https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructional_scaffolding#Theory_of_scaffolding
Great meeting, today. Sorry I overslept. I promised last week to provide a definition of “scaffolding”, as in to “scaffold” learning, or some other frail or undetermined process, so as to facilitate its success. For me the clearest example of scaffolding I know is what the surgical nurse does for the surgeon when she (sorry) lays out his tools in order on the tray beside him. It is also connected in my mind with a theory of how best to teach kids stuff. Your strategy should always be somewhere in the middle ground between letting the kid figure it out for himself and just doing it for the kid. Scaffolding relates to the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development, which is the “space” between the tasks which the kid can do expertly and the tasks the kid has no idea how to do them. So, for instance, in playing a game which involves say, putting blocks into appropriately shaped windows, the mother may do it once her self, then not do it herself, but hold the block in the right order in her hand near the child, then hold them in a scrambled order in her hand so the child has to select the order, and finally spill the blocks out and leave the child to find them himself. So at each stage she designs her support the child’s idea needs, withdrawing support as the child becomes more capable. To me (and perhaps me, alone) the of scaffolding relates to the question of the origin of life debate because it contrasts with the idea of “self” organization, which I have never understood. Instead of imagining that chemicals just lie about in cess pools until a miracle happens, the theory asserts that life was scaffolded by white smokers in the deep ocean. White smokers are volcanic vents in the deep ocean floor that are constantly emitting a flow of very hot water laden with solutes. As the water cools it forms intricate structures with minute cavities which mimic, in some regards, the properties of cells. Thus the smokers (on this theory) scaffold life by making cell boundaries before there are cell walls to contain the somatoplasm .
All the Erics will correct me, but that is the best I can do with my ambulator knowledge.
Nick
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