In Piaget's view, children are largely in control of their own cognitive development; in contrast, Vygotsky believed that the adults in any society foster children's development in an intentional. Rather than determine the kinds of tasks children could successfully perform on their own, Vygotsky often examined the kinds of tasks children could complete only with adult assistance.   Because he emphasized the influence of social and cultural factors on children’s cognitive growth – his perspective is known as a “sociocultural theory”. 
 Vygotsky acknowledged that biological factors (e.g., brain maturation) play a role in cognitive development. Children bring certain characteristics and dispositions to the situations they encounter. Furthermore, children’s behaviors, which are influenced in part by inherited traits, affect the particular experiences children have. However, Vygotsky’s primary focus was on the role of children’s social and cultural environments in fostering cognitive growth. Following are central ideas and concepts in his theory.
 Through both informal conversations and formal schooling, adults convey to children the ways in which their culture interprets and responds to the world. As adults interact with children, they share the meanings they attach to objects, events, and, more generally, human experience. In the process they transform, or mediate, the situations children encounter. Meanings are conveyed through a variety of mechanisms, including language, mathematical symbols, art, music, and so on.
Every culture passes along physical and cognitive tools that make daily living more productive and efficient. Not only do adults teach children specific ways of interpreting experience but they also pass along specific tools that can help children tackle the various tasks and problems they’re apt to face. Some tools, such as scissors, sewing machines, and computers, are physical objects. Others, such as writing systems, maps, and spreadsheets, are partly physical and partly symbolic.
Thought and language become increasingly interdependent in the first few years of life. One very important cognitive tool is language. For us as adults, thought and language are closely interconnected. We often think by using specific words that our language provides.
Challenging tasks promote maximum cognitive growth. The range of tasks that children cannot yet perform independently but can perform with the help and guidance of others is the zone of proximal development (ZPD). A child’s zone of proximal development includes learning and problem‐solving abilities that are just beginning to emerge and develop. Vygotsky proposed that children learn very little from performing tasks they can already do independently. Instead, they develop primarily by attempting tasks they can accomplish only with assistance and support.
Complex mental processes begin as social activities and gradually evolve into internal mental activities that children can use independently. Vygotsky proposed that many complex thought processes have their roots in social interactions. As children discuss objects, events, tasks, and problems with adults and other knowledgeable individuals, they gradually incorporate into their own thinking the ways in which the people around them talk about and interpret the world, and they begin to use the words, concepts, symbols, and strategies that are commonly used in their culture.   
