The effects of scaffolding in the classroom: support contingency and student independent working time in relation to student achievement, task effort and appreciation of support

Abstract

Teacher scaffolding, in which teachers support students adaptively or contingently, is assumed to be effective. Yet, hardly any evidence from classroom studies exists. With the current experimental classroom study we investigated whether scaffolding affects students' achievement, task effort, and appreciation of teacher support, when students work in small groups. We investigated both the effects of support quality (i.e., contingency) and the duration of the independent working time of the groups. Thirty social studies teachers of pre-vocational education and 768 students (age 12-15) participated. All teachers taught a five-lesson project on the European Union and the teachers in the scaffolding condition additionally took part in a scaffolding intervention. Low contingent support was more effective in promoting students' achievement and task effort than high contingent support in situations where independent working time was low (i.e. help was frequent). In situations where independent working time was high (i.e., help was less frequent), high contingent support was more effective than low contingent support in fostering students' achievement (when correcting for students' task effort). In addition, higher levels of contingent support resulted in a higher appreciation of support. Scaffolding, thus, is not 123Instr Sci (2015) 43:615-641 DOI 10.1007/s11251-015-9351-z unequivocally effective; its effectiveness depends, among other things, on the independent working time of the groups and students' task effort. The present study is one of the first experimental study on scaffolding in an authentic classroom context, including factors that appear to matter in such an authentic context.

Effective differentiation Practices:A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on the cognitive effects of differentiation practices in primary education

“…Hong and colleagues support this suggestion. They report that "intensive grouping" in combination with low instruction time has negative effects, especially for low-performing students (Hong & Hong, 2009;Hong, Corter, Hong, & Pelletier, 2012; also see van de Pol, Volman, Oort & Beishuizen. 2015).…”

Empowering scientific thinking skills through creative problem solving with scaffolding learning

“…In accordance with the main concept in Vygotsky's learning theory (Shabani, 2016;Shabani, Khatib, & Ebadi, 2010), Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), there are various difficulties students may experience towards their potential zones, including 1) when solving problems students have limited working memory; 2) students' difficulties in carrying out analysis in solving problems; 3) the initial knowledge possessed by students is not comprehensive and is not well integrated into the subject matter; 4) students' difficulties in recalling knowledge that has long been obtained. According to van de Pol, Volman, and Beishuizen, (2010) and van de Pol, Volman, Oort, and Beishuizen (2015), various difficulties will be reduced by using the application of scaffolding in the learning process. This is in accordance with the results of the study that through the learning process with the CPS model accompanied by scaffolding higher learning outcomes were obtained.…”

Discusión teórica sobre las prácticas docentes como mediadoras para potencializar estrategias metacognitivas en la solución de tareas matemáticas

“…andamiaJe: un medio Para Promover estrategias metaCognitivas La interacción social entre el docente y los alumnos es fundamental para el aprendizaje de las matemáticas, así como el uso de estrategias metacognitivas y el desarrollo de tareas (Larios, Font, Giménez y Díaz, 2012). Esta interacción puede darse a través de lo que Bruner (1987;van de Pol, Volman y Beishuizen, 2010) llama andamiaje, donde el aprendizaje se da como un proceso colaborativo y de manera autorregulada. Según el Modelo Cognitivo Social de Autorregulación (Zimmerman y Moylan, 2009), las estrategias metacognitivas pueden ser promovidas y potencializadas en el alumno a partir de intervenciones que hace el docente en la solución de tareas matemáticas.…”

“…Diversas investigaciones en educación matemática (van de Pol, et al, 2010;van de Pol, Volman, Oort y Beishuizen, 2015) distinguen tres elementos específicos del andamiaje: a) contingencia, b) desvanecimiento y c) transferencia de responsabilidad. Enseguida se describe en qué consiste cada uno de ellos.…”

“…El primero se refiere a que el apoyo brindado por el docente debe estar al mismo nivel o que se pueda adaptar al grado actual del rendimiento del alumno o de lo que el docente pueda percibir como competencia que ya es capaz de desarrollar el estudiante, por él mismo. Es importante que en este elemento del andamiaje, el docente de matemáticas adecue su nivel de comprensión con el del alumno, de tal manera que le brinde el profesor las condiciones para que construya sobre lo que conoce, y el maestro pueda decidir sobre cuándo retirar el apoyo, en función de las respuestas del alumno (van de Pol, et al, 2010). Por ejemplo, Schoenfeld (2012) plantea que antes de resolver un problema, el estudiante asimila y se orienta a la situación y hacia cierta información que ya conoce.…”