The Zone of Proximal Development

I have two daughters who are 6.5 and 4.9 years old. They are amazing and I love them dearly.  As a dad, it has been interesting to me to see how many things they are trying to learn at this stage of life.  They are in swimming lessons, gymnastics and we are working on biking and skating.  I have learned much from chatting and watching other parents, who are trying to help their kids master these skills too and what is very apparent to me is that every child is different.  My oldest munchkin is extremely risk adverse.  She has been since she was a baby.  When Arely learned how to walk she never tripped because she went slowly and navigated everything in her path.  Instead of barreling around like other toddlers, she made all movements deliberate and calculated.  Why risk falling down?  This summer though, Arely is getting much better at managing her bike and her confidence is at an all time high at gymnastics.  She even dropped into the foam pit at gymnastics from the highest bar (not until the second last class, but she did it!)

Addy, her little sister, has been much more of a risk taker, but she is also a BIG feeler.  She has many feelings and she is always ready to share them.  If something doesnt go as planned or is not what she expected, she will stop doing that activity.  She had a good spill on her bike last summer and she has a memory like a steal trap (especially for the emotional ones!).  This spring I almost have to bribe her to get her on her bike.  But her risk taking has gone well in the pool and at gymnastics.  She is a confident swimmer and she is getting really good at gymnastics too.  If things feel good for her, she is happy to risk and learn.

Arely is struggling with her swimming lessons.  She is so risk adverse in the water and she wont let go of her parents or instructor when doing her lessons.  She needs to feel someone holding her, even though she can totally accomplish the task.  She can swim, she just wont do it anywhere that feels deeper than she likes. We are learning, as her parents, to continue to support her with swimming experiences and opportunities to get more confident, and slowly challenge her with exercises in the pool that are in her Zone of Proximal Development - like swimming along the wall, doing lengths in shallow water and holding her waist - even with just one finger.

The Zone of Proximal Development is defined on Wikipedia as the following: The zone of proximal development, often abbreviated as ZPD, is the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help. It is a concept introduced, yet not fully developed, by Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) during the last ten years of his life.

This is such an important concept for anyone who is trying to teach someone else.  Parents, teachers, leaders, supervisors should all understand this concept and apply it to their teaching practice.  Everyone is different and we all have a unique ZPD!  The difficulty is finding that zone and the challenges to help them move forward, but it is the key to successfully learning new skills, concepts or knowledge.

In education we have been doing a great job with this concept in literacy.  We give students reading activities at their level and challenge them within their ZPD as best we can in our classrooms.  With the new math curriculum, we are trying to do the same with developing numeracy skills.  We are pushing our students to better understand mathematical concepts and we are tying to grow their mathematical thinking within their ZPD.  That means math looks different than it used to - math is less about memorization and regurgitation and more about developing skills and math brains in our students!

For any teacher, parent, supervisor who feels frustrated that the person they are teaching isnt learning, think about the ZPD!  Arely and Addy have been teaching me all about the ZPD and I really appreciate the lessons.  They are great teachers especially when they are on their bikes taking a big risk on a big hill, or hunting for the ring at the bottom of the pool.  The challenge I have is to keep trying to find that ZPD and helping them stretch just a little further.  Of course, I also need to remember to praise their effort and hard work to help them maintain a growth mindset too!