Re: Scaffolding

From: William E. Blanton (blantonw@miami.edu)
Date: Sat Jan 22 2005 - 12:41:35 PST


Peg

Gordon Wells has done a nice paper on the zpd. Integrate Wells's paper with
the 5thD field not writing outline and they yield a useful description of
the zo-ped.

Bill Blanton

At 09:42 AM 1/22/2005 -0600, Peg Griffin wrote:
>Maybe I'm scaffolding a red herring here, but ...
>
>I've long thought that the scaffold metaphor had a kind of closed system
>idea at its heart that the Zo-Ped does not.
>Any scaffold maker does the construction with a particular building in mind,
>right?
>So, for a scaffolder, it is reasonable to ask "With this little bit of help
>will the learner do what the teacher/ assessor has in mind?" or "How
>many/what kinds of little bits of help will get the learner to come to the
>known answer?"
>
>Contrast those with the question the Zo-Ped allows "With this little bit of
>help, what will the learner do?" AND "What do the learner actions in the
>Zo-Ped tell the teacher/assessor about the learner's future so the little
>bit of help offered next is most likely really to be helpful?"
>The zone collaborator doesn't know where or how far the learner will go.
>They are just societal collaborators with an investment in the next steps.
>
>The creative new, the future necessary for history to be history rather than
>just tradition, is possible if not always realized in the Zo-Ped.
>Recapitulation seems to be just about all there is in the scaffold.
>
>It is definitely a lot easier methodologically to design measures that a lot
>of people will accept with the scaffold questions, though. Somehow it
>reminds me of my amazement (as an outsider to the field) about psychologists
>being quite clearly accepting of the idea that "IQ is whatever IQ tests
>test."
>
>Peg G.
>(Oh my, after having had that phrase "scaffolding a red herring" pop into my
>head, I got a full visualization of it. It's a fine image if a bit
>slippery.)
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Phil Chappell" <philchappell@mac.com>
>To: <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
>Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2005 4:09 AM
>Subject: Re: Scaffolding
>
>
> > I've always cited Wood, D.J., J.S. Bruner, and G. Ross, The role of
> > tutoring in problem solving, Journal of Child Psychology and
> > Psychiatry, 1976. 17(2): p. 89-100 as the pioneering paper, Nate. Then
> > Bruner's book (oops, there goes the memory) published not long after
> > that.
> >
> > Interesting coincidence - just returned from a second language
> > conference where scaffolding was bandied around so carelessly that it
> > seemed to become a metaphor for any activity or learning materials
> > applied by the teacher in teaching/learning moments.
> >
> > Phil
> > On 22/01/2005, at 4:08 AM, willthereallsvpleasespeakup who-is-at nateweb.info
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Is Bruner the agreed upon "author" of scaffold in American
> > > consciousness?
> > >
> > > --
> > > Website: http://nateweb.info/
> > > Blog: http://levvygotsky.blogspot.com/
> > > Email: willthereallsvpleasespeakup who-is-at nateweb.info
> > >
> > > "The zone of proximal development defines those functions that have
> > > not yet matured but are in the process