One of my publications is
Taber, K. S. (2018). Scaffolding learning: principles for effective teaching and the design of classroom resources. In M. Abend (Ed.), Effective Teaching and Learning: Perspectives, strategies and implementation (pp. 1-43). New York: Nova Science Publishers.
(This is one of two chapters in this book considering the theme of scaffolding. The other, written with Dr Richard Brock, is A study to explore the potential of designing teaching activities to scaffold learning: understanding circular motion.)
Abstract
Within educational discourse, the idea that teachers should ‘scaffold’ student learning is extremely widespread, yet it is often less clear what this means in the classroom beyond the teacher structuring learning activities and offering students support. Many teachers associate the term with the educational thinking of Vygotsky, but they are often less clear what would comprise an effective teaching scaffold. This chapter reviews use of the term scaffolding in teaching and explains the purpose of scaffolding in the context of Vygotsky’s developmental theory. The chapter draws upon Vygotsky’s spatial metaphor for how learning activities could be positioned in relation to the learner’s current and potential levels of development. This activity ‘space’ is divided into three zones: scaffolding has potential to support learning that can facilitate student development, but only when the learning activity is located in the central zone (the ZPD) and is mediated through scaffolding. The chapter offers an analysis of the function of scaffolds, their role in classroom differentiation, and the logic of ‘fading’ (reducing scaffolding as learning proceeds). This suggests principles that teachers need to take into account in order to effectively employ scaffolding as a strategy in their teaching. Scaffolding can be based on direct mediation through dialogue between a learner and a teacher, but in classroom teaching there are severe constraints on how much one-to-one interaction each individual learner can access. Teachers wishing to scaffold learning therefore have to design learning activities and support materials that will place students in their ZPD. To illustrate this process, two distinct types of scaffolding tools are characterised in relation to different stages in the scaffolding of learning new conceptual schemes and frameworks.
Contents:
- Introduction
- Some starting points
- Theoretical background to the notion of scaffolding: Vygotsky’s notion of development and the role of cultural tools
- The zones of actual, proximal, and distal, development
- Cognitive limits to learning – why cultural transmission is not straightforward
- Tools to overcome cognitive limitations
- Tools to support learning
- Providing vicarious support through scaffolding
- Designing scaffolding tools
- Scaffolded learning supports development
- Relating the role of scaffolding in classroom teaching to direct instruction, constructivism, and differentiation
- Conclusion
The author's manuscript version of this chapter may be accessed here.
