Instructional Scaffolding in Education

Presentation by Melinda Jean Wilson and Gustavo Pina

What is Scaffolding?Scaffolding is essentially breaking up the learning material into smaller chunks along with providing a structure and/or technology tool with each chunk to facilitate learning new concepts.

“Like training wheels, computer scaffolding enables learners to do more advanced activities and to engage in more advanced thinking and problem solving than they could without such help. “- NRC, 2000

Retrieved November 2, 2013 from: http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/webdesign/Scaffolding/index.html

Scaffolding is like scaffolding in construction Scaffolds provide temporary support for students to assist in learning new,

more complex tasks that learners may not be able to achieve on their own.

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Scaffolding aligns with ObjectivesLearning Objectives guide the use of scaffolding and what types

of scaffolding are used.

“The objective of the activity is made clear at the outset and a "big-picture" point of view dominates in each individual activity.”

Retrieved on November 2, 2013 from: http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/webdesign/Scaffolding/index.html

Benefits of Scaffolding Provides learning and discovery challenges for students.

Allows meaningful discussion and debate.

Motivates learners by teaching them how to learn.

Amplifies chances of student success in achieving objectives.

Presents opportunities for individualized instruction.

Engages learners in peer-to-peer teaching and learning.

Delivers a welcoming, supportive, and caring learning environment.

Cue Cards or Flash Cards Cards to give to individuals or groups of students to start discussions about a

particular topic or content area.

Cards with vocabulary words or definitions of concepts.

Cards with content-specific stem sentences to complete.

Cards with formulas to solve problems.

Cards with qustions for students and groups to quiz each other (Spectrum, 2008).

Illustrate with Concept Maps and Mind Maps

Illustrate concepts and content with concept maps that show relationships.

Illustrate partially completed maps for students to complete.

Illustrate processes with Mind Maps.

Illustrate current knowledge of the task or concept by having students create their own maps (Spectrum, 2008).

ExemplifyExemplify samples.

Exemplify specimens.

Exemplify illustrations.

Exemplify problems.

Exemplify real objects (Spectrum, 2008).

ExplainExplain more detailed information to advance students forward

on a task or in developing their critical thinking of a concept.

Explain with written instructions for a task.

Explain with verbal descriptions of how a process works (Spectrum, 2008).

Give a Hand and Some Hints Handout prepared documents that contain task and content related

information.

Handout guides, but leave room for student creation or student notes.

Handout visual aids for learning the concept.

Hints to suggest direction and clues move students forward.

Hints to create a content scavenger hunt.

Hints for the steps to solve the problem (Spectrum, 2008).

Guide Conceptual Guide in what to consider

Metacognitive Guide I ways to think

Procedural Guide in use of affordances

Strategic Guide in approaches

(Hannafin, Land, & Oliver, 1999, p. 123)

Launch New Ideas with Prior KnowledgeLaunch new concepts with references to prior concepts.

Launch new concepts with prior knowledge as the framework.

Launch new concepts by relating previous experiences to new ideas.

Launch new concepts by showing transferrable skills that can be used (Alber, 2011; Spectrum, 2008).

Prompt LearnersPrompt with physical movements such as pointing and nodding.

Prompt with words or statements.

Prompt with question stems for learners to complete and answer.

Prompt with incomplete sentences for learners to finish.

Prompt with “what –If” questions (Spectrum, 2008).

Story TellingStories can relate complex and abstract material to situations

more familiar to students’ previous experiences.

Recite stories to inspire and motivate learners.

Start stories and have learners finish them.

Tell a story as an example of a concept or content information (Spectrum, 2008).

Visually represent contentVisually represent content with graphs.

Visually represent content with pictures.

Visually represent content with charts.

Visual representations specifically assist children in representing their ideas, organizing new information, and grasping new concepts such as sequencing or cause and effect.

(Alber, 2011; Spectrum, 2008).

Software Tools for Scaffolding Several software tools have been developed to prompt students to reflect,

articulate, and complete the steps of a complex task.

Examples of such software include ThinkerTools (White & Fredrickson, 1998)

Knowledge Integration Environment or KIE (Bell & Davis, 2000)

Progress Portfolio (Loh et al., 1998)

BGuILE (Reiser et al., 2001) and Model-It (Jackson, Krajcik, & Soloway, 1998)

Retrieved on 11/1/2013 from: http://www.education.com/reference/article/scaffolding/

References Alber, R. (May 24, 2011). “Six Scaffolding Strategies To Use With Your Students”

www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber.

Hannafin, M., Land, S. & Oliver, K. (1999). Open learning environments: Foundations, methods, and models. In C. M. Reigeluth (Ed.), Instructional-Design Theories and Models (pp. 115-140), Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

http://www.education.com/reference/article/scaffolding/.

McKenzie, J. (October, 2013) “Scaffolding and Sequencing” On the Cutting Edge. Retrieved on November 1, 2013 from: http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/webdesign/Scaffolding/index.html

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/webdesign/Scaffolding/index.html

Spectrum Newsletter, Fall, 2008 “Instructional Scaffolding to Improve Learning” by Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, Northern Illinois University Retrieved November 1, 2013 from: www.niu.edu/spectrum/2008/fall/scaffolding.shtml