The zone of proximal development (ZPD), is best understood as the zone of the closest, most immediate psychological development of learners that includes a wide range of their emotional, cognitive, and volitional psychological processes. In contemporary educational research and practice, though, it is often interpreted as the distance between what a learner can do without help, and what they can do with support from someone with more knowledge or expertise ("more knowledgeable other"). The concept was introduced, but not fully developed, by psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) during the last three years of his life.
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