Scaffolding

The article “Using Self- Assessments in Elementary Classrooms” stresses that self assessment in the classroom is crucial to learning because it determines one’s self improvement. Students ability to engage in self-assessment increases as they develop metacognition, which is the capability of thinking about one’s own thinking. In order for a child to develop metacognition, parents, teachers and caregivers must provide feedback and insight into a child’s behavior and learning so that the child can begin to form some type of self appraisal. The child uses this feedback to develop their self perceptions and motivation in the classroom. The article states that, “research suggests that while general cognitive ability relates strongly to academic achievement, motivation and self-appraisal also contribute to children’s engagement in learning and academic success” (Bingham, Holbrook, and Meyers 60). When students have high self-appraisal as well as high expectations for themselves in the classroom, they are more likely to have higher grades and better results. The challenge with teaching self-assessment is that it is difficult to determine how much students are capable of. Older students need much less structure and guidance in self-assessment than younger children. Many times, teachers use self-assessment techniques that are ineffective and do not assess a child’s understanding of the material. Also, many teachers fear that including self-assessment in the classroom wastes valuable because it requires so much scaffolding, especially in the younger grades. Self-assessment is important because it is a powerful tool in a child’s education.
 * Bingham, Gary, Teri Holbrook, and Laura Meyers. "Using Self-Assessments in Elementary Classrooms." //Phi Delta Kappan//. 91.5 (2010): 59-61. Web. 14 Sept. 2010**


 * Chinn, Clark A., Ravit Golan Duncan, and Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver. “Scaffolding and Achievement in Problem-Based and Inquiry Learning:A Response to Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006)” //EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST// //42//.2 (2007): 99–107. EBSCO. Web. 15 Sept. 2010.***

Scaffolding and Achievement in Problem-Based and Inquiry Learning:A Response to Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006) is an article that is trying to disprove the claim that problem-based learning(PBL) and inquiry learning (IL) are ineffective and contain very little guided instruction. Throughout the article the authors talk about what problem-based learning and inquiry learning are and ow scaffolding is involved. They also talk about why these methods are efficient and how there is a significant amount of guidance involved in both approaches

Problem-based learning and inquiry learning are very important aspects of learning. “In PBL, students learn content, strategies, and self-directed learning skills through collaboratively solving problems, reflecting on their experiences, and engaging in self-directed inquiry. In IL, students learn content as well as discipline-specific reasoning skills and practices (often in scientific disciplines) by collaboratively engaging in investigations” (Chinn et al, 100 ). With both of these methods students are engaged in what they are doing and they are using their inquiry skills to formulate questions and answers for things they might want to learn about or for things they are confused about and trying to understand. While the students are engaged in their work, the teacher is there to answer questions when needed. The teacher is there to facilitate the students, not just simply give them directions and expect the students to figure it out on their own. “They guide students in the learning process, pushing them to think deeply, and model the kinds of questions that students need to be asking themselves, thus forming a cognitive apprenticeship” (Chinn et al, 101 ). Not only is there a lot of teacher guidance in problem-based learning and inquiry learning, but there is a significant amount of scaffolding required in each of the learning styles. Because the students are pushed to think outside of the box and explain their thinking until they have discovered the answers, problem-based learning and inquiry learning allow the students to gain a more complex way of thinking and understanding. “We [the authors] argue that IL and PBL approaches involve the learner, with appropriate scaffolding in the practices and conceptualizations of the discipline and in this way promote the construction of knowledge we [the authors] recognize as learning” (Chinn et al,105 ). Through problem-based learning and inquiry learning students use scaffolding in a variety of ways and are intensely guided through the process by the teacher making these methods not only efficient, but useful. (By Megan Damman)


 * Chinn, Clark A., Ravit Golan Duncan, and Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver. “Scaffolding and Achievement in Problem-Based and Inquiry Learning:A Response to Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006)” EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST, 42(2), 99-107 Copyright 2007. EBSCO. Web. 14 Sept. 2010.**

The article describes the importance of scaffolding in Problem-based Learning (PBL) and Inquiry Learning (IL). Chinn and the co- authors are arguing against Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark, who define minimal guided instruction as "a learning context in which learners, rather than being presented with essential information, must discover or construct essential information for themselves" (99). Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark are for direct guidance, which is giving the information to the kids they are required to learn. The article explains the impact of different ways to teach by scaffolding PBL and IL students. "Scaffolding inquiry and problem-based environments present learners with opportunities to engage in complex tasks that would otherwise be beyond their current abilities. Scaffolding makes the learning more tractable for students by changing complex and difficult tasks in ways that make these tasks accessible, manageable, and within student's zone of proximal development" ( 100). A few of the main points described in this article are the uses of scaffolding in PBL and IL, Disciplinary thinking and strategies using scaffolding, and Scaffolding that constructs complex tasks and reduces cognitive loads. It explains the evidence that PBL and IL are effective with supported facts and statistics. In the conclusion it states the claim that PBL and IL does not work, is not well supported but the opposite is true. The facts are apparent and clear that scaffolding with PBL and IL is effective. (Danielle Peek)

