Scaffolding is the support given to students before students can handle a learning task independently. It comes from the concept of an expert helping a less experienced novice to accomplish certain tasks beyond the novice’s independent efforts (Vygotsky, L.S., 1978, Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard.)
Scaffolding does not change the nature or the difficulty of the tasks, but reduces the learning burden for students by making unfamiliar and challenging tasks more manageable. Scaffolding is gradually added and modified to help students accomplish the tasks and eventually taken away when students are ready to handle the tasks independently.
Types of scaffolding activities
Scaffolding can take different shapes depending on the targeted learning tasks.
For example, dialogues with peers and instructors can facilitate the development of ideas for writing and allow students to articulate ideas before they actually begin writing. Likewise, exploratory writing activities, such as free writes and outlines, can offer opportunities for students to explore a topic, develop ideas for writing, and make a plan before they write.
An example of scaffolding a writing task
Task: Write a term paper on the topic of extreme condition exploration
Develop a topic
- Read materials and cases about extreme condition exploration
- Discuss reading materials
- Decide on a topic with peer and instructor consultation
Write an outline
- Create a tentative plan for writing
- Receive feedback from instructor
Write a first draft
- Independently compose a full first draft
- Meet with instructor to talk about the first draft
Write a final draft
- Independently edit first draft into a final draft
- Conduct a final proofreading before submission
As you can see, students are not given the daunting task of a long paper from the beginning. Instead, the instructor provides levels of scaffolding to facilitate the writing of the final paper.
Incrementally, students will be able to finish the paper on their own, which they might not have been able to do earlier in the process.