The learner as an apprentice

Lev Vygotsky (1962) was a Russian academic who attempted to apply Karl Marx's ideas to child development through dialectic reasoning that synthesized the individual and the collective to develop both to higher levels of functioning. In spite of trying to base his theories on Marxist ideology, the Soviets banned Vygotsky's work, partially because he was Jewish, but mostly because he committed the ultimate sin against Marxism: he integrated Western ideas into his theories. With the exchange of ideas that have resulted from the collapse of the Soviet Union, Vygotsky's ideas have increasingly entered American academia with a theory that compliments Jean Piaget by providing a social dimension to human development (Goldhaber, 2000; M. W. Watson, 2002).

To Vykotsky, the child is an apprentice who actively learns by interacting with an adult mentor, who provides the child with knowledge and cognitive tools. Where behaviorist learning theory saw the child as a passive recipient of conditioning, and Piaget saw the child as a lone scientist, Vygotsky saw the child as a collaborator with adults (M. W. Watson, 2002).