6 Strategies of Scaffolding in Education

This article will show you six strategies for using scaffolding in education. What is scaffolding in teaching? In short, scaffolding is temporary support from the teacher to help students to achieve proficiency. The teacher gradually removes scaffolding as the students improve. This helps the student go through the process of student-based learning.

Scaffolding in education divides student learning into pieces and presents a tool for each learning part. It is helpful for students who are battling in a normal class environment.

Scaffolding Strategies to Use With Your Students

1. Show and Tell

Modeling for students is a keystone in scaffolding education. Many people comprehend best by seeing rather than listening to talks. Show a picture or paint a scenario to support new content.

For instance, if you give students a project-based learning activity to work on, stay with them through the processes with an example of the result in your hand.  Take note that children’s thinking abilities are still unfolding and that their thinking is critical.

2. Activate Prior Knowledge

In scaffolding education, you ask students to share their experiences and ideas about the topic and let them commune and connect it with their own lives.  You may have to give them hints or suggestions at times, helping them to connect with something, but when they finally click, they will take hold of the content as theirs.

Activating prior knowledge students have and using this as the bedrock to connect new content is not only a scaffolding strategy but a suitable teaching method.

3. Give Your Students Time to Talk

All students need time to work on new ideas and information. They also need time to express themselves about the journey orally.  If you are not using a think pair method, consider another talking style for students.

4. Teach New Vocabulary

This is a scaffolding strategy that teachers often do not use correctly.  Many teachers are guilty of sending students down the rocky path. For instance, they hand out a challenging text- where students have to deal with complex vocabulary. Teachers get surprised when students don’t show interest any longer or when they fall asleep while reading these words.

Pre-teaching vocabulary does not mean writing out words from a textbook and asking students to write it down and look for definitions. Instead, let students see stories in pictures that interest them and motivates them to learn. Use correspondence and ask students to form images for each word. Give them time for a small discussion of the phrase. They should not bring their dictionaries out until this process is done.

5. Use Visual Aids

The use of graphics, pictures, and charts on the wall can serve as a scaffolding education strategy—graphics present images to students that represent their thoughts and hold on to such notions. Pictures help to shape the student’s cognitive abilities. Some students can kickstart a discussion, write an essay, or start-up different things without using graphics. Still, several other students benefit from using pictures that present them with detailed information.

6. Pause, Ask Questions, Pause, Review

This is an excellent way to check if the students understand the new content.  You have to draw up your questions beforehand, ensure they have an open-minded. Calling out students to say what was discussed, found out, or asked would keep the students engaged well. If students can answer a question, let the whole class discuss it over again till they all understand.

Bottom Line

Scaffolding in teaching sounds simple but it will take a while until the teacher feels completely comfortable with the new teaching form. It is a strategy to help students learn better. Scaffolding education might take longer when teaching, but its productivity works for long term learning and cannot be compared with other standard teaching styles.

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