[FRIAM] Instructional scaffolding - Wikipedia

[thompnickson2 at gmail.com]

I was asked to say what scaffolding was, not to evaluate it.  UT admits all
students from the top10percent of their highschool classes no matter how
lousy the highschools are.  So, what then to do with the kids from lousy
highschools.  One approach is not to give them remedial courses but to main
stream them, but give them eceptional levels of support in those classes, so
they are learning the same material as the regular students, but getting
extra help in doing it.  Apparently, a lot of this extra help consists in
helping a student to understand what the task is, in effect undoing BAD
habits learned in impoverished learning situations.  Once the kid is up to
speed, the scaffold is removed.  

 

That's the concept.  Apply whatever values you chose to it.  

 

n

 

Nick Thompson

 <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com

 <https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/>
https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

 

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Marcus Daniels
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2021 5:18 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Instructional scaffolding - Wikipedia

 

Regarding engaging minorities in the workforce, I have heard this claim  "It
is important to have someone that looks like you and has similar shared
experiences in the workplace."   Isn't this just more tribalism, as it
doesn't actually maximize diversity?    If it is true, I imagine it has
something to with scaffolding.   This makes me wonder if scaffolding is
really a good thing, or if it is an expected outcome of a struggle for
power.    The hypothesis is that you can't really be you unless you build
your own scaffolding.

 

It also reminds me of the focus of some activists for marriage equality.
Essentially, the "born this way" claim.   It seems to take the short-term
goal by way of an assertion rather than asking the more expansive question
of why would society would dare to have expectations about sexual preference
in the first place?

 

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com> >
On Behalf Of thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com> 
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2021 4:08 PM
To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' <friam at redfish.com
<mailto:friam at redfish.com> >
Subject: [FRIAM] Instructional scaffolding - Wikipedia

 

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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