** Coffey, Heather. //Scaffolding//. Learn NC. 26 September 2010. ** ** . **

In this article Coffey give a great in depth definition of what scaffolding is, how scaffolding is used in the classroom, some characteristics of scaffolding, and also some advantages and disadvantages of scaffolding. The article talks about how the teacher should use scaffolding in the classroom by giving the students the guided instruction and giving them “task that enable the learner to build on prior knowledge and internalize new concepts (Coffey). It also talks about how to use scaffolding in the classroom by using Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. Another great thing the article provides is some characteristics about how to teach students how to use scaffolding and some guidelines on how the teacher should incorporated scaffolding into their lessons. The last part of the article gives some really helpful examples on the advantages and disadvantages of using scaffolding in the classroom. One of the disadvantages I found most interesting was that, “scaffolding also necessitates that the teacher give up some control in the classroom in order for learners to move at their own pace” (Coffey). This is very true in scaffolding and I think that when teacher have to give up some of that control in the classroom it is very hard for them. Overall this article gives some really good incite on what scaffolding is and how to use ultimately use it properly in the classroom, but it also give the advantages and disadvantages so that teachers can see if scaffolding would be a good tool to incorporate into their lesson plan. (By Megan Damman) Ertmer, Peggy and Krista Simons. "Scaffolding Disciplined Inquiry in Problem-Based Environments." Web. 29 Sept. 2010.

Scaffolding is important and essential in all teaching and learning. It helps the children figure out how to do things on their own, without being told directly what to do. This article talks about how to properly use scaffolding in a classroom that participates in problem-based learning. This is learning that lets the children work through different types of problems on their own that most times they’ve never experienced or dealt with before. It involves small groups of children who take on the role of researchers. It can be very challenging and overwhelming, so scaffolding is extremely helpful. It's important to have numerous different helpers when doing problem-based learning activities. However, a problem in today’s classroom is a lack of sufficient helpers to guide problem-based learning. Therefor, there are three techniques teachers can use to help children work through this process (without using helpers): to initiate students’ inquiry, to aid students’ with the concept and address misconceptions, and to promote reflective thinking. The beginning process of problem-based learning can be the most difficult so it’s important to spark the students’ interest and clearly address what you want them to do. Next the teacher must model and make sure the students understand the concept and integrate it into their learning. This can be done through sticky notes, reinforcement, etc. It is also important to go over the common misconceptions/biases. Lastly, students must participate in reflective thinking because it connects everything they’ve done back together (most importantly linking their work to the content they’re supposed to have learned from it—rather than just having them focus on the activity). There are different ways of doing this but direct prompting and teacher modeling are two very good ways of getting the students engaged in this thinking process. “It is important to remember one of the primary reasons researchers and designers advocate problem-based learning as an effective pedagogical approach – that is, to help learners gain a deeper understanding of content through the process of //doing//” (Ertmer and Simons, 6). --- (Dani Driver)

**Kuei-Ping Shih, Hung-Chang Chen, Chih-Yung Chang, and Tai-Chen Kao. "The Development and Implementation of Scaffolding-Based Self-Regulated Learning System for e/m-Learning." //Educational Technology & Society// 13.1 (2010): 80-93. EBSCO. Web. 15 Sept. 2010**

