In an earlier blog, we wrote about the importance of play in classrooms and Mitch Resnick’s Four P’s of Creative Learning: Passion, Play, Projects, and Peers. Today, we’re going to discuss the last P, Peers, and the positive effects of learning together.
Russian Psychologist Lev Vygotzky developed his Social Development Theory in the early 20th century. Vygotzky posited that learning necessitated that some sort of social learning interaction come before individual understanding. This social learning interaction is thought to be able to come from a teacher, a peer, or, in some cases, possibly even a computer.
This theory was independently developed by another social psychologist, John Dewey, around the same time. Dewey published Democracy and Education in 1916, where he wrote the following,
“Since education is not a means to living, but is identical with the operation of living a life which is fruitful and inherently significant, the only ultimate value which can be set up is the process of living itself. And this is not an end to which studies and other activities are subordinate means, it is the whole of which they are ingredients,”
By this, Dewey is arguing that learning is not something that merely happens in formal settings, it happens every moment of every day. To separate the concept of education from the act of living is unnecessary - we do not only learn at school and shouldn’t act as if we do. Thus, if learning is identical to the operation of living a life, one that is full of social interaction, the mind and its formation is a communal practice.
At Werklehrer Education, we develop our workshops with the social development theories of Vygotzky and Dewey as their foundations. We create settings that allow students to be social and informal, to reframe the act of learning as not a means to an end, but an act of living.
To register for our upcoming robotics workshop, click here. We look forward to learning together with you!