Extending the Scaffolding Metaphor

A brief overview overview is provided of how the scaffolding metaphor has been defined in educational contexts. This includes a discussion of what theories guide decision-making regarding what to scaffold as well as considerations as to whom or what does the scaffolding (human teachers, peers and tutors or computer tutors or support tools designed for learning environments). The scaffolding construct intersects instruction and assessment in that instructors assess learners to determine what type or level of scaffold is sufficient to help learners reach their potential. Such assessments are dynamic and ongoing and can occur through dialogue and social interactions with or without the use of technology. Hence scaffolds are provided when and where necessary but they are also removed when evidence of learning exists. This article describes how the contributors to this issue have extended the scaffolding metaphor to open-ended technology based environments. Empirical studies are reviewed with regard to how they extend the scaffolding metaphor in terms of the theories that guide the design of scaffolds, the metrics designed to assess how scaffolding affects learning and in terms of teaching scaffolding techniques to others.     

Scaffolding practices that enhance mathematics learning

It is over 25 years since Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17, 89–100) introduced the idea of ‘scaffolding’ to represent the way children’s learning can be supported. Despite problems, this metaphor has enduring attraction in the way it emphasises the intent to support a sound foundation with increasing independence for the learner as understanding becomes more secure. It has resonance with the widely accepted notion in teaching of construction and the constructivist paradigm for learning. The discussion that follows will characterise some teaching approaches that can be identified as scaffolding, revisiting some of the original classifications, and identifying further scaffolding strategies with particular reference to mathematics learning. Examples will be given from studies relating to geometry learning with four to 6 year olds and to arithmetic learning with older pupils.     

小学语文阅读教学“支架”式难点突破法例谈

“支架”是一种比喻的说法。在语文教学过程中,要根据不同的文本,不同的学情,搭建不同的“支架”,如对比分析法、背景限定法、图示破冰法、示范引领法等,只要是有助于突破难点的方法,都可以看作学生学习的“支架”。几种“支架”交织在一起综合运用,可以取得更好的教学效果。     

Synergy: A Complement to Emerging Patterns of Distributed Scaffolding

In this article, I examine distributed scaffolding, an emerging approach in the design of supports for rich learning environments intended to help students develop disciplinary ways of knowing, doing, and communicating. Distributed scaffolding incorporates multiple forms of support that are provided through different means to address the complex and diverse learning needs that arise in such settings. I synthesize research to date to articulate three patterns of distributed scaffolding and the pedagogical considerations that they target. I introduce synergy as a pattern that has not received much attention in the past. Synergy refers to the characteristic that different components of distributed scaffolding, such as software supports and teacher coaching, address the same learning need and interact with each other to produce a robust form of support. I illustrate this pattern through classroom examples and discuss the scaffolding functions that it can fulfill. I conclude with implications for the principled design of distributed scaffolding.     

Scaffolding 5-year-old children in Japanese kindergarten collaboratively retelling a tale

This study reports an analysis of how children in a Japanese kindergarten are scaffolded when facing the challenge of collaboratively retelling a kitsune story they have been told. What is referred to as a kitsune story is an example of a trickster tale with foxes as anthropomorphised animals. The participants were ten 5-year-old children and their teacher. Told a story by their teacher, the children were asked later to collaboratively retell it. How this retelling activity is supported – theorised in terms of the metaphor of scaffolding – is analysed on the basis of recordings. The findings show the nature of this evolving process. The conclusion is that the metaphor of scaffolding may require some contextual specification to remain a functional conceptual – and in extension, pedagogical – tool in activities fundamentally different from the activity studied in Wood, Bruner and Ross’ founding 1976 study.     

支架理论视角下高职院校混合式学习实践探索——以《电子商务实务》课程为例

快速发展的信息技术催生传统教学方法的变革,混合式学习的发展大大增加了教与学的多样性。文章尝试以支架理论作为方法论框架构建电子商务课程混合式学习模型,对混合式学习的理念进行了探讨,着重分析了教师在混合式学习不同阶段需要设计的学习支架,并通过高职《电子商务实务》课程进行验证。以期为混合式学习和混合式学习设计提供理论和实践参考。     

Scaffolding in technology-enhanced learning environments

Scaffolding has proven an especially interesting and promising area for supporting teaching and learning practices. Particular interest has emerged in scaffolding student learning in technology-enhanced environments. In this paper, we discuss how scaffolding is implemented in technology-enhanced environments, provide an overview of scaffolding processes and techniques in various contexts, and then provide empirically based guidelines for designing scaffolding in technological environments. We examine current research to identify two primary design components, cognitive and interface, and suggest how scaffold design might be improved for more effective use by learners. We conclude by identifying practice and research implications.     

