Boudin is preparing to teach her third grade students to write narrative stories with a logical progression of ideas and adequate details to support the plot. Using writing samples that the students wrote in class that day, she does an error analysis to identify common errors and areas of weakness in each student. Noticing that a large percentage of the students lack sufficient details, she chooses to focus on brainstorming during the next writing lesson. As the students watch, Mrs. Boudin models the use of a semantic map while talking out loud as if she is verbalizing her thoughts. She then pairs struggling students with peers who show a higher level of understanding and has them work together to create a semantic map on a given topic. The students then share their maps with their peers and get feedback from the whole class. Which theory of learning does this scenario represent?

Question

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The Zone of Proximal Development is a social learning theory developed by Lev Vygotsky. The theory proposes that students learn best when an adult, or more capable peer, teaches them something that they are not capable of learning independently. Furthermore, it suggests that the teacher must have an understanding of what the student is capable of and provide adequate supports to scaffold the learning of the students. Scaffolding can include think-aloud modeling and reciprocal teaching. As the students' skills improve, the level of scaffolding is decreased until the skill can be performed independently.

Boudin Is Preparing to Teach Her Third Grade Students to Write