Scaffolding knowledge

Abstract

In this article I argue that often propositional knowledge is acquired and retained by extensive reliance on physical and social scaffolds that create an environment or niche conducive to knowledge. It is incumbent on epistemologists to subject these aids to epistemic assessments. I show that several of the activities involved in the creation of niches within which inquiry can thrive are carried out by whole cultures. New generations benefit from inheriting these niches whilst being able to improve upon them to the advantage of their descendants. Finally, I highlight that the growth of human epistemic achievements is often due to increased outsourcing of cognitive effort and epistemic powers onto impersonal physical and social structures so that human beings can succeed more by contributing less to the solution of problems.Reality is messy. Other people can be hard to fathom. A striking feature of the way in which human beings figure things out is their tendency to manipulate their physical and social surroundings to facilitate the task of finding answers to their questions. Nowhere is this phenomenon more apparent than in laboratory science (Hacking, 1992). Experimental scientific research always requires creating the kind of laboratory conditions that "clean up" reality by screening off external influences and other kinds of confounders, and by making simplifying assumptions. In short, reality must be shaped, changed, and manipulated to be amenable to being known in the ways that are characteristic of Western experimental science. Further, if that knowledge is to be useful outside the confines of the laboratory, our everyday surroundings need to be modified so as to resemble in the relevant aspects the laboratory conditions (Rouse, 1987). Thus, for example, the advances This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Chemistry Education in Secondary Vocational Schools – To Have It or Not to Have It? And what Kind?

“…Právě vazba na běžný život umožňuje výstavbu poznatků (scaffolding knowledge) tak, aby se vytvořila pevná struktura pochopení daného tématu. Úkolem vyučujícího je pak korigování žákovských představ (nejen) o přírodovědných faktech, které žáky obklopují a o nichž si žák tvoří poznatky plynoucí ze zkušeností vlastních i komunity, ve které žijí 16 . A jak jsme uvedli výše, čím více přírodovědnému faktu žáci rozumí, tím více jsou motivováni pro další učení.…”

Biases in niche construction

“…For some examples see Colombetti & Krueger, 2015;Tanesini, 2022;and Sterelny, 2010, on affective, epistemic and cognitive scaffoldings respectively.…”