Analysis of students’ ideas and conceptual artifacts in knowledge-building discourse

This study proposes a new methodological approach to evaluate students’ knowledge-building discourse. First, we discuss the knowledge–creation metaphor of learning. In the metaphor, theories mention that learners should consider their collective knowledge objects or artifacts that materialize as a result of their collaborative discourse. Second, we argue the necessity of developing new analytics to evaluate student learning. We describe how students’ ideas and their conceptual artifacts can be examined in discourse analysis. Third, we demonstrate the application of our analytics to real discourse data. We conducted a new type of social network analysis of discourse to examine how students continuously improve their ideas. Further, we conducted another network analysis of discourse, called the Epistemic Network Analysis, by coding students’ epistemic actions as conceptual artifacts to create and examine their ideas.     

教学支架的动态分析

支架是一个内在动态概念。以动态系统理论为基础,重新阐述了动态性支架的内涵。其重要观点是,支架具有情境性,应该放在学与教的动态情境中才能作出准确解释。因此,支架作用过程的分析,即是分析学与教的动态作用过程,包括支架动态系统的特性、参数,以及系统中各变量的相互作用。对支架动态系统的分析,可以为学习者最佳支架的确定提供理论基础。     

教与学的有效互动--简析支架式教学

支架式教学是近二三十年来国外流行的教学模式,它在处理"教"与"学"二者之间的关系方面提出了富有创造性的见解.本文对支架式教学进行了简要的介绍与分析,主要阐述了支架式教学的内涵、理论基础及其特色,最后分析了支架式教学给予我们的若干启示.     

Inter-level Scaffolding and Sequences of Representational Activities in Teaching a Chemical System with Graphical Simulations

Chemistry knowledge can be represented at macro-, micro- and symbolic levels, and learning a chemistry topic requires students to engage in multiple representational activities. This study focused on scaffolding for inter-level connection-making in learning chemistry knowledge with graphical simulations. We also tested whether different sequences of representational activities produced different student learning outcomes in learning a chemistry topic. A sample of 129 seventh graders participated in this study. In a simulation-based environment, participants completed three representational activities to learn several ideal gas law concepts. We conducted a 2 × 3 factorial design experiment. We compared two scaffolding conditions: (1) the inter-level scaffolding condition in which participants received inter-level questions and experienced the dynamic link function in the simulation-based environment and (2) the intra-level scaffolding condition in which participants received intra-level questions and did not experience the dynamic link function. We also compared three different sequences of representational activities: macro-symbolic-micro, micro-symbolic-macro and symbolic-micro-macro. For the scaffolding variable, we found that the inter-level scaffolding condition produced significantly better performance in both knowledge comprehension and application, compared to the intra-level scaffolding condition. For the sequence variable, we found that the macro-symbolic-micro sequence produced significantly better knowledge comprehension performance than the other two sequences; however, it did not benefit knowledge application performance. There was a trend that the treatment group who experienced inter-level scaffolding and the micro-symbolic-macro sequence achieved the best knowledge application performance.     

Scaffolding peer-assessment skills: Risk of interference with learning domain-specific skills?

Giving students complex learning tasks combined with peer-assessment tasks can impose a high cognitive load. Scaffolding has proven to reduce cognitive load during learning and improve accuracy on domain-specific tasks. This study investigated whether scaffolding has a similar, positive effect on the learning of peer-assessment tasks. We hypothesised that: (1) domain-specific scaffolding improves domain-specific accuracy and reduces time on task and perceived mental effort, and (2) peer-assessment scaffolding improves peer-assessment accuracy and reduces time on task and perceived mental effort. Additionally, we explored whether there was an interaction between domain-specific and peer-assessment scaffolding. In a 2x2 experiment with the factors domain-specific scaffolding (present, absent) and peer-assessment scaffolding (present, absent), 236 secondary school students assessed the performance of fictitious peers in an electronic learning environment. We found that domain-specific accuracy indeed improved with domain-specific scaffolding, confirming our first hypothesis. Our tests of the second hypothesis, however, revealed surprising results: peer-assessment scaffolding significantly increased accuracy and mental effort during learning, it had no effect on peer-assessment accuracy at the test and led to reduced domain-specific accuracy, even when combined with domain-specific scaffolding. These results suggest that scaffolding students' peer assessment before they have mastered the task at hand can have disturbing effects on students’ ability to learn from the task.     

支架式学习理念在英语会话中的应用研究

21世纪的小学英语教育的重点是激发学生学习兴趣、促进交互式学习,发展交际能力。支架式教学理念提供了实现这一目标的理论基础。因此应当在支架式教学的框架内,探讨支架式学习设计五环节的理念及其在小学英语教学中的应用。     

概念图在计算机教学中的设计与应用

为了实施有效的信息化教学,支架式教学模式越来越多地运用于教学过程中,而概念图作为支架式学习的一种形式也越来越受到教育者的青睐。本文阐述了支架式教学及概念图的概念,并借助我校计算机文化基础课程的改革详细论述了概念图支架在教学中的设计与应用。     

Student Use of Scaffolding Software: Relationships with Motivation and Conceptual Understanding

