Scaffolding
Teachers can aid intellectual development in students by providing them with information and temporary support which can be gradually decreased as the students' competence increases. The goal of providing scaffolds is for students to become independent, self-regulated thinkers who are more self sufficient and less teacher dependent. Using a scaffolding approach in teaching is comparable to the scaffolding of a building which is gradually removed as its structure becomes better able to support its own weight. Scaffolds are like training wheels on a bicycle which provide temporary support while the rider learns to maintain balance. Once the bike rider is secure about maintaining balance, the training wheels are removed and the rider self-balances. Scaffolding involves providing support (models, cues, prompts, hints, partial solutions) to students to bridge the gap between what students can do on their own and what they can do with guidance from others. Teachers use scaffolding as a strategy for shifting instruction from others' (teacher's) control to student self-regulation. The teacher's role shifts from being a model or an instructor to being a manager, who gives prompts and corrective feedback.
At the beginning, the teacher (expert) completely guides the student's activity, modeling how to perform the task. The student observes the teacher and does little independent thinking during this phase, other than reading the material and observing the expert's behavior. Once internalized, the student can copy the expert's thinking/learning strategies and apply them to his/her own academic work.
Next, the student attempts to do the task with the teacher providing supportive cuing, assistance, and additional modeling, as needed. If the student has trouble using the strategies, then sometimes the teacher has to model or demonstrate again how to think about and use them. This gives the student another opportunity to observe the thinking and behavior that is appropriate for the situation. Gradually the student plays a greater teaching role and assumes more responsibility for self instruction and for teaching peers.
Scaffolding often involves the following basic components: 1. Present the new cognitive strategies, 2. Regulate difficulty during guided practice, 3. Provide varying contexts for student practice, 4. Provide feedback, 5. Increase student responsibility, and 6. Provide independent practice (Rosenshine & Meister 1992). Eventually the student learns to do all the thinking- applying the content, skills, and strategies without the teacher-expert's assistance. The teacher plays only a supportive role at this point.
Can you give your own examples of scaffolding? Compare with others and critique.
Cognitive Behavior Modification (Meichenbaum 1977) is a method of gradually changing behavior based on scaffolding instruction through five stages:
2. Overt, External Guidance: the student performs the same task under the teacher's direction.
3. Overt, Self Guidance: the student performs the task while instructing him/herself aloud.
4. Faded, Overt Self-Guidance: the student performs the task while whispering instructions to her/himself.
5. Covert Self Instruction: the student performs the task while guiding her/his performance through silent self talk, private speech, or nonverbal self-direction.
The following example shows cognitive behavior modification for scaffolding the use of self- questions while reading in order to monitor comprehension and clarify misunderstanding. The procedure starts with teacher direction and leads to student self-direction.
1. Cognitive Modeling: The teacher reads a section of the text aloud. While reading
aloud the teacher asks and answers comprehension monitoring and clarifying self-questions aloud. For example, the teacher says, "Does this all make sense to me? Well, some of it does and some doesn't. Maybe I should reread the parts that are unclear." Then the teacher rereads the unclear parts aloud and says, "That makes more sense now. I skipped over some key words when I read it the first time."
2. Overt, External Guidance: This time the student reads a different portion of the text aloud. The teacher says to the student "What question will you ask yourself to check up on your understanding?" Then the student asks and answers a self-question such as, "Is there anything in here I don't fully understand?" If the student finds there is something unclear, the teacher says, "What can you do to clarify your understanding?" The student then uses a clarification strategy, such as looking a context clues.
3. Overt, Self Guidance: The student reads another section of text aloud, asks a comprehension monitoring question aloud, and seeks clarifying information as needed. At this stage, the teacher listens actively to make sure the student asks a comprehension monitoring self-question and clarifies, if needed. If the student forgets to ask a comprehension monitoring question, or has trouble doing it, the teacher prompts or assists the student.
4. Faded, Overt Self-Guidance: The student repeats the procedure in step three, but this time whispers while reading aloud and self questioning. The teacher listens to the whispering and tries to tell if the student asks and answers self questions. If the teacher isn't sure because the whispering made it hard to hear what the student was saying, the teacher asks the student about it when the student has finished the section of text.
5. Covert Self Instruction. The student reads a section of text silently and silently asks and answers self questions to comprehension monitor and clarify as needed. The teacher watches the student, and when the student is finished, asks what self-question was asked and what, if any, clarification occurred and how. At this point the student has become self-directed in the use of self-questions to monitor comprehension and clarify confusion
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11/03/01