<div dir="ltr"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">That would be like saying of “affordance”, something you can do something with. </blockquote><div><br></div>Damn it man, sometimes you can't be wrong for trying! An affordance <u style="font-style:italic">is</u> that you can do something with something. Yes. That's what it is. Etymologically, "affordance" is what you get when you noun the verb "to afford". So, if that doorway affords your passing-through, then we can say there is "an affordance" there. <div><br></div><div>You <u style="font-style:italic">should</u> be able to treat <u><i>all</i></u> such terminology as useful shorthand. And if someone accuses you of trading in mysticism, you <u><i>should</i></u> be able to just drop all the jargon, spend a bit longer saying whatever it is you have to say, and make it obvious there is no mysticism. </div><div><br></div><div>When Gibson asserts that we can perceive affordances, he means that we perceive opportunities to cause particular outcomes by means of our actions. The interesting part of the assertion is <u><i>not</i></u> that we can do different things under different circumstances. The interesting part of the assertion is that we can perceive such things. And THAT is only really interesting in the context of traditional theories of sensation-perception, which would assert that only much "simpler" aspects of the world are "perceived". <div><br></div><div>So far as I can tell from the Wikipedia article: If you are talking about "Scaffolding the learning environment to keep the child within the zone of proximate development", you could just as easily talk about "Giving the child tasks they can't quite do on their own." The problem with the first version isn't JUST that the first one is unnecessarily mysterious and jargony, it is also a problem that the first one is somehow longer. If it is longer, it can't even be considered a useful shorthand. Also, I am familiar with many theories of learning, and all the theories I am familiar with would agree that is a good strategy to moderate the difficulty of tasks you give a learner, so I am not sure there is a context that makes the claim interesting, once the jargon is taken out. </div><div><br></div><div>P.S. As for 'instruction' the Wikipedia article made a huge deal about verbal stuff being crucial for "scaffolding"... but I agree with you that seems pretty arbitrary... <span style="color:rgb(77,81,86);font-family:Roboto,arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px">¯\_(ツ)_/¯</span><div><div><div><div dir="ltr" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div></div></div><div dir="ltr"><a href="mailto:echarles@american.edu" target="_blank"></a></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div></div></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Apr 10, 2021 at 7:48 PM <<a href="mailto:thompnickson2@gmail.com" target="_blank">thompnickson2@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US"><div><p class="MsoNormal">Well, Eric; there you go, shrugging again. <u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">That would be like saying of “affordance”, something you can do something with. <u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Here, let me make “scaffolding” more palatable to you. <u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">To Scaffold a task, is to provide affordances for its successful completion. Is that better? <u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">I don’t think providing instruction is an essential feature of scaffolding. The wise parent keeps his effing mouth shut. As a Famous Artist once said to me at a book signing when I asked her What could I do to help my prodigious artist grandson?, she said “Buy art materials!”<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Or as Kahil Gibran once famously said: “You are the bow from which your children as arrows fly; let you bending in the hands of The Archer be for joy.”<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">N<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Nick Thompson<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:ThompNickSon2@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(5,99,193)">ThompNickSon2@gmail.com</span></a><u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(5,99,193)">https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/</span></a><u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><div style="border-right:none;border-bottom:none;border-left:none;border-top:1pt solid rgb(225,225,225);padding:3pt 0in 0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> Friam <<a href="mailto:friam-bounces@redfish.com" target="_blank">friam-bounces@redfish.com</a>> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Eric Charles<br><b>Sent:</b> Saturday, April 10, 2021 2:45 PM<br><b>To:</b> The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <<a href="mailto:friam@redfish.com" target="_blank">friam@redfish.com</a>><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [FRIAM] Instructional scaffolding - Wikipedia<u></u><u></u></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><div><p class="MsoNormal">This sounds like a lot of big fancy words for very simple things. <u></u><u></u></p><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(32,33,34)">From Wikipedia: </span><u></u><u></u></p></div><div><blockquote style="border-top:none;border-right:none;border-bottom:none;border-left:1pt solid rgb(204,204,204);padding:0in 0in 0in 6pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(32,33,34)">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. </span><u></u><u></u></p></blockquote><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">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. <u></u><u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Later Wikipedia says: <u></u><u></u></p></div><blockquote style="border-top:none;border-right:none;border-bottom:none;border-left:1pt solid rgb(204,204,204);padding:0in 0in 0in 6pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(32,33,34)">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.</span><u></u><u></u></p></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Is that different than <i>just </i>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." ??<u></u><u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Maybe we need to add: "And if they get stuck, try giving them a bit more guidance." ??<u></u><u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><div><div><p class="MsoNormal">On Fri, Mar 26, 2021 at 7:08 PM <<a href="mailto:thompnickson2@gmail.com" target="_blank">thompnickson2@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<u></u><u></u></p></div><blockquote style="border-top:none;border-right:none;border-bottom:none;border-left:1pt solid rgb(204,204,204);padding:0in 0in 0in 6pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in"><div><div><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructional_scaffolding#Theory_of_scaffolding" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructional_scaffolding#Theory_of_scaffolding</a> <u></u><u></u></p><p>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 . <u></u><u></u></p><p>All the Erics will correct me, but that is the best I can do with my ambulator knowledge. <u></u><u></u></p><p> <u></u><u></u></p><p>Nick<u></u><u></u></p></div></div><p class="MsoNormal">- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .<br>FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv<br>Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 <a href="http://bit.ly/virtualfriam" target="_blank">bit.ly/virtualfriam</a><br>un/subscribe <a href="http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com" target="_blank">http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com</a><br>FRIAM-COMIC <a href="http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/</a><br>archives: <a href="http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/" target="_blank">http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/</a><u></u><u></u></p></blockquote></div></div></div>- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .<br>
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