[FRIAM] Instructional scaffolding - Wikipedia

[Eric Charles]

This sounds like a lot of big fancy words for very simple things.

>From Wikipedia:

> Scaffolding is changing the level of support to suit the cognitive
> potential of the child. Over the course of a teaching session, one can
> adjust the amount of guidance to fit the child's potential level of
> performance. More support is offered when a child is having difficulty with
> a particular task and, over time, less support is provided as the child
> makes gains on the task.


So, like.... yeah... If something is too hard for someone to do, and you
make it easier, then he/she might be able to do it. That ain't rocket
science. It also fits in perfectly well with operant conditioning
approaches (i.e., shaping, chaining). There is a reason kindergarten art
class doesn't declare you a failure if you cannot produce Raphael-esque
realism. There is a reason someone who wants to compete a dog in a dog show
doesn't start out expecting the dog to be able to do the whole routine.

Later Wikipedia says:

> Vygotsky was convinced that a child could be taught any subject
> efficiently using scaffolding practices by implementing the scaffolds
> through the zone of proximal development.

<echarles at american.edu>

Is that different than *just *saying: "A child can be taught any subject if
you give them easy bits at the start, and move to harder bits at a pace
the child can keep up with." ??

Maybe we need to add: "And if they get stuck, try giving them a bit more
guidance." ??



On Fri, Mar 26, 2021 at 7:08 PM <thompnickson2 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructional_scaffolding#Theory_of_scaffolding
>
> Great meeting, today.  Sorry I overslept.  I promised last week to provide
> a definition of “scaffolding”,  as in to “scaffold” learning, or some other
> frail or undetermined process, so as to facilitate its success.  For me the
> clearest example of scaffolding I know is what the surgical nurse does for
> the surgeon when she (sorry) lays out his tools in order on the tray beside
> him.  It is also connected in my mind with a theory of how best to teach
> kids stuff.  Your strategy should always be somewhere in the middle ground
> between letting the kid figure it out for himself and just doing it for the
> kid. Scaffolding relates to the concept of the Zone of Proximal
> Development, which is the “space” between the tasks which the kid can do
> expertly and the tasks the kid has no idea how to do them.  So, for
> instance, in playing a game which involves say, putting blocks into
> appropriately shaped windows, the mother may do it once her self, then not
> do it herself, but hold the block in the right order in her hand near the
> child, then hold them in a scrambled order in her hand so the child has to
> select the order, and finally spill the blocks out and leave the child to
> find them himself.  So at each stage she designs her support the child’s
> idea  needs, withdrawing support as the child becomes more capable.   To me
> (and perhaps me, alone) the of scaffolding relates to the question of the
> origin of life debate because it contrasts with the idea of “self”
> organization, which I have never understood.  Instead of imagining that
> chemicals just lie about in cess pools until a miracle happens, the theory
> asserts that life was scaffolded by white smokers in the deep ocean.  White
> smokers are volcanic vents in the deep ocean floor that are constantly
> emitting a flow of very hot water laden with solutes.  As the water cools
> it forms intricate structures with minute cavities which mimic, in some
> regards, the properties of cells.  Thus the smokers (on this theory)
> scaffold life by making cell boundaries before there are cell walls to
> contain the somatoplasm .
>
> All the Erics will correct me, but that is the best I can do with my
> ambulator knowledge.
>
>
>
> Nick
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