory that attempts
explain what the nature of human knowledge is.

Constructivism seeks to help students internalize,

rearrange, or transform the new information. This transformation
occurs through the creation of new learnings and this results from
emergence of new cognitive structures (Grennon and Brooks, 1999),
that allow to face similar or like situations in reality.

Vygotsky is frequently associated with the theory of constructivism

social that emphasizes the influence of social and cultural contexts on the
knowledge and supports a "discovery model" of learning.

This type of model places great emphasis on the active role of the teacher.
while the mental skills of students develop
naturally through various routes of discoveries.

The main foundations of Vygotsky are:

Building meanings:

The community has a central role.

The community around the student greatly affects the
the way he or she "sees" the world

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 Instruments for cognitive development:

The type and quality of these instruments determine the pattern and
the development rate.

The instruments must include: important adults for the

student, culture, and language.

According to Vygotsky's development theory, the abilities of

Problem-solving can be of three types:

a) Those carried out independently by the student.

b) Those that she cannot do yet even with help.
c) Those that fall between these two extremes (those that can be carried out
with the help of others)

Following the fundamentals of this theory, we also find ourselves

with some basic concepts and the three zones of development where
Vygotsky supported the development of this theory.

Lower mental functions: they are the ones we are born with,
they are natural functions and are genetically determined.
The behavior derived from these functions is limited; this
conditioned by what we can do.

Higher mental functions: they are acquired and developed in

through social interaction, since the individual is located
in a specific society with a concrete culture, these
functions are determined by the nature of that society.
Higher mental functions are mediated culturally.
behavior derived from higher mental functions
it is open to greater possibilities. Knowledge is the result
from social interaction; in interaction with others we acquire
awareness of ourselves, we learn the use of symbols, which to
they also allow us to think in increasingly complex ways.
For Vygotsky, greater social interaction leads to greater knowledge.
possibilities of acting become stronger the functions
mental.

Main characteristics of Higher Psychological Processes

(PPS):
They are constituted in social life and are specific.
of human beings
They regulate the action based on a control
volunteer, overcoming their dependency and control by
part of the environment

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 They are consciously regulated or necessary in some
moment of its constitution (may have been
automated
They use mediation methods during their organization,
particularly, semiotic mediation.

Development lines: this line is divided into two:

Natural line: it refers to the lower psychological functions of

an individual, as are the senses and sensations.

Cultural line: it is characterized by two principles:

Instrumental mediation: it refers to cultural objects

(machine - car), language and social institutions (churches,
schools) that the individual uses to interact with others
people and thus shape the social environment.

Language: there are two types of speech

Social speech: it occurs in communication between people.

This communication is necessary to transmit knowledge and power
adjust the objectives and the contents. This appears at the first moment.

Private speech: it is the one that occurs within the individual. In few
Words are the vehicle of thought.

Language can serve different functions, primarily a function

communicative and then another one referring to the regulation of the self
behavior.
Language serves as an instrument to produce effects on the
social environment
The language can, in turn, close in on the subject itself and also
agreement with his secondary nature about himself
It is centrally involved in the reorganization of the activity itself.
psychological

Decontextualization: it is where the individual through the

higher psychological functions and with prior knowledge
from a given context decides according to its state of
awareness of whether or not to approach a context different from the previous one.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

It is the distance between the actual level of development; determined by the

ability to independently solve a problem and the level of
potential development, determined through the resolution of a

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 problem under the guidance of an adult or in collaboration with another partner
more capable.
Real Development Level (RDL): corresponds to the moment
child's development and defines it as the set of activities
what the subject can do for themselves, in an autonomous way,
without the help of others.

Potential development level (PDL): refers to the level

what the subject could achieve with the collaboration and guidance of
other people, that is, in interaction with others to
solve a problem.

Conception of learning

Starting from constructivist ideas, learning is not a

simple matter of transmission and accumulation of knowledge,
an active process by the student that assembles,
extends, restores and interprets, and therefore 'builds'
knowledge based on their experience and integrating it with the
information received.

