Bredikyte M. The zone of proximal development in play and learning

Introduction The concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) is perhaps the best known innovation in Vygotsky's work. He adopted the term from others, but gave it a new life in his theoretical framework. This the oretical elaboration allows different interpretations and uses of the term. A large variety of interpretations have stimulated attempts to trace trajectory of the concept in Vygotsky's thinking. Daniels [4] collected evidence for supporting the argument that a clear change took place in Vygotsky's own emphasis of defining this concept first in terms of assessment and later instruction. An enigmatic and difficult aspect of the ZPD in western psychology and education is the social dimension of learning and human development. In many cases the western metaphorical equivalent of the ZPD «scaf folding» [51] has simply been interpreted as a teacher's support of cognitive learning of an individual student. In many cases the original new emphasis in Vygotsky's elaboration of the ZPD i.e. the relation between learning and development is understood as learning process leading to results (solving a problem or task). Thus developmen tal impact of learning is eliminated from the original con cept. Individual learning is often located in brain struc tures and an impression from recent research is that the brain is learning instead of human beings Elaboration of the concept of the ZPD towards socio cultural understanding has taken place by tracing changes in Vygotsky's own use of the concept When a school child solves a problem at home on the basis of a model that he has been shown in the class, he continues to act in collaboration, though at the moment the teacher is not standing near him. From a psychologi cal perspective, the solution of the second problem is similar to the solution of the problem at home. It is a solution accomplished with the teacher's help. This help -this aspect of collaboration -is invisibly present. It is contained in what looks from outside like the child's independent solution of the problem. [49]. The possibility of invisible presence of the teacher in the pupil's life gives reason to ask how other people or situations are invisibly present in problem solving? As a matter of fact Vygotsky did not limit learning to school or teacher's immediate guidance. If we include other people's models or other situations to our learning con cept, there will be the possibility of multiple and even contradictory supporters in individual and collective zones of proximal development. To master the com plexity of understanding of the ZPD we have to connect this concept to other concepts in Vygotsky's theory of human development, which he did not do himself. Relevant theoretical constructs are «general law of development», «development in terms of drama», and «social situation of development» There are several attempts to extend the western under standing of the ZPD from teacher's scaffolding in the class room. An example of expanding the context of the ZPD is Valsiner's [41] redefinition by dividing it into two parts: the zone of free movement (ZFM) and the zone of pro moted action (ZPA). The ZFM is meant for a more detailed description of internal and external structuring of a child's ПРОБЛЕМА РАЗВИТИЯ The zone of proximal development in play and learning Pentti Hakkarainen Ph.D. in Educational Sciences, professor at Kajaani University Consortium, vice dean at University of Oulu pentti.hakkarainen at oulu.fi Milda Bredikyte Ph.D. in Educology, assistant at Kajaani University Consortium, University of Oulu milda.bredikyte at oulu.fi The concept of the ZPD is characterized in a different way in two separate contexts (school and play) in Vygotsky's cultural historical psychology. Creative and motivational aspect of learning is emphasized in development supported by play. In play context personality development is focused on and development of psychological functions in problem solving at school. We proposed an extended concept of the ZPD, which integrates the two definitions and includes an additional distance from potentials to personality changes. In play development from the crisis of the third year to the next crisis at seven we suggest three different types of the ZPD depending on the play initiatives