Week 4 Scaffold Learning

 Week 4 Rigor By Design, Not Chance

 

Chapter 4 of Rigor by Design, Not Chance is called “Consider Strategic Scaffolding”. I like this chapter a lot because it breaks down the advantages of piecing information together. This is a very interesting idea because it allows young learners to get a better understanding of learning material. Being able to try different methods of scaffolding allows educators to distribute learning material selectively which will help learners connect the knowledge to a bigger topic or idea.

In the chapter Karin Hess gives a good reason why scaffolding should be used during instruction. She stated “Keeping the focus of learning on deeper understanding for all students means that teachers must be willing to shift their role as the person who delivers direct instruction to being more of a strategic learning coach.” “In turn, this will shift the role of students, who, instead of simply acquiring information, will be called on to produce and deepen knowledge.”

As I read through the chapter, I was intrigued by the three reasons to consider scaffold learning techniques. According to Hess the three major reasons to consider scaffold learning “was to deepen content knowledge and connect to big ideas. Facilitate executive function and the application of skills and processes, and the third reason was to support language and vocabulary development.” I feel as though these are great techniques to use with learners who may find it challenging to learn at a pace maybe their peers are on. Or in another scenario, they may not be succeeding in certain learning or grade-level expectations. 

In regard to determining what article I should choose; I was able to find an article that was very similar to the information that was dished out in chapter four. The article was titled “Inquiry-Scaffolding Learning Model: Its Effect on Critical Thinking Skills”. This article was based on a study aimed to examine the effect of inquiry scaffolding on critical thinking skills and conceptual understanding. The researchers in this study wanted to figure out if scaffolding would be able to help improve students' critical thinking skills and conceptual understanding. In order to gain more information on their study, they divided up a group of 64 students into two separate groups. One group was able to learn material by using the scaffolding methods; while the other group was only allowed to use conventional learning.

When the results came back the students that used scaffolding methods had higher scores than the conventional learners. When students were given a survey after the experiment they felt that scaffolding learning helped them understand lesson plans better. Students felt as if using these methods helped them with their conceptual understanding and critical thinking skills. In the final results of the study concluded that the learning model with inquiry-based scaffolding techniques was superior in improving critical thinking skills and understanding the concepts, in students with high and low initial abilities.

References 

Rigor by Design, Not Chance Karin Hess

Inquiry-Scaffolding Learning Model: Its Effect on Critical Thinking Skills and Conceptual Understanding, Wartono Wartono, Yohana Fransiska Alfroni, John Rafafy Batlolona, Natcha Mahapoonyanont https://doaj.org/article/28492e0700de49b5a7ab1980e807bf9c 

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