Following are some ways that Vygotsky’s theory can be incorporated in the classroom:

1. Use the child’s zone of proximal development in teaching. Teaching should begin toward the zone’s upper limit, where the child is able to reach the goal only through close collaboration with the instructor. With adequate continuing instruction and practice, the child organizes and masters the behavioural sequences required to perform the target skill. As the instruction continues, the performance transfers from teacher to child. The teacher gradually reduces the explanations, hints, and demonstrations until the student is able to perform the skill alone. Once the goal is achieved, it may become the foundation for the development of a new ZPD.

2. Use scaffolding. Look for opportunities to use scaffolding when children need help with self-initiated learning activities (Elicker, 1996). Also use scaffolding to help children move to a higher level of skill and knowledge. Offer just enough assistance. You might ask, “What can I do to help you?” Or simply observe the child’s intentions and attempts, smoothly providing support when needed. When the child hesitates, offer encouragement. And encourage the child to practice the skill. You may watch and appreciate the child’s practice or offer support when the child forgets what to do.

3. Use more-skilled peers as teachers. Remember that it is not just adults that Vygotsky believed are important in helping children learn important skills. Children also benefit from the support and guidance of more-skilled children.

4. Monitor and encourage children’s use of private speech. Be aware of the developmental change from externally talking to oneself when solving a problem during the preschool years to privately talking to oneself in the early elementary school years. In the elementary school years, encourage children to internalize and self-regulate their talk to themselves.

5. Assess the child’s ZPD, not IQ. Like Piaget, Vygotsky did not believe that formal, standardized tests are the best way to assess children’s learning. Rather, Vygotsky argued that assessment should focus on determining the child’s zone of proximal development. The skilled helper presents the child with tasks of varying difficulty to determine the best level at which to begin instruction. The ZPD is a measure of learning potential. IQ, also a measure of learning potential, emphasizes that intelligence is the property of the child. By contrast, ZPD emphasizes that learning is interpersonal. It is inappropriate to say that a child has a ZPD. Rather, a child shares a ZPD with a more skilled individual.

6. Transform the classroom with Vygotskian ideas. What does the Vygotskian classroom look like? The Kamehameha Elementary Education Program (KEEP) is based on Vygotsky’s theory (Tharp, 1994). The zone of proximal development is the key element of instruction in this program. Children might read a story and interpret its meaning. Many of the learning activities take place in small groups. All children spend at least 20 minutes each morning in an activity called “Center One.” In this context, scaffolding is used to improve children’s literary skills. The instructor asks questions, responds to students’ queries, and builds on the ideas that students generate. Thousands of low-income children have attended KEEP public schools in Hawaii, on an Arizona Navajo Indian reservation, and in Los Angeles. Compared with a control group of non-KEEP children, the KEEP children participate more actively in classroom discussion, are more attentive in class, and have higher reading achievement (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988).