Abstract
The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is a constructivist concept associated with learning processes involving the participation of a mediator or facilitator. In a previous study, our group developed an observation model that can be used to study learning processes of this type by measuring the fine skills involved in the selective disposal of Urban Solid Waste, a topic of environmental education involving numerous difficulties. We also developed an approach to evaluate the occurrence of a ZPD event using a mathematical problem-solving example. Combining both proposals, we carried out a exercise in 2017, in which we tried to observe a zone of proximal development process in the resolution of two problems involving the selective disposal of Urban Solid Waste, one of them of very high difficulty and the other of moderate difficulty. The present work aims to show why selective disposal is a difficult and complicated environmental task. We worked with two groups of university students, a control group and a quasi-experimental group, with forty members each. We were able to verify the occurrence of a ZPD process in some participants of the quasi-experimental group.
Highlights
The genesis of learning related to problem-solving, especially when the process is carried out in cooperation with partners, constitutes a pedagogical dynamic of strategic value [1]
There are several concepts associated with constructivism that are based on the practice of problem-solving [2, 3, 4]. Two of those concepts are used in the present work: cognitive transfer or T, and zone of proximal development or ZPD [1, 5]
In a recent study carried out by our group, we used the term cognitive particularity with the intention of making more precise experimental or quasi-experimental observations. This concept is not part of the pedagogical vocabulary; for the Education Journal 2020; 9(2): 48-51 purposes of this article, “it consists of a learning situation of minimal dimension, with high thematic specificity associated with the solution of a problem, which the subject experiences without the occurrence of cognitive transfer, in a clear process of ZPD, which requires the help of a facilitator or "expert" [1]
Summary
The genesis of learning related to problem-solving, especially when the process is carried out in cooperation with partners (under the presumption that at least one of the participants is experienced), constitutes a pedagogical dynamic of strategic value [1]. In a recent study carried out by our group, we used the term cognitive particularity with the intention of making more precise experimental or quasi-experimental observations This concept is not part of the pedagogical vocabulary; for the Education Journal 2020; 9(2): 48-51 purposes of this article, “it consists of a learning situation of minimal dimension, with high thematic specificity associated with the solution of a problem, which the subject experiences without the occurrence of cognitive transfer, in a clear process of ZPD, which requires the help of a facilitator or "expert" [1].
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