Scaffolding Strategies Analysis

The requirement for adults to seek out higher education is steadily increasing as today’s knowledge-based society demands this of them. Adult’s have many reasons why they have decided to take on this journey of lifelong learning (job-related, personal advancement, social relationships and social welfare) therefore, we as facilitators must work together to develop new strategies and improve old strategies that will engage / inspire adults as they overcome barriers to learn through a meaningful educational experience. Through the use of Scaffolding strategies the teacher-student interaction will have a structure that works to transfers responsibility of learning from the teacher to the student providing them with tailored support that gradually fades as the student’s level of development and competence builds. With this in mind, my proposal is to research and submit Scaffolding Instructional Strategies as my trade fair submission, where I will highlight techniques that are designed to build the teacher’s scaffolding skills that will focus more on student-centered learning. Description Scaffolding refers to instructional devices that enable students to complete task they would be unable to master without assistance (Grady). Reigeluth and Keller (2009) describe Scaffolding as “a variety of methods that include a sequence that gradually reduces and removes supports of various kinds (fading) and a sequence that gradually increases the acceptable standards of performance (shaping)” (p. 39). Scaffold strategies are designed to engage adults by promoting their own Cognitive (Cognitive structuring and Reduction of degrees of freedom), Affective (Recruitment and Contingency Management) and /or Metacognitive (Direction maintenance) (van de Pol, Volman and Beishuizen, 2010, p.278) learning skills and knowledge ultimately facilitate the connection from the teacher-student interaction to learning outcomes that developing student-centered learning strategies. Relevance to adult learning environments The main idea for Scaffolding instruction, according to Ginat (2009), “is to help one perform tasks she cannot perform independently, and gradually decrease the support and involvement, while shifting more and more responsibility from the teacher to the learner”. The parameters of scaffolding strategies focus on (Ginat 2009): • Begin with what students can do. • Establish a shared goal. • Actively identify student difficulties and needs. • Provide tailored assistance. • Aim for reduced frustration during the activity process. • Provide encouraging feedback. • Maintain pursuit …show more content…
I am proposing that Scaffolding Instructional Strategies be included in this year’s trade fair program as “it is widely considered to be an essential element of effective teaching, and all teachers – to a greater or lesser extent – almost certainly use various forms of instructional scaffolding in their teaching” (Hidden curriculum, 2014). Promoting strategies that motivate adults to becoming self-regulated learners by having the teacher gradually shift the responsibility from them to the student removing the negative emotions and self-perceptions adults may experience when they get frustrated, intimidated, or discouraged when attempting a difficult task without the assistance, direction, or understanding they need to complete it (Hidden curriculum, 2014). This trade fair has the opportunity to introduce to new teachers or re-establish the Scaffolding strategies to the more seasoned teachers, both of whom seek to be more effective and efficient in their profession. Grady (2006) states that, “In traditional classroom interactions scaffolding may include modeling behaviors, coaching and prompting, thinking out loud, dialogue with questions and answers, planned and spontaneous discussions, and so forth—any device that structures assistance to help the learner bridge a cognitive