ABSTRACT
This chapter places the Vygotskian approach in the context of other approaches that have influenced educational and psychological research as well as classroom practices during Vygotsky’s lifetime and after his death. For each of these approaches, similarities with and differences from Vygotsky are examined in regard to the major principles of the cultural-historical theory described in Chapters 1 and 2. Two of the approaches addressed in this chapter are represented by Vygotsky’s contemporaries, such as Jean Piaget and Maria Montessori, whose theories continue to affect today’s early childhood education. The third approach—behaviorism—has evolved substantially since the time of Vygotsky’s contemporaries, such as Ivan Pavlov and John Watson; however, the essential similarities with and differences from the Vygotskian approach continue to hold. The last approach, based on information processing theory, while having originated in a different psychological tradition, still shares some similarities with the Vygotskian approach and seems to be moving somewhat closer to how children’s learning is understood within the cultural-historical framework. The chapter concludes with a discussion of common criticisms of the Vygotskian approach and how some of these criticisms were later addressed by post-Vygotskian scholars.
