earticle

영어

Vygotsky, one of the social constructivists, conducted innovative research in the areas of education and psychology from the 1920’s till early 1930’s. His theory has affected education as well as psychology, sociology, linguistics, and philosophy considerably. However, Vygotsky’s theory has hardly been applied to the research on elementary physical education. Therefore, this study examines its relevance to elementary physical education centering around Vygotsky’s core theory, ‘Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)’ and ‘internalization’ and also the implications of Vygotsky’s theory on elementary physical education. The concept of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) devised by Vygotsky has great implications on teaching-learning activities. Especially, both Zone of Proximal Development and internalization provide significant meaning for elementary school students’ kinetic development. Therefore, regarding Vygotsky’s theory, in elementary physical education, it is needed to develop various teaching-learning methods and teaching models that emphasize students’ activeness and dynamicity and allow them to internalize physical activities. Moreover, because his theory values teacher’s roles highly, it is also necessary to make efforts to enhance their capacity of performing elementary physical education. Furthermore, it is also needed to conduct constant researches on the relations between Vygotsky and elementary physical education systematically.