SCAFFOLDING

SCAFFOLDING

In education, scaffolding refers to a variety of instructional techniques used to move students progressively toward stronger understanding and, ultimately, greater independence in the learning process. The term itself offers the relevant descriptive metaphor: teachers provide successive levels of temporary support that help students reach higher levels of comprehension and skill acquisition that they would not be able to achieve without assistance. Like physical scaffolding, the supportive strategies are incrementally removed when they are no longer needed, and the teacher gradually shifts more responsibility over the learning process to the student.

Scaffolding is widely considered to be an essential element of effective teaching, and all teachers—to a greater or lesser extent—almost certainly use various forms of instructional scaffolding in their teaching. In addition, scaffolding is often used to bridge learning gaps—i.e., the difference between what students have learned and what they are expected to know and be able to do at a certain point in their education. For example, if students are not at the reading level required to understand a text being taught in a course, the teacher might use instructional scaffolding to incrementally improve their reading ability until they can read the required text independently and without assistance. One of the main goals of scaffolding is to reduce the negative emotions and self-perceptions that students may experience when they get frustrated, intimidated, or discouraged when attempting a difficult task without the assistance, direction, or understanding they need to complete it.

Effective scaffolding

For scaffolding to be effective teachers need to pay attention to the following:

1.   The selection of the learning task: The task should ensure that learners use the developing skills that need to be mastered.^[5] The task should also be engaging and interesting to keep learners involved.^[6]

2.   The anticipation of errors: After choosing the task, the teacher needs to anticipate errors the learners are likely to commit when working on the task. Anticipation of errors enables the scaffolder to properly guide the learners away from ineffective directions.^[7]

3.   The application of scaffolds during the learning task: Scaffolds could be organized in "simple skill acquisition or they may be dynamic and generative".^[7]

4.   The consideration of emotive or affective factors: Scaffolding is not limited to a cognitive skill but it also relates to emotive and affect factors. During the task the scaffolder (expert) might need to manage and control for frustration and loss of interest that could be experienced by the learner.^[5] Encouragement is also an important scaffolding strategy.

INSTRUCTIONAL SCAFOLDING

Instructional scaffolding is a learning process designed to promote a deeper level of learning. Scaffolding is the support given during the learning process which is tailored to the needs of the student with the intention of helping the student achieve his/her learning goals^[1]

Instructional scaffolding is the provision of sufficient support to promote learning when concepts and skills are being first introduced to students. These supports may include the following:

·         resources

·         a compelling task

·         templates and guides

·         guidance on the development of cognitive and social skills

Use of instructional scaffolding in various contexts:

·         modeling a task

·         giving advice

·         providing coaching