Caution: Learning Zone!

             

               Lev Vygotsky developed the idea of the Zone of Proximal Development. He believed that what a child could not understand on their own could be fully understood with the help of a More Knowledgeable Other such as a teacher, parent, or a more advanced peer. The process to get to this understanding is what he called the Zone of Proximal Development which is where the actual learning takes place, hence the reason for calling it the "Learning Zone". Here is a video of the Zone of Proximal Development in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RehxEXeLNg 
               Vygotsky believed that learning was influenced by social development, in other words: "We do not learn because we develop; We develop because we learn." In order to learn we have to be presented with tasks that are just out of our reach abilities because without being challenged we can never grow and expand our minds. These tasks are not too difficult to complete, they are just challenging enough to be fully understood with the assistance of a more knowledgeable source.