Instructional Scaffolding

What is Instructional Scaffolding?

   Instructional scaffolding is a process through which a teacher adds supports for students in order to enhance learning and aid in the mastery of tasks. The teacher does this by systematically building on students’ experiences and knowledge as they are learning new skills.

8 Strategies for Scaffolding Instruction

1. Visuals and Realia

2. Modeling/ Gestures

3. Connect to Background Knowledge

4. Graphic Organizers

5. Sentence Structures/ Starters

6. Read Aloud

7. Intentional Small Group/ Partner Work

8. Use of First Language

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Many educators will already be familiar with the key concepts in Bloom’s taxonomy, a useful tool that can also be leveraged to scaffold students’ learning.

1. Remember: ‘Define‘ photosynthesis in their own words based on a reading or video.

2. Understand: ‘Explain‘ what they understand to be the steps of photosynthesis.

3. Apply: ‘Interpret‘ the result of an experiment which measured oxygen levels during photosynthesis.

4. Analyse: ‘Compare‘ and ‘contrast’ results from an experiment of a different plant and make inferences as to what kind of plant could have been used.

5. Evaluate: ‘Evaluate‘ the method of the experiment

6. Create: ‘Design‘ their own experiment using all the knowledge they have gained from those structured activities that came beforehand.