Mediation
Lev Vygotsky believes that human development is a process
of cultural development, being human activity the driving force of
human development process. The concept of activity acquires
in this way a particularly relevant role in his theory.
For him, the process of formation of psychological functions
higher education will be given through practical activity and
instrumental, but not individual, rather in the interaction or
social cooperation. The instrumentalization of thought
superior through signs, specifically verbal ones, clarifies
the relationship between language and thought (Frawley, 1997).

Thought and word are not cut by the same.

Pattern. In a certain sense, there are more differences than similarities.
among them." (Vygotsky, 1962 p. 126). Speech is a language
for thought, not a language of thought.

Lev Vygotsky proposes that the human subject acts upon the
reality to adapt to it by transforming it and
transforming oneself through some instruments
psychological ones that are called "mediators". This phenomenon,
referred to as instrumental mediation, is carried out through
of "tools" (simple mediators, such as resources
materials) and "signs" (more sophisticated mediators, being the
language is the main sign). It also establishes that:

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 The activity: is a set of culturally defined actions
determined and contextualized that takes place in
cooperation with others and the subject's activity in
development is a socially mediated activity.

Unlike Jean Piaget, the activity proposed by Lev

Vygotsky is a culturally determined activity and
contextualized, in the human medium itself, the mediators that
they are used in the relationship with objects, both the tools
like the signs, but especially the latter, since the
the social world is essentially a world formed by processes
symbolic, among which spoken language stands out. Language
it is the tool that enables self-awareness
same and exercising the voluntary control of our actions. Already
we no longer simply imitate the behavior of others
we simply react to the environment, with language already
we have the possibility to affirm or deny, which indicates that the
an individual is aware of what it is, and acts with will
own. At that moment we began to be different and distinct
of the objects and of others

Mediation process The instrumental mediation: it has been

referred already to the psychological concept with which Lev Vygotsky
characterized human activity, continuing and
thus extending Marx's observation that the
the activity of our species is distinguished by the use of
instruments with which nature is changed. But to Lev
Vygotsky is more concerned with changes than with him
a man provokes in his own mind and focuses on those
external supports that allow you to mediate a stimulus, this
Yes, represent it somewhere else or under different conditions.

Lev Vygotsky will thus focus his effort on language as

means to develop your model more quickly
mediation although it will never stop being interested in
the other means or technologies of the intellect, currently
investigated by authors who deal with these new ones
psychological instruments of representation, such as the
audiovisuals or the computer.
From this perspective, for Lev Vygotsky, technologies of the
communication is the tool with which man builds
actually the external representation that later is
will mentally incorporate, will internalize. In this way, the
the system of thought would be the result of the internalization of
mediation processes developed by and in culture.
Despite the lack of research, the topic is important.
central to education, since it is through it how the

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child can incorporate in a more controlled and expert manner
the processes of representation, whose identity and whose role
they can hardly be established, except from that perspective. From
Indeed, education has opened a production line of
psychological instruments with strictly educational purposes,
that is, implicitly conceived as mediators
representational in the Zone of Proximal Development. By saying
this refers to the so-called teaching materials and to
educational toys. And likewise, education has subscribed,
since its widespread implementation in the 19th century, a role
central to three of the old or classic technologies of the
representation: reading, writing, arithmetic, central role that
Anglo-Saxon pedagogy is known by the acronym of the three
RRR: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic.

Internalization or process through which one moves from the realm

interpsychological (between people) to the intrapsychological sphere
(individual). To better understand this concept we can put
an example related to the carrying out of any activity. In this
if the internalization occurs by following these steps:

The person who learns and the one who teaches share the beginning of
a task. The one who teaches dominates that task and completely directs the
What learns. The one who learns does not know the task
The person who learns begins to participate in the activity, but
Although they participate, they do not have a full understanding of the activity.
The person who learns no longer has a total direction from which
teach
4. The person who learns performs the task on their own.

The process of internalization.

