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Final Artistic Paper

Tch&Lrn 301

Santana Martensen

Washington State University

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For my artistic project, I chose to focus in on one theory that I thought encompasses all

aspects of the course. I chose to focus in on the theory by Vygotsky (1934), called the “Zone of

Proximal Development” (Woolfolk, pg. 61). This zone of proximal development is a point in a

child’s development where they are right on he verge of understanding a problem or being able

to solve a problem, and the only thing more that they need is some help from an adult or a more

experienced peer (Woolfolk, pg. 61). This is due to a lack of maturity in processes that are

needed to complete the problem. This child essentially needs just some structure, demonstration

or guidance to finish or complete the problem (Woolfolk, pg. 61). The ZPD is the area that is

between what a child can currently complete and what is completely out of reach or too advance

for them even with adult help (Woolfolk, pg. 61). This theory shows the development of the

student through scaffolding, or help from an adult as well as trial and error, and it shows that a

student can not only develop on their own but with help from an adult or peers as well.

I think that the ZPD theory also can show cognition through the form of critical thinking.

Not only can the student preform these tasks with an adult by their side or in reach, the teacher is

able to help them critically think as well and pose interesting questions for the student to help

their memory and help them critically think about a math problem, not just worry about getting

an answer to the given problem. Along with Vygotsky’s (1934) ZPD theory, I think another

theory that is important to touch on for cognition is metacognition. I think that metacognition is

very important to talk about, since it is essentially the practice of thinking about thinking

(Woolfolk, pg. 329). Metacognition has quite a few different types of learning under its

umbrella, but something that is very important to note about metacognition is that it helps foster

creativity, which has implications for creative and easier problem solving. If a teacher has an

environment that challenges the student to think creatively and critically, through pneumonic
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devices, or applying the content to popular things that are going on in the students real world life,

then they will be more likely to understand and retain that information. This also helps the

student approach every situation and every problem in their life with this mindset of curiosity

about the topic and allows them to have a deeper understanding of that information.

Something else that I think Vygotsky’s (1934) ZPD theory can be applied to is the

concept of learning. Every student learns in a different way, some learn better while being talked

at, some learn better in a kinesthetic setting, and some learn better having visual aids. With the

ZPD and having the child learning through scaffolding, the adult or teacher who is helping them

is giving them a unique and tailored learning environment that will best suite that student. That

helps them be able to learn in the best possible setting, and gives them an ability to learn in a

way that they will do their best in. I have seen that first hand through my community service

hours, since the student I was working with was able to show me that he learns the best way

through visual aids, so whenever he had a question or didn’t understand something, I knew that

the best way to help him was to give him a visual aide to look at so that he could understand it

better. Something else that is of note for the topic of learning is Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs

(Woolfolk, pg. 106). Maslow (1970) came up with a theory that helped illustrate that humans

have basic needs that need to be fulfilled in a certain order in pursuit of this concept of “self

actualization” which happens once all of the tiers of the pyramid are fulfilled (Woolfolk, pg.

106). This theory ahs gotten a bad wrap, since critics believe that these needs do not need to be

met in a specific order and that they can be out of order, which I agree with, but I believe that

this theory is a big key to learning. A student who didn’t have dinner the night before or

breakfast that morning comes to school, they are going to have a real tough time focusing in

class and learning the material since they are so hungry. Another example, a student doesn’t have
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a safe place to live or they are in foster care and they don’t have a stable place to live, so they

miss a lot of class. Once they finally arrive in class, they are really lost in the curriculum and

aren’t able to keep up since they have missed so much. Those examples are ways that the

hierarchy of needs touches on, that a person can’t completely focus on what is happening in class

or in school if their basic needs are not fulfilled or met (Woolfolk, pg. 106). Maslow’s theory is

something to really keep in mind as a teacher, since it is really important for the student to have

those basic needs met so that they are able to completely immerse themselves in the curriculum.

The topic of teaching is, to me, the most important aspect of a child’s ability to learn. If

there is a teacher that ridicules students for asking questions, then they are not going to ask any

questions while they are sitting in that Zone of Proximal Development, and they are going to

miss out on that ability to learn or master that given skill that they had a question on. If a teacher

has fostered an environment that is warm and welcoming, and the students feel comfortable

enough to ask their teachers or their peers questions to better their learning, then that will only

positively influence that students outlook on learning. I think that something that plays into a

positive and welcoming classroom environment is the proper use of operant and classical

conditioning. If the teacher screams to stop talking right when the bell rings in class, then the

students are going to fear that bell ringing and they are going to foster a fear for their teacher. On

the other hand, if the teacher politely closes the door once the bell rings and asks for the students

attention, they are more likely to respect that teacher and stop talking out of respect not out of

fear. Eventually down the road, the teacher will be able to close that door and the students will

stop talking without having the teacher tell them that it is time to stop talking. I believe that is the

proper way to handle operant and classical conditioning in the classroom. With a teacher that is
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genuine interested in bettering these students’ education and passion for learning, you can have a

successful and compassionate classroom environment.

Through my artistic project, I tried to convey all of these thoughts and implications, but I

struggled since I am not very artistic. I hope that this paper better explained the message I was

trying to get across, that if you are an attentive and culturally relevant teacher, you will foster

each student’s learning and help them get through that ZPD in each subject or each problem in

not only the classroom, but in life as well!

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References:

Woolfolk, A. (2016). Educational Psychology, (13th edition). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.