Feedback as a "Zone of Proximal Development."
Society for Research in Child Development, (April 1991)Abstract
Vygotsky argued that children's development is most likely to occur when, in the course of collaboration, assistance is provided within their zone of proximal development--the distance between what a child can achieve independently and what he or she can do with the assistance of a more competent member of their culture. This paper reports the results of a study exploring the impact of providing feedback with or without a partner in order to ascertain whether feedback can create a zone of proximal development. Participants in the study consisted of 180 children aged from 6 to 8, drawn from 3 public elementary schools in Salt Lake City, serving predominantly European-American middle and lower middle class students. A subsample of 48 students was used based on their level of thinking regarding a balancing problem. Students were placed in three groups: no partner, partner of same level of thinking, and partner with a higher level of thinking. Half of the students received feedback and the other half did not. Results indicate students who received feedback achieved significantly higher on the posttest. Having a partner did not prove to be more beneficial than not having a partner. Collaboration with a partner was helpful when feedback was not provided. (AA)