Scaffolding Infographic by Wayne Wheeler

What is Scaffolding?

wwheelernh — 2024-07-03 15:58:25 UTC

Scaffolding is a teaching method that enables a student to solve a problem, carry out a task, or achieve a goal through a gradual shedding of outside assistance. As the student learns new skills, the support is gradually removed until the student can perform independently. (Open Colleges, 2023)

Key Principles of Scaffolding

wwheelernh — 2024-07-03 15:58:25 UTC

Scaffolding includes breaking learning into chunks and providing support with each chunk. Key principles include providing clear directions, simplifying tasks, maintaining learner engagement, and giving feedback. (Aber, 2014)

Teacher Scaffolding

wwheelernh — 2024-07-03 15:58:25 UTC

Teacher scaffolding offers relatively personalized support

in response to students as they work in a classroom and can adapt in the moment and directly respond to students’

understanding (Puntambekar, 2021).

Material Scaffolds

wwheelernh — 2024-07-03 15:58:25 UTC

Material scaffolding includes using tools, resources, and materials that support student learning and independence (Puntambekar, 2021).

Show and Tell

wwheelernh — 2024-07-03 15:58:25 UTC

"Modeling for students is a cornerstone of scaffolding. Every chance you have, show or demonstrate to students exactly what they are expected to do" (Alber, 2014). Examples include fishbowl activities, think-alouds which will allow you to model your thought process as you read a text, solve a problem, or design a project, or models that can guide students through each step of the process with the model of the finished product in hand.

Pre-Teach Vocabulary

wwheelernh — 2024-07-03 15:58:25 UTC

Pre-teaching vocabulary doesn’t mean pulling a dozen words from the chapter and having students look up definitions and write them out. Instead, introduce the words in photos or in context with things students know and are interested in. Use analogies and metaphors, and invite students to create a symbol or drawing for each word. Give time for small-group and whole-class discussion of the words. Not until they’ve done all this should the dictionaries come out. And the dictionaries will be used only to compare with those definitions they’ve already discovered on their own (Alber, 2014).

GIVE TIME TO TALK

wwheelernh — 2024-07-03 15:58:25 UTC

All learners need time to process new ideas and information. They also need time to verbally make sense of and articulate their learning with the community of learners who are engaged in the same experience and journey. Structured discussions work best with students regardless of their level of maturation. Weave in think-pair-share, turn-and-talk, triad teams, or some other structured talking time throughout the lesson (Alber, 2014).

TAP INTO PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

wwheelernh — 2024-07-03 15:58:25 UTC

Ask students to share their own experiences, hunches, and ideas about the content or concept of study and have them relate and connect it to their own lives. Sometimes you may have to offer hints and suggestions, leading them to the connections a bit, but once they get there, they will grasp the content as their own (Alber, 2014).

wwheelernh — 2024-07-03 16:26:15 UTC

Open Colleges, 2023, Instructional scaffolding: a definitive guide.

wwheelernh — 2024-07-04 08:34:55 UTC

Alber, R., 2014, 6 Scaffolding strategies to use with your students.

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Puntambekar, S., 2021, Distributed scaffolding: scaffolding students in classroom environments.

Social Scaffolds

wwheelernh — 2024-07-04 15:11:44 UTC

Dialogues among peers and between students and teachers are social structures that serve as social scaffolds. Tools are an important aspect of a child’s learning environment. However, it is the interpersonal nature of the interactions around the tools that enables a child to learn the practices and develop the skills in a particular context (Puntambekar, 2021).

USE VISUAL AIDS

wwheelernh — 2024-07-04 17:37:24 UTC

Graphic organizers, pictures, and charts can all serve as scaffolding tools. Graphic organizers are very specific in that they help kids visually represent their ideas, organize information, and grasp concepts such as sequencing and cause and effect. (Alber, 2014).

wwheelernh — 2024-07-05 07:53:12 UTC

Scaffolding is linked with the Vygotskian notion of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which is defined as the distance between the child’s actual developmental level as determined by independent problem-solving and the higher level of potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance and in collaboration with more capable peers (Puntambekar, 2021)

PAUSE, ASK QUESTIONS, PAUSE, REVIEW

wwheelernh — 2024-07-05 08:46:00 UTC

This is a wonderful way to check for understanding while students read a chunk of difficult text or learn a new concept or content. Here’s how this strategy works: Share a new idea from the discussion or the reading, then pause (providing think time), and then ask a strategic question, pausing again (Aber, 2014).

What's Not Scaffolding

wwheelernh — 2024-07-05 08:59:20 UTC

What’s the opposite of scaffolding a lesson? Saying to students, “Read this nine-page science article, write a detailed essay on the topic it explores, and turn it in by Wednesday.” Yikes! No safety net, no parachute—they’re just left to their own devices (Alber, 2014).