This paper proposes self-regulated learning (SRL) system. This system adopts the same concept as the scaffolding theory, which builds the students learning patterns. Another aim to the system is to support a mobile learning environment. “Unlike in a traditional face-to-face set-up, today’s students can individually determine when and where to learn…many computer-based systems have been proposed to enhance a person’s performance while s/he learns.” (Hadwin & Winne, 2001). With the computer based programs instructors can arrange information on a learning unit, including activities, self-examination, or discussion. This computer system enables students to start SRL anytime and anywhere, all they need is a computer that has access to the internet. An Event Monitoring Subsystem is needed to observe the students behavior. This can detect if the learner studies on time and how much time the learner spends on the activity, what students do while learning, such as the time and reasons of interruptions, and their ways of seeking information. With this program of the Event Monitoring Subsystem the instructors are able to see if the students are able to do the assignments, and it also shows how the instructor is able to help the student improve their SRL by evaluating the students online work. The target students agreed that the proposed system could help them possess the four self-regulatory attributes. With this program they are hoping to engage students into develop the concept of SRL and to build the students learning patterns. (Roxanne Ray) ** Land, Susan M and Zembal-Saul, Carla, “Scaffolding Reflection and Articulation of Scientific Explanations in a Data-Rich, Project-Based Learning Environment; An Investigation of Progress Portfolio”, // ETR&D, vol 51, no 4, 2003. Pp. 65-84 // ** Three primary scaffolding strategies that focus on supporting articulation, reflection, and revision of explanations during a long-term project-based learning experience are (1) facilitate ongoing articulation of various aspects of the investigation by helping learners to externalize their ideas, finding, or interpretations, (2) support explanation building and generation of working hypotheses, and (3) structure opportunities for learner to organize, reflect upon and revise project artifacts at various phases of their investigation. These design strategies were primarily realized through computer-based prompts that we customized to support these processes; however, various tasks and classroom strategies were used to scaffold students to articulate their understandings and interpretations, revisit and reflect upon explanations, engage in social discourse and receive feedback from instructors. A principle approach to scaffolding design that is grounded with established theory and research and implemented in authentic classroom practice is critical to advancing our understanding of the key issues and strategies. · An analysis of the complex tasks that learners are pursuing and the cognitive and domain requirements for solving them. · A clear identification of problems or obstacles that learners might be expected to face while working on the tasks. · The use of empirically or theoretically grounded scaffolding strategies that are designed to help learners overcome expected difficulties or learn more effectively. Through continued design-based research efforts focused on these areas we can further enhance the learning experiences of student in complex, student-centered environments. (Jen Wadsworth)
 * Lipscomb Lisa, Swanson Janet, West Anne. "Scaffolding: From Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching and Technology". Web. September 26 2010.**

The process is of scaffolding is one that allows teachers to help students understand concepts that are not within their reach. The big idea in this teaching technique is that teachers only help students with ideas that they are not able to fully grasp. Therefore, it is important that teachers are aware of students’ prior knowledge in order to teach with this technique. Scaffolding is a process that eventually fades away as students become more comfortable with their skills and can work more independently from the teacher. “Scaffolding is actually a bridge used to build upon what students already know to arrive at something they do not know. If scaffolding is properly administered, it will act as an enabler, not a disabler” (Benson, 1997). Scaffolding teaches students through five steps; modeling, offering explanations, student participation, clarifying understanding, and inviting student contribution. The process of scaffolding is used in countless situations throughout life. Without realizing this, mothers use scaffolding to teach their young children to be successful; it is also used in schools as well as in the work place. The idea of scaffolding goes hand in hand with Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. The zone of proximal development is the place between what a learner can do alone and what they need help learning from someone else. Scaffolding can also be defined as a temporary support system, like the scaffolding of a building. It is temporary because the student will not need the help of the teacher forever if the teacher does their job correctly. Scaffolding seems to be the perfect balance of teaching and letting students discover concepts on their own. (Jennifer Evans)

McCosker, Natalie, and Carmel M. Diezmann. "Scaffolding Students' Thinking in Mathematical Investigations." Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom 14.3 (2009): 27-32. ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 25 Sept. 2010.

When scaffolding is used correctly it can provide children with positive assistance. Natalie McCosker explains that, “Scaffolding provides the opportunity for students to develop their independence, sense-making and self-confidence whilst working mathematically” (27). This article explores the uses of scaffolding in a mathematical situation. The teacher in the article asked the children to solve a problem, but doesn’t always provide the best scaffolding methods. The article describes four instances where the teacher’s interactions with students were unsuccessful in allowing the children to support their thinking during the math exercise. It points out how scaffolding was ineffective in these instances, but then provides explanations in implementing effective scaffolding in the classroom. These four episodes include: pressing students to present meaningful explanations, helping develop an understanding of the problem, engaging the children in thinking and reasoning, and providing clear instructions and tasks that further advance mathematical activity.

In the first situation it is important for the teacher to press the students to explain how they reached their solution to the problem. This allows the children to think and reason at a higher level. In the second episode, the teacher needs to support the children’s understanding of a particular problem by asking questions from the child’s ideas (32). It is not effective scaffolding if the teacher misleads a student by her suggestion. In the third incident it is essential for the teacher to display cognitive scaffolding, and not just encouragement. The teacher needs to support the student and contribute to promoting a degree of higher-order reasoning and thinking. The last event displays that teachers have to provide their students with appropriate tasks to promote mathematical activity. This will help students use different strategies when finding a solution to a math problem.

