[FRIAM] Instructional scaffolding - Wikipedia

[thompnickson2 at gmail.com]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructional_scaffolding#Theory_of_scaffoldin
g 

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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