The Role of Tools (Objects) & Symbols (Signs) in Development

what are tools?

Vygotsky defined the role of tools

as oriented outward, toward

the transformation of the physical and

social reality.

Inclusion of a tool in the process of behavior

(a) introduces several new functions connected with the use of the given tool and its control

(b) abolishes and makes unnecessary several natural processes, whose work is accomplished by the tool

(c) alters the course and individual features (the intensity, duration, sequence, etc.) of all the mental processes that enter into the composition of the instrumental act, replacing some functions with others.(i.e. it recreates and reorganizes the whole structure of behavior just as a technical tool recreates the whole structure of labor operations)

Vygotsky (1982, p.137)

tools & behavior

what are signs/symbols?

Vygotsky defined the role of signs/symbols as oriented inward toward

the self-regulation of conduct itself.

• language• various systems

for counting• mnemonic

techniques• algebraic symbol

systems• works of art

• writing • schemes• diagrams• maps and

mechanical drawings

• all kinds of conventional signs

Vygotsky (p.137)

examples of signs

Language is a sign & is also considered psychological toolLanguage is one of the key tools

created by humankind for the organization of thinking.

Language bears concepts that belong to experience and to the knowledge of human kind.

mediation

The essence of human behavior resides in its mediation by tools and signs.

when signs and tools converge

Vygotsky M in S pg. 21, 24

can you hand me the pliers? The beginnings of practical intelligence in the child as well as the actions of the chimpanzee, are independent of speech.

However....

the most significant moments in the course of intellectual development, which gives birth to the purely human forms of practical and abstract intelligence, occurs when speech and practical activity, two previously completely independent lines of development, converge.

how are external signs internalized?

??

the pointing exampleinitially gesture is nothing more than an unsuccessful attempt to grasp something

child attempts to grasp something beyond his or her reach, hands stretched towards the object

when coming to the child’s aid, an adult realizes that the child’s movement in indicates something

the child’s unsuccessful attempt engenders a reaction, not from the object but from another person

the primary meaning of the unsuccessful grasping movement is established by others

when the child links the unsuccessful grasping movement to the objective world

steps to internalization

Vygotsky M in S, pg. 57

An operation that initially represents an external activity is reconstructed and begins to occur internally.

An interpersonal process is transformed into an intrapersonal one.

The transformation is the result of a long series of developmental events.

so what does language buy us?

how kids beat apes....

pg. 26

Independence from the structure of the concrete, visual situation

use language to formulate plans and utilize signs not in the physical environment

Practical operations become much less impulsive and spontaneous

Facilitates the child’s own effective manipulation of objects, and also controls the child’s own behavior

using a stick with speech egocentic speech as a psychological tool for problem solvingStands on a stool, quietly looking, feeling along a shelf with stick.

“On the stool.”

Glances at experimenter. Puts stick in other hand.

“Is that really the candy?”

Hesitates.

“I can get it from that other stool, stand and get it.”

Gets second stool.

“No, that doesn’t get it. I could use the stick.”

Takes stick, knocks at the candy.

“It will move now.”

Knocks candy.

“It moved, I couldn’t get it with the stool, but the, but the stick worked.”

activity in a world of signs & toolsWe live in a universe of signs; our

conduct is determined not by the objects themselves but by the signs attached to the objects.

During different situations of life, we incorporate auxiliary stimuli which break the immediacy of the stimulus-response formula.

We attach meanings to the objects around us.

Signs restructure the consciousness of humans and influence the consciousness of others.

Meanwhile in Switzerland...

Piaget is really misunderstood because most people don’t read his later work (look how he is laughing at us!).

Object Concept• According to Piaget

an Object is something that the individual conceives of as having a reality of its own, and as extending beyond his immediate perception.

Pebbles!!• Knowledge is abstracted

from actions, from the coordination of actions, and not from objects

• He calls this knowledge logical mathematical knowledge, not physical knowledge.

• Physical Knowledge referes to the phyical property of an object, e.g. red strawberries, heavier ball etc.

Language• Language follows object

use and manipulation since verbal skills develop after sensorimotor skills.

• In the course of intellectual development of any individual, logical mathematical structures exist before the appearance of language.

guten Morgen

buonas díaz

Bonjour

buona mattina

bom dia

Activity• Children, especially young

ones, learn best from concrete activities

• The child must begin by acting on objects, that is, manipulating them

• Senorimotor schemes can become internalized in the form of thought

• Manipulation of things is a prerequisite for higher, verbal understanding.

• Disjuncture- natural versus teacher imposed activities

Some Comments by Piaget• I think that human

knowledge is essentially active.

• To know is to transform reality in order to understand how a certain state is brought about.

• An operation is an action that can be internalized.

discuss...Vygotsky suggested, in the early

stages children think the way they perceive and remember; in subsequent ones they perceive and remember the way they think.

“The knot made in a handkerchief to remember”

discuss...

discuss...Hominid versus human

At the time of birth the organism is completely hominidized (its biological structure is already formed), yet it is not humanized at all. We become human through the internalization of culture.

Blank pg. 45

discuss...

...just kidding!