Lev Vygotsky denies that the external and internal activity of man
they are identical, but also denies that they are disconnected.
The explanation for this is that their connection is genetic or evolutionary:
that is to say, external processes are transformed to create
internal processes. The processes of internalization are not the
transfer of an external activity to a plane of consciousness
preexisting internal: it is the process in which that plane is formed.
of awareness.
Indeed, the substitution of speaking out loud for speaking
internal implies structural changes. From what has already been said,
it clearly emerges that the process of internalization is
improve and optimize when the mediation processes are more
staggered and allow the child a more precise education at their
possible level of activity. This graduation of the process of
the internalization of the zone of proximal development has been referred to
by Galperin (1920) as stage-by-stage internalization and in the

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facilitates the transition from external activity to mental thanks to the
scaling of the proportion of internalization, dosing
between the internal and the external, at the points of support of the
mediation. Galperin defines these steps in the tasks.
schoolchildren emphasizing the five aspects or stages
basic following:

1 Create a preliminary conception of the task.

Mastering action using objects.
Master the action on the plane of audible speech.
Transfer the action to the mental plane.
Consolidate the mental action.

HOW DOES IT CONCEIVE OF THE HUMAN BEING

Vygotsky's Constructivist Theory

In 1924, Vygotsky presented the central core of his theory within the framework of
The Second Congress of Psychoneurology in Leningrad, where
It states that only human beings possess the capacity to
transform the medium for their own purposes. It is this ability that
distinguishes human beings from other inferior forms of life.

One of the essential contributions of Lev Vygotsky has been that of

to conceive the subject as an eminently social being and builder of his
own learning, in line with Marxist thought, and to
knowledge itself as a social product.

Indeed, Vygotsky was a true pioneer in formulating some

postulates that have been taken up by psychology several decades later
afternoon and have led to important findings about the functioning
of cognitive processes. Perhaps one of the most important is the one that
maintains that all higher psychological processes (communication,
language, reasoning, etc.) are acquired first in a social context
and then they are internalized. But precisely this internalization is a
product of the use of a certain cognitive behavior in a
social context.

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 One of the most well-known examples in this regard is the one that occurs
when a small child starts pointing at objects with their finger. For the
Child, that gesture is simply the attempt to grab the object. But
when the mother pays attention and interprets that movement
It intends not only to take but to point out, then the child will begin to
to internalize that action as the representation of pointing. In words
by Vygotsky himself:
An interpersonal process is transformed into an intrapersonal one.

In the cultural development of the child, every function appears twice:

first, on a social scale, and later, on an individual scale; first, between
people (interpsychological), and then, within the child himself
(intrapsychological). This can also be applied to attention.
voluntary, to logical memory and to the formation of concepts. All the
higher psychological functions originate as relationships between beings
humans." (Lev Vygotsky, 1978. pp. 92-94).

CONTRIBUTIONS TO EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY

Vygotsky's contributions to Psychology were characterized by his emphasis on the

notable influence of socially meaningful activities on consciousness. The
sought to explain human thought in new ways. rejected
the doctrine of introspection and formulated many of the same
objections from behaviorists. I wanted to abandon the explanation of the
states of consciousness and refer to the concept of consciousness; of the same
mode, rejected the behavioral explanations of actions in terms of
from the previous actions. Before discarding consciousness (as
they did the behaviorists) or the function of the environment (like the
introspectivists), was looking for an intermediate region that would account for the
influence of the environment due to its effects on consciousness

Vygotsky believed that the social environment is crucial for the

learning, I thought it was produced by the integration of social factors
my personal. The phenomenon of social activity helps to explain the
changes in consciousness and establish a psychological theory that unifies
behavior and the mind. The social environment influences cognition by
through their "instruments", that is to say, their cultural objects (cars,
machines) and their language and social institutions (churches, schools). The
Cognitive change is the result of using cultural instruments.
in social interrelationships and to internalize and transform them
mentally. Vygotsky's stance is an example of constructivism
dialectical, because it emphasizes the interaction between individuals and their environment.

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