Lev Vygotsky (1896- 1934) Born in Orsha, a part of the Russian Empire (now known as Belarus). He is the founder of one of the most important areas of psychology and child development. He also believes that many thinking processes have their roots in social interactions with adults and peers. In this process, students discover how people around them think. Another assumption of Vygotsky is self talk, when thought and language emerge and children talk to themselves out loud. This process later turns into inner speech. Both of these processes have a similar purpose; by talking to themselves, children learn to guide and direct their own behaviors through difficult tasks and complex maneuvers. Also, he distinguished two types of abilities that children are likely to have: actual development level and level of potential development. Actual development level is the highest task a child can do independently. A child’s level of potential development is the highest level task a child can do with the help of a more competent individual. He feels children can do more difficult tasks with the help of an adult. He also believes it is the challenges in life that promote cognitive development. An important teaching technique that is emphasized with Vygotsky is individualized instruction. This is important because it targets each students zone of proximal development leading to more cognitive development.

He was – and sometimes still is – often criticized for being an