Lev Vygotsky
The father of Constructivism, Lev Vygotsky grew up in a family that valued education. He framed his theories on his background in teaching, literature and psychology. As a Russian Jew working in the 1920's and 30's his work was plagued by censorship and translation issues. Some of his major contributions include Thought and Language, Thinking and Speech, the Zone of Proximal Development, scaffolding and spiraling information to build knowledge and the importance of play and creativity in education. His student centered, brain based, approaches guide my own teaching philosophy.