This study was designed to theoretically articulate and empirically assess the role of computer scaffolds. In this project, several examples of educational software were developed to scaffold the learning of students performing high level cognitive activities. The software used in this study, Artemis, focused on scaffolding the learning of students as they performed information seeking activities. As 5th grade students traveled through a project-based science unit on photosynthesis, researchers used a pre-post design to test for both student motivation and student conceptual understanding of photosynthesis. To measure both variables, a motivation survey and three methods of concept map analysis were used. The student use of the scaffolding features was determined using a database that tracked students’ movement between scaffolding tools. The gain scores of each dependent variable was then correlated to the students’ feature use (time and hits) embedded in the Artemis Interface. This provided the researchers with significant relationships between the scaffolding features represented in the software and student motivation and conceptual understanding of photosynthesis. There were a total of three significant correlations in comparing the scaffolding use by hits (clicked on) with the dependent variables and only one significant correlation when comparing the scaffold use in time. The first significant correlation (r = .499, p < .05) was between the saving/viewing features hits and the students’ task value. This correlation supports the assumption that there is a positive relationship between the student use of the saving/viewing features and the students’ perception of how interesting, how important, and how useful the task is. The second significant correlation (r = 0.553, p < 0.01) was between the searching features hits and the students’ self-efficacy for learning and performance. This correlation supports the assumption that there is a positive relationship between the student use of the searching features and the students’ perception of their ability to accomplish a task as well as their confidence in their skills to perform that task. The third significant correlation (r = 0.519, p < 0.05) was between the collaborative features hits and the students’ essay performance scores. This correlation supports the assumption that there is a positive relationship between the student use of the collaborative features and the students’ ability to perform high cognitive tasks. Finally, the last significant correlation (r = 0.576, p < 0.01) was between the maintenance features time and the qualitative analysis of the concept maps. This correlation supports the assumption that there is a positive relationship between the student use of the maintenance features and student conceptual understanding of photosynthesis. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (REC9980055). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.     

Effectiveness of Computer-Based Scaffolding in the Context of Problem-Based Learning for Stem Education: Bayesian Meta-analysis

Computer-based scaffolding plays a pivotal role in improving students’ higher-order skills in the context of problem-based learning for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. The effectiveness of computer-based scaffolding has been demonstrated through traditional meta-analyses. However, traditional meta-analyses suffer from small-study effects and a lack of studies covering certain characteristics. This research investigates the effectiveness of computer-based scaffolding in the context of problem-based learning for STEM education through Bayesian meta-analysis (BMA). Specifically, several types of prior distribution information inform Bayesian simulations of studies, and this generates accurate effect size estimates of six moderators (total 24 subcategories) related to the characteristics of computer-based scaffolding and the context of scaffolding utilization. The results of BMA indicated that computer-based scaffolding significantly impacted (g = 0.385) cognitive outcomes in problem-based learning in STEM education. Moreover, according to the characteristics and the context of use of scaffolding, the effects of computer-based scaffolding varied with a range of small to moderate values. The result of the BMA contributes to an enhanced understanding of the effect of computer-based scaffolding within problem-based learning.     

Scaffolding Complex Learning: The Mechanisms of Structuring and Problematizing Student Work

There has been much interest in using software tools to scaffold learners in complex tasks, that is, to provide supports that enable students to deal with more complex content and skill demands than they could otherwise handle. Many different approaches to scaffolding techniques have been presented in a broad range of software tools. I argue that two complementary mechanisms can explain how a diversity of scaffolding approaches in software act to support learners. Software tools can help structure the learning task, guiding learners through key components and supporting their planning and performance. In addition, tools can shape students' performance and understanding of the task in terms of key disciplinary content and strategies and thus problematize this important content. Although making the task more difficult in the short term, by forcing learners to engage with this complexity, such scaffolded tools make this work more productive opportunities for learning. I present arguments for these mechanisms in terms of the obstacles learners face, and I present several brief examples to illustrate their use in design guidelines. Finally, I examine how the mechanisms of structuring and problematizing are sometimes complementary and sometimes in tension in design, discuss design tradeoffs in developing scaffolded investigation tools for learners, and consider the reliance of scaffolding on a classroom system of supports.     

Scaffolding strategies in a rubric-based intervention to promote engineering students’ ability to address wicked problems

ABSTRACT

In recent years, there has been increasing interest within the engineering education research community to prepare engineering students to address wicked problems (WPs) such as climate change, resource scarcity and violent conflict. Previous research suggests that engineering students are able to address WPs if they are given adequate support, but there is a lack of research on what kinds of support are needed. This paper aims to reduce this gap by reporting on students’ performance in, and approaches to, addressing WPs when different scaffolding strategies were used in different parts of a rubric-based intervention. The intervention aimed to provide undergraduate engineering students with an understanding of the nature of WPs and with a structured way of addressing them. For each part of the intervention, we discuss affordances for learning provided by the different scaffolding strategies. The results suggest that strong cognitive scaffolding can support students’ understanding of the nature of WPs and students’ performance in written responses to WPs, but possibly also limits deep engagement with WPs and transfer of learning to other contexts.