Too good to be true? Towards an understanding of the Zone of Proximal development (ZPD) dynamics from a Piagetian perspective: Gender composition and its changing role from early to middle childhood

The present study revisits the complexities of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) through an experimental investigation of the role of social identity dynamics in asymmetric social interaction around a cognitive Piagetian task in two age groups. Children from two age groups (6 and 10 years old) first solved a spatial transformation task individually (pretest) and then worked in same- or mixed-gender pairs with a partner who was more advanced in task knowledge. In the posttest phase, participants again solved the task individually. At posttest, the six-years old participating in interaction, performed better than those in control groups, who did not engage in interaction. However, there were no differences in the posttest performance of the ten-years old who participated in interaction and those who did not. Moreover, the effect of gender composition on the dynamics of the interaction was different in the two age groups. The social gender identity dynamics formed in the interactions of the six-year olds related to cognitive progress outcomes, but at 10 years social construction of knowledge was equally successful in promoting cognitive development compared to asymmetric social interactions and gender identity dynamics did not have the same formative influence.