Benefits and Challenges of Scaffolding??
Benefits of Scaffolding:
· Provides a welcoming and supportive learning environment
· Students feel free to ask questions and support one another through new learning
· The level of frustration is minimised for the learner
· Learners feel engages and motivates to learn
· The teacher who uses instructional scaffolding becomes more of a mentor and facilitator of knowledge, rather than the dominant expert of content.
· This teaching style allows the students to take a more active role in their own learning.
· Scaffolding engages students in meaningful and dynamic discussion
· Students are challenged through deep learning and discovery
· Scaffolding provides individualised instruction and as a result increases the likelihood for students to meet instructional objectives.
· Scaffolding programs can act as a possible early identifier of a student who is gifted and talented
· There is greater assurance that the students will fully understand and acquire the desired skill, knowledge or ability
· Allows for a free flowing lesson that is structured, focuses and where glitches have been minimised or eliminated prior to initiation
· Creates momentum within the classroom, where students are on task, and less time is spent searching for information and rather is on learning and discovering
Challenges of Scaffolding:
· Planning for and implementing scaffolds is time consuming and demanding
· Selecting appropriate scaffolds that match the diverse learning and communication styles of students
· Knowing when to remove the scaffold so the student does not rely on the support
· Not knowing the students well enough (their cognitive and affective abilities) to provide the appropriate scaffold
· Lack of sufficient personnel
· Potential for misjudging the zone of proximal development; success hinges on identifying the area that is just beyond but not too far beyond students’ abilities
· Inadequately modeling the desired behaviours, strategies or activities because the teacher has not fully considered the individual student’s needs, predilections, interests, and abilities (such as not showing a student how to “double click” on an icon when using a computer).
· Full benefits not seen unless the instructors are properly trained
· Requires the teacher to give up control as fading occurs
· Lack of specific examples and tips in teacher’s editions of textbooks
(Halls, 2008)
