Scaffolding: The Concept and Application in Learning by Children

This paper deals with the concept of scaffolding, a specific approach for the learning by children including disabled children. Scaffolding is construed as support given by a teacher to a student when performing a task that the student might otherwise not be able to accomplish. It breaks up the learning into chunks and then provides a tool, or structure, with each chunk. Thus, feedback from self and others is ongoing. This support, or scaffolding, is needed as the child is learning to do any task. It implies the concept of zone of proximal development (ZPD), which refers to the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help. Vygotsky stated that a child follows an adult's example and gradually develops the ability to do certain tasks without help. It involves some important steps such as role modeling, combined efforts, cooperative groups and self-performance. This approach has been used in numerous studies and the results obtained are quite encouraging. There have been proposed some models also for scaffolding, however a six step model seems to be relatively more convenient. This paper describes the basic assumptions of scaffolding, empirical evidences, implications and limitations also. Besides, some guidelines and recommendations are also given to use this approach successfully for promising results.