Lev Vygotsky

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was born November 17, 1896, in the Russian Empire and became a Soviet psychologist who turned his attention to psychological development in children. He developed cultural-historical activity theory, rooting human cognition not in biology but in social interaction — arguing that minds are shaped by language and tools as children engage with their cultural environment. He introduced the zone of proximal development, the gap between what a child can do alone and what they can reach with guidance from someone who knows more. Mediation was his key mechanism: cultural tools…