Scaffolding Complex Learning: The Mechanisms of Structuring and Problematizing Student Work

By Brian J. Reiser. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2004

706 citations recorded by the source corpus.

There has been much interest in using software tools to scaffold learners in complex tasks, that is, to provide supports that enable students to deal with more complex content and skill demands than they could otherwise handle. Many different approaches to scaffolding techniques have been presented in a broad range of software tools. I argue that two complementary mechanisms can explain how a diversity of scaffolding approaches in software act to support learners. Software tools can help structure the learning task, guiding learners through key components and supporting their planning and performance. In addition, tools can shape students' performance and understanding of the task in terms of key disciplinary content and strategies and thus problematize this important content. Although making the task more difficult in the short term, by forcing learners to engage with this complexity, such scaffolded tools make this work more productive opportunities for learning. I present arguments for these mechanisms in terms of the obstacles learners face, and I present several brief examples to illustrate their use in design guidelines. Finally, I examine how the mechanisms of structuring and problematizing are sometimes complementary and sometimes in tension in design, discuss design tradeoffs in developing scaffolded investigation tools for learners, and consider the reliance of scaffolding on a classroom system of supports.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Education

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c240f0f654766ce30cf3f6ecad448bb0cceb2402

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In Developmental and Educational Psychology

In Education

Citations in the corpus

Higher Education Future in the Era of Digital Transformation (2022, background): “Although teaching and learning are connected activities, they need conceptually to be distinguished from one another to allow for clear evaluations of their intricate mechanisms and interactions [39].”
Designing, launching, and implementing high quality learning opportunities for students that advance scientific thinking (2016, background): “Tools in the lessons that maintained intellectual rigor publically represented students’ ideas, such as Ann’s green/yellow/red light cards; teachers used these tools to structure and problematize the work (Reiser, 2004).”
Teacher Knowledge Experiment: Testing Mechanisms Underlying the Formation of Preservice Elementary School Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge Concerning Fractions and Fractional Arithmetic (2018, background): “Similarly, besides reviewing the principles of teaching, the second block focused on reducing complexity and structuring as domain-general techniques for scaffolding (Reiser, 2004).”
Impact of Additional Guidance in Science Education on Primary Students’ Conceptual Understanding (2015, background): “The concept of scaffolding (e.g., van de Pol et al., 2010) has been extensively examined in science education research (e.g., Davis & Miyake, 2004; Reiser, 2004).”
Seven Affordances of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning: How to Support Collaborative Learning? How Can Technologies Help? (2016, positive): “Sometimes we need to intentionally create cognitive disturbances so that learners stop, think, and work together (Reiser, 2004).”
Synthesizing Results From Empirical Research on Computer-Based Scaffolding in STEM Education (2016, background): “Generic Versus Context-Specific Scaffolding researchers often argue whether scaffolding should be generic or context-specific (Davis, 2003; McNeill & Krajcik, 2009; Reiser, 2004).”
Distributed Scaffolding: Scaffolding Students in Classroom Environments (2021, background): “Structuring helps students by decomposing a complex task and guiding them through the necessary steps to complete it (Reiser, 2004), such as by providing guidance for participating in authentic scientific practices (Belland et al.”