The zone of proximal development (ZPD), or zone of potential development, refers to the range of abilities an individual can perform with the guidance of an expert, but cannot yet perform on their own..

To take directly from the term, “proximal”, the ZPD envelopes those skills that the child is “close” to mastering. Scaffolding is a term that sprung out of the concept of the ZPD. It refers to the help or guidance from an adult or more competent peer to allow the child to work within the ZPD.

The zone of proximal development (ZPD), also known as the zone of potential development, is a concept often used in classrooms to help students with skill development. The idea of the ZPD came from a Russian psychologist named Lev Vygotsky in the early 1900s.

As defined by Vygotsky (1935/1978), the child’s zone of proximal development is ‘the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers’ (p. 86).

Understanding how to locate and use each student’s ZPD can help you plan more targeted instruction for your whole class, small groups, and individuals. Ultimately, aligning classroom teaching strategies to students’ ZPDs can help educators more effectively guide all students in their early childhood learning.

A teaching strategy that enhances, encourages, and enables learning and helps students implement constructivism in the classroom is scaffolding. Scaffolding helps students to become independent and self-regulating learners and problem solvers. It can be used at any point of interaction between teachers and students.

A literacy program contains all the components necessary for you to master reading and writing. But we feel that no matter what program is popular at the time, an effective literacy program should always encompass these six basic components: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing.