Scaffolding
Scaffolding is help that lets you do something you can't do alone yet, then gets taken away bit by bit as you get better. You start with worked examples and lots of support, and end up solving problems on your own.
The idea is simple. When something is too hard to do by yourself, you get extra support. A worked example, a hint, a half-filled answer. Once you can do that part, the support drops away. Then you face the next bit with a little less help, and so on, until you're doing the whole thing alone.
This matters because the goal isn't to lean on the help forever. The help is a temporary crutch. If you keep it too long, you never learn to walk on your own. If you drop it too fast, you fall. Good scaffolding fades at the right speed for you.
People who study this call the fade-out part fading, and the shift from supported to solo work the transfer of responsibility. You don't need the words. You just need to keep removing the training wheels.
Mia is learning to write proofs in math. First she reads three full worked proofs and copies the steps. Next she gets proofs with the last two steps blank and fills them in. By the end of the week she writes a whole proof from scratch with no example in front of her.
- 1Start with a full worked example you can copy and understand.
- 2Do the next one with one or two steps left blank for you to fill.
- 3Slowly remove more support each round until you're doing it all yourself.
- 4If you get stuck, add a little help back, don't quit.
- 5Stop using the example only once you can do it cold.