Shardha SANDAPEN
7 August 2007
Port Louis — In everyday usage, scaffolding describes a temporary support structure used by construction workers to help in erecting or repairing buildings. The famous constructivist psychologist, Jerome Bruner, developed the metaphor of 'scaffolding' children's learning to describe the process through which a more competent peer or adult helps a less competent child to become more competent and eventually function independently of the original person's help.
As a teaching technique, scaffolding describes the process of providing temporary guidance and support to learners moving from one levels of competence to another. Scaffolding can help increase children's level of competence in all areas of development. Many psychologists consider scaffolding as an "apprenticeship" view of teaching and learning because the teacher acts as a support and facilitator of a child's learning. The 'scaffold' in teaching is the social environment: the school, teaching and non-teaching staff, classmates make up an environment, which supports our learners' exploration of new meanings, relationships and knowledge, and consolidates what is partially understood by them.
Scaffolding as a teaching technique has been developed from the work of the great Russian psychologist and academic Leo. S. Vygotsky (1886-1934). His theory of cognitive development in the 1920s and 1930s provided a powerful framework for understanding the relationship between teaching and learning. It also provided a " fresh perspective on children's development " (Berk and Winsler 1995). However, his work reached Western, English-speaking scholars only recently since it was banned in the Soviet Union until 1953, and the Cold War also limited the possibility of academic exchange of his ideas.
The following beliefs about learning and development in Vygotsky's work provide the theoretical rationale for scaffolding as a teaching technique.
Child development occurs as a result of natural and cultural activity. Natural activity refers to the biological growth and maturation of the person. Cultural activity refers to the process through which we learn to use cultural tools and to think.
Thought processes occur on a lower and a higher plane. The lower plane we share with other mammals. The higher plane involves the use of language and cultural knowledge that distinguishes us from other animals.
Each plane of learning requires the assistance of a more experienced learner to maximise learning.
Higher-plane thought processes (cognition) are highly dependent on language.
"Education leads development" and thus leads to the higher plane of thinking.
More specifically, Vygotsky believed that learning occurred most effectively on a higher plane of thinking through competent adults interacting with a child in a theoretical zone of development called the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The ZPD referred to a region in which a child could work at higher levels of competence in relation to a particular skill, understanding or disposition when working with more competent peers or adults than working by her/himself. In the ZPD there is a transfer of ability from a more competent person to the learner.
As teachers, we not only need to be familiar with Vygotsky's beliefs about learning, we play a vital role in scaffolding our children's learning. Firstly, we need to judge when our learners are ready to move from one level of competence to another. Careful observation enables us to note the social, cognitive and communicative competences of our children. For example, a preschool teacher will make sure that the toddlers are familiar with the phonemes first before moving to a higher plane of learning which will be the making of syllables. To judge these children's levels of competence, the teacher has to use different strategies, such as joining in their imaginative play, which comes naturally to toddlers and preschoolers, and intervening in the children's other learning experiences to find out what they can or cannot currently do without assistance.
Secondly, teachers need time to support, guide and assist learners to move from one level of competence to another. Successful scaffolding rests on teachers spending time with learners on a one-to-one basis or in small groups. Although very demanding and time-consuming, this can be achieved by devising communicative and interactive classroom activities, such as dramatisation, games, songs, play which provide scope for learners to work in small groups, pairs or on a one-to-one basis.
Thirdly, teachers need to consider how best to assist learners' movement to increase competence. This involves using a variety of verbal or non-verbal general techniques or a combination of techniques, such as questioning, prompting, praising, confirming, pointing out things, modeling, giving feedback and reinforcing.
Finally, scaffolding enables teachers to identify learners' current levels of competence in specific developmental domains and to challenge them to move beyond their original levels of competence.
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