... them. The ways in which these relationships are handled must be taken into account, as they are an extremely important part of the child's upbringing. This is why studies have begun to focus on the ways in which important relationship figures, i.e. the mother and father, react with the child and how their behavior influences the learning abilities and techniques of the child. The main psychologist to research into this area was a Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky. He stated that a Childs experience of the world is 'refracted through the prism of their culture', (Vygotsky, 1978). The child internalizes the information and guidance it receives from the parent. He came up with the idea of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), this refers to 'the distance between the actual development and the level of potential development' of the child. (Handout provided). Wood, (1975) researched into the use of scaffolding in the development ...

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