When used effectively scaffolding can provide students with guided assistance in order to reach a higher level of understanding. It is important for teachers to provide instances for their students to succeed. Teachers need to use scaffolding to assist their children in further advancement in their thinking and creative skills, and boost their self-confidence in mathematics. (Carly Meyer)

**McGee, Lea M., and Teresa A. Ukrainetz. "Using Scaffolding to Teach Phonemic Awareness in Preschool and Kindergarten."** **Reading Teacher.** **62.7 (2009): 599-603.** **Academic Search Premier****. EBSCO. Web. 13 Sept. 2010.**

 In “Using Scaffolding to Teach Phonemic Awareness in Preschool and Kindergarten” Lea M. McGee and Tersea A. Ukrainetz talk about the benefits of scaffolding when teaching literacy in a preschool and kindergarten classroom. In the beginning of the article it shows the dialog between a teacher and her class as she is trying to teach them how to say the first letter of a word without scaffolding, for example the word //tub// the first sound would be the "t" sound. During the lesson many kids did not understand what the teacher was asking them to do. The teacher tried the same lesson but this time using scaffolding and it went much smoother, not only did the kid understand what she was asking but they got the answers correct as well.  In this article it also talked about how there are three different types of scaffolding, intense scaffolding, moderate scaffolding and minimum scaffolding. According to McGee intense scaffolding is when “teachers isolate and emphasize the beginning phoneme in isolation and say the word with the phoneme exaggeration” (600). This level of scaffolding is used for students who need a little more attention in the lesson. Moderate scaffolding is when “ they isolate and emphasize the first sound by bouncing or elongating the sound in isolation (without distorting the sound) and within the word” (McGee 600). This style of scaffolding is used when students understand but still need a little more help. Lastly, minimum scaffolding is when “ teachers merely stress the first sound while saying the word” (McGee 601). Teachers may use this style of scaffolding for students who basically understand what is being asked but still are not ready to just have the question simply asked to them. The last thing that was said in this article was how scaffolding work. (Kayla Shaw)

