Know Scaffolding's Value
It's Such a Useful Instructional Concept
Wonky Isn’t a Bad Thing
Scaffolding is one of those awkward, wonky instructional terms that instructors prefer to avoid. What the term scaffolding, introduced by American psychologist Jerome Bruner but implied by Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky’s earlier work, intends to imply is that students learn most and best when bridging from their current knowledge and skill toward things that they do not yet know and cannot yet do. The instructor’s support, whatever form it takes, is the scaffold that helps them reach the height of new learning, until one gradually removes the scaffold so that the learner stands alone.
Find the Right Zone
A key to effective scaffolding is to get students working in their zone of proximal development—another wonky phrase. Obviously, we want students to develop. But scaffolding suggests that to do so, they must work near, but not within, what they already know and can do—proximal, not remote. Too-advanced work, and the student learns nothing. Too-near work, and the student learns little. What instructors do is link what students know with what they barely don’t know, and then get them working in those proximal don’t-know areas with others who do know and can guide them to knowing. Oh, and Vygotsky? A fascinating Russian psychologist who pioneered rich concepts of learning. Try his Thought and Language.
