Week 5 Post 2

In Chapter 9, it talked a little about the developmentalist Vygotsky (Berger, p. 240). Vygotsky believed that children’s cognitive skills developed through social learning. Children are very curious and interested in learning how and why things work. When children ask questions, they usually seek for answers from their parents. This makes me think back to my childhood when was about five years old. As a young child, I was super observant of things and because of that I grew to have a curiosity for understanding lots of different things. Till this day my parents tell that even when I was sitting in the car on our way to church, I would constantly ask them questions about the buildings, signs, and cars as we passed them. I would ask so many questions that my mom would tell me to ask my dad because she needed a break. It wasn’t until reading this chapter that I realized; my parents really were like my first teachers. In addition to parents being mentors/teachers to children, Vygotsky also mentions that children learn a lot from their playmates (Berger, p. 241). I would have to say that I absolutely agree with the idea that children learn from their playmates. Since I was the youngest of my siblings, I was constantly trying to keep up with them. The older I got the more my siblings would teach me things. I remember my brother being the person who helped me learn to ride a bike and my sister was the one who taught me how to shoot a basketball.  Because of my parents’ and siblings’ guidance and influence through social learning, I was able to learn more than I realized at a young age.