Lev Semanovich Vygotsky was pioneering psychologist who researched and published extensively, particulary on the topics of cognitive psychology, child development and education. One of the key concepts used by Vygotsky was cultural mediation. Vygotsky was particularly interested in the way a child’s mind develops through social and intrapersonal interaction. According to Vygotsky there are tools and signs made available by a culture which facilitate the higher mental processes, which are unique to humans. Tools and signs can be something tangible but can also be actions used by child like pointing or making noise. Vygotsky reasoned that mental development is therefore a function of cultural and social interactions. Vygotsky also pioneered the idea of a zone of proximal development which is the gap between an individual’s current level of knowledge and the potential level which that individual can achieve. For a child to develop within the zone of proximal development an adult is required to bridge the gap, this process was referred to as scaffolding. Vygotsky was heavily criticized during his lifetime for his theories on cultural psychology. Vygotsky died of tuberculosis in 1934 and did most of his work during the time of the soviet empire.
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