Instructional scaffolding
[citation needed] Instructional scaffolding provides sufficient support to promote learning when concepts and skills are being first introduced to students.
These supports may include resource, compelling task, templates and guides, and/or guidance on the development of cognitive and social skills.
[12] Empirical research suggests that the benefits of scaffolding are not only useful during a task, but can extend beyond the immediate situation in order to influence future cognitive development.
Thus the learner obtains or raises[clarify] new understandings by building on their prior knowledge through the support delivered by more capable individuals.
[22][23] From a Vygotskian perspective, talk and action work together with the sociocultural fabric of the writing event to shape a child's construction of awareness and performance.
[26] [clarification needed]shows that what may seem like casual conversational exchanges between tutor and student actually offer many opportunities for fostering cognitive development, language learning, story composition for writing, and reading comprehension.
[33] According to Vygotsky, students develop higher-level thinking skills when scaffolding occurs with an adult expert or with a peer of higher capabilities.
Within the IRE pattern, teachers provide 'directive scaffolding' on the assumption that their job is to transmit knowledge and then assess its appropriation by the learners.
The suspension of asymmetry in the talk represents a shift in the teacher's ideological stance and, therefore, demonstrates that supportive scaffolding is more than simply a model of instruction.
In scaffolding, learners can only be moved toward their learning goals if cognitive load is held in check by properly administered support.
Traditional teachers tend to give a higher level of deductive, diadactic instruction, with each piece of a complex task being broken down.
Constructivists pay close attention to the context of guidance because they believe instruction plays a major role in knowledge retention and transfer.
For example, Hake's (1998) large-scale study[48] demonstrated how post-secondary physics students recalled less than 30% of material covered in a traditional lecture-style class.
Similarly, other studies[49][50][51] illustrate how students construct different understandings from explanation in isolation versus having a first experience with the material.
[44] It has been found that immediate feedback can lead to working memory load as it does not take in consideration the process of gradual acquisition of a skill,[54] which also relates to the amount of guidance being given.
Applications that promote constructivist learning require learners to solve authentic problems or "acquire knowledge in information-rich settings".
[79][80] However, there is some evidence that in certain domains, and under certain circumstances, a minimal guidance approach can lead to successful learning if sufficient practice opportunities are built in.
[88] One of the consequences of this reconceptualization is abandoning the rigid explicit instruction versus minimal guidance dichotomy and replacing it with a more flexible approach based on differentiating specific goals of various learner activities in complex learning.
[92]Instructional scaffolding can be thought of as the strategies that a teacher uses to help learners bridge a cognitive gap or progress in their learning to a level they were previously unable to accomplish.
[93] These strategies evolve as the teachers evaluate the learners initial level of ability and then through continued feedback throughout the progression of the task.
The context of learning (i.e. novice experience, complexity of the task) may require more than one scaffold strategy in order for the student to master new content.
[95] The following table[96] outlines a few common scaffolding strategies: These tools organize information in a way that helps learners understand new and complex content.
Examples of advanced organizers are: Instructors use modelling to: These types of instructional materials are commonly implemented in mathematics and science classes and include three key features:[100] 1.
The use of materials such as visual images, graphic organizers, animated videos, audio files and other technological features can make explanations more engaging, motivating and meaningful for student learning.
These terms were rarely used, and it was argued that these areas had unclear structure to guide students, especially in online learning, and were inadequately justified.
Instructors have the challenge of adapting scaffolding techniques to this new medium, but also the advantage of using new web-based tools such as wikis and blogs as platforms to support and discuss with students.
[112] As a result, researchers have recently begun to emphasize the importance of embedded conceptual, procedural, strategic, and metacognitive scaffolding in CBLEs.
[107][113][114][115] In addition to the four scaffolding guidelines outlined, recent research has shown: Online classes do not require movement need to a different city or long distances in order to attend the program of one's choice.
Collaboration is key to instructional scaffolding and can be lost without proper guidance from an instructor creating and initiating an online social space.
[119] The instructor's role in creating a social space for online interaction has been found to increase students' confidence in understanding the content and goals of the course.
