The Zone of Proximal Development
Not too easy. Not too hard.
LEARNING LEXICON
A key piece of Lev Vygotsky’s Theory of Learning and Development, the Zone of Proximal Development (or ZPD) refers to the learning tasks and activities that take a student outside what they already know without overwhelming them with too much uncertainty. In other words, it’s when we extend ourselves beyond our comfort zone without experiencing too much stress from the threat of not knowing.
Why is the ZPD important? It’s theorized to be the state leading to the most productive learning. When we restrict ourselves to our comfort zone, we resist change, which is an essential component of learning. When we overextend ourselves and we’re drowning in concepts that are unfamiliar, we feel threatened and our body’s stress response activates to help us fight or run from the tiger - not a great place to be for learning.
So how do we at Thrive use this concept when helping someone else to learn? We rein in tasks that seem overly demanding to a student, concentrating their efforts on small chunks that are less threatening to master individually. We foster motivation through purpose and goal-setting to entice a student out of their comfort zone so they truly engage with concepts in their ZPD. Perhaps most importantly, we express perspectives and beliefs coherently with a Growth Mindset so students expand their ZPD and the range of tasks that lead to productive learning.
In my experience, it almost seems like students don’t have a ZPD for topics they’ve learned to associate with shame. They can flip from staying in their comfort zone to panicking about not understanding if they have little belief in their ability to struggle constructively with this concept. By expanding that acceptable range of discomfort they feel as they begin to engage in learning, we can rekindle that belief in their ability to progress beyond where they’d gotten stuck.
Have you familiar with learning that is uncomfortable without being stressful?
Do you recognize any activities where your ZPD is particularly thin (or particularly thick)?