Improving Learning Equity through a Social Constructivist Approach to Teaching and Learning: Insights from the Vygotskian Socio-Cultural Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to examine how the socio-cultural approach to teaching and learning can be used as a vehicle for promoting a meaningful and purposeful understanding of learning equity in the school and classroom. The paper thus unravels the following conceptual frameworks, embodied in the socio-cultural approach to learning and development to show how they can be used to buttress equitable learning among students: mediated learning experiences (MLE), situated learning; scaffolding, the zone of proximal development (ZPD); transforming students’ skills from lower to higher mental functions; the use of learning tools; the use of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and the use of learning conversations (LC) in the classrooms. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p1093