Vygotsky influenced many people during his time and is stillinfluencing people today with his theory. He believed that humans learn fromthe social, and environmental aspect of their lives. As children reach the ageof school, they take what they have learned from home to the classroom. Withinthe classroom setting, the children are evaluated on their intellectualabilities. Over the course of a child’s academic career, he learns notonly from his teacher but his environment as well. The teacher teaches lessonsthat are about life, through class material. The subject matter and the levelof thinking attained in schools allows the child to develop cognitive thinking.Cognitive thinking within the school atmosphere is the process ofunderstanding, remembering and paying attention which can only be donesuccessfully in an emotionally positive atmosphere.
“Learning awakens a varietyof developmental processes that are able to operate only when the child isinteracting with people in his environment and in cooperation with his peers”(Gredler 2011, p, 116). The social interaction that the children receive from knowledgeablepeers and adults helps with their intellectual development. Vygotsky believesthat instruction, both formal and informal, by more knowledgeable peers andadults is at the heart of cognitive development (Meece, 169). Children learnhow to talk, behave and react to certain things by watching the people withintheir environments. The only way the child is going to learn successfully isthrough the environment he or she lives in.
The stakeholders of each childimpact how far that child’s cognitive development matures. Carol Tomlinson also reiterates the significance of theenvironment within a classroom. Coral Tomlinson (2003) states, “the classroomenvironment includes both physical and affective attributes that individuallyand cumulatively establish the tone and atmosphere in which teaching andlearning will take place” (p.37). Themoment a student walks into the classroom, she is affected by that classroom inmany ways. That environment will either fuel or deter her quest for striving tobe the best.
Tomlinson (2003) explains, “Walls, bulletin boards, and artifactsreveal much about the wonder or sterility of learning” (p.37). The environment of the classroom is not justthe people who reside within it, but also the décor that is present as well.The décor of the classroom will either keep the students engaged in learning ordistract them from becoming the best version of themselves. The furniturearrangement also plays a huge role in the environment of the classroom.According to Tomlinson (2003), the “furniture arrangement speaks of partnershipor isolation, flexibility or standardization (p.
37). The environment cancommunicate how the teacher sees her students individually and how she valueseach child’s academic abilities.