**Neumann, Michelle M, Michelle Hood, David L. Neumann. (18 November 2008). early childhood education. //The Scaffolding of Emergent Literacy Skills in the Home Environment: A Case Study,// Pages 313-320** The article I discovered that Neumann and others wrote is about scaffolding in the household. This case study shows that parent-interaction and this scaffolding in the home helps prepare kids for school (seeing as this case study was on 5 year old children going into kindergarden) and also helps open the kids mind to better understand. This article also gives good examples of how parents and teachers can use this technique on their own, to provide a great opportunity for their kids. This study was only done for literacy learning. As Neumann states on page 313 "Parents can play a key role in fostering positive early learning opportunities that have an important impact on their child's emergent literacy skill development prior to school entry." I believe Neumann is right on this, if parents open up a learning environment in their home kids will enderstand things faster, they will want to learn and it will be fun for them. This article highly discourages just the act of storybook reading where its just student listening to parent, but to incorporate that as also a learning process where it's student learning with the parent, maybe within writing activities. It is so easy for parents to be involved and get parent-interactions all the time. Parent-interaction is as easy as driving and pointing out road sign's and discovering each of their meanings. Or posting the sounds of words in the house and when your child needs help with a work always refer to those sounds, so a child can make the connection themselves eventually. Scaffolding for a child in your home is very easy, basically talk with your child and encourage them about words, writing and reading. (Kayla Hines) ** Ssusan M., and Carla Zembal-Saul. "Scaffolding Reflection and Articulation of Scientific Explanations in a Data-Rich, Project-Based Learning Environment: An Investigation of Progress Portfolio." //Educational Technology Research & Development// 51.4 (2003): 65-84. Print. **  Can computer software scaffold learning while kids do science experiments? Instead of classroom teachers giving kids directions on paper, they can put this framework into the computer. In other words, are computers better bridges to understanding than pencils and paper? One product, Progress Portfolio, guides kids along by asking questions (created by the classroom teacher) as they engage in a hands-on activity. Kids document everything on the computer, and teachers instead of writing post-its, can use electronic sticky notes. It sounds fun to use with all the bells and whistles that include taking snapshots and using presentation tools. Researchers Susan Land and Carla Zembal-Saul evaluated Progress Portfolio and as a scaffold, they rated it low because it did not build upon prior knowledge. They concluded that there is an important relationship between prior knowledge and metacognition, and low prior knowledge learners showed little progress with the use of Progress Portfolio. Lacking in the software product, learners would benefit if instructors explicitly taught terminology, strategies, procedures, and interpreted findings with “teachable moments” according to Land and Zembal-Saul. Researchers felt Progress Portfolio was useful for documenting work. “We designed Experiment Pages with Progress Portfolio for learners to reflect on and revisit the claims and evidence they recorded in Experiment Pages, and to make inferences about how these data and claims allow them to address the driving question” (Land & Zembal-Saul 67). The results of the study were organized by how learner-pair explanations evolved and how the technology scaffold “influenced articulation, explanation building, and reflection and revision” (Land & Zembal-Saul 73). If a learner-pair had prior knowledge and negotiated meaning equally, Progress Portfolio was put to good use. Researchers believed the product provided a method to articulate, build ongoing claims, and refine them. If one person in a learner-pair was a leader, and the other person was a follower who didn’t negotiate meaning, articulation was at a low level. This particular pair lacked prior knowledge and made mistakes labeling diagrams and failed to generate appropriate explanations. Bibliography Land, Ssusan M., and Carla Zembal-Saul. "Scaffolding Reflection and Articulation of Scientific Explanations in a Data-Rich, Project-Based Learning Environment: An Investigation of Progress Portfolio." //Educational Technology Research & Development// 51.4 (2003): 65-84. Print. **van de Pol, Janneke, Monique Volman, and Jos Beishuizen. “Scaffolding in Teacher-Student Interaction: A Decade Research.” //Educ Psychol Rev (2010) 22:271-296.//** This article was based mainly on what the title states: research. According to k6educators.about.com, “scaffolding refers to the idea that specialized instructional supports need to be in place to best facilitate learning when students are first introduced to a new subject.” In this article, this method of teaching is researched and questioned widely because of the many occasions where it has not proved successful. The article states that “scaffolding highlights one of the key aspects of children’s learning, namely that it is often ‘guided by others’” (p. 271). Many people have a perception that when a teacher teaches a lesson to his/her students, all students will learn, gain, and interpret the lesson at the same pace. Unfortunately and factually, this is not true. Not every student can learn the same way and pace. Scaffolding is a method of teaching that has proved, for some, extremely effective, but for others extremely difficult to even apply to their groups, the main reason being that “scaffolding does never look the same in different situations and it is not a technique that can be applied in every situation in the same way” (p. 272). One point I agreed with was that “Whether a teaching strategy qualifies as scaffolding generally depends upon its enactment in actual practice and more specifically upon whether the strategy is applied contingently and whether it is also a part of a process of fading and transfer if responsibility” (p. 277). Contingency, fading, and transfer of responsibility were considered the three common characteristics in the various definitions of the method and overall concept of scaffolding. Although these terms are important, I have always felt that the best way to test a theory or a method is by testing it. Applying the actual method to the group of students one is teaching can prove to be effective or not. The article illustrates experiences instructors of different age groups had who applied this method and had difficulties for whatever reason. However, if I had a new method of teaching, and felt strongly about its possible effectiveness, I would definitely try to make it work in my class. In the end, “to evaluate the effectiveness of scaffolding, the focus should obviously be upon student outcomes” (p. 280). (Andrea Lomeli)


 * Wray, David. "Developing Factual Writing: An Approach through Scaffolding." (2001): //ERIC//. EBSCO. Web. 28 Sept. 2010.**

In his article, Wray introduced readers to the idea of writing frames, as described by his work in the Nuttfield Exeter Extending Literacy (EXEL) project. Writing frames are a skeleton outline for writing that help scaffold children into nonfiction writing (1). These frames have been used in primary and secondary education, as well as with special needs children and have been effective. Wray states that writing frames help children by “offering a varied vocabulary of connectives and sentence beginnings thus extending children’s experience beyond the familiar” (1). These frames are used most effectively when first modeled by teachers orally, following the notions of Vygotsky, who claimed children must first experience a cognitive activity and then demonstrate it on their own as novices. “As the child grows in experience and capability of performing a task, the expert passes over greater responsibility but still acts as a guide, assisting the child at problematic points” (3). Wray proposes that children have a more difficult time writing nonfiction because they find the genre unfamiliar as opposed to narrative story telling. As children become more and more confident and comfortable in the genre with the help of writing frames, writing frames then become less necessary and a teacher can keep only a few master copies for help, instead of every child having one. The prolonged use of writing frames notes an increase in the quality and quantity of writing by children (5). Wray notes finally that writing frames are meant to be used in a fluid fashion, not as rigid routine (6). (Patty Hunsicker).