Lev Vygotsky was a Soviet Psychologist and the founder of a
theory on human cultural and bio-social development which is
more commonly known as 'cultural historical psychology'.
He was also the founder of the Vygotsky
circle - a group of scholars compromising
mostly of psychologists, educationalists,
medical specialists, physiologists and
neuroscientists who were all associated
with Vygotsky.
His main work was
based in
developmental
psychology because he
proposed the idea of
the theory of the
development of much
higher cognitive
functions within
children.
What is his theory
Vygotsky's work has
become a foundation of
the majority of research
and theories into
cognitive development,
also known as the Social
Development Theory.
His theories stress the
fundamental role that
social interaction plays in
the development of a
child's cognition because he
believed that the
community plays a central
role in this process.
Unlike Piaget's notion that
childrens' development must come
before their learning, Vygotsky
argued, "“learning is a necessary and
universal aspect of the process of
developing culturally organized,
specifically human psychological
function”" (www.simply
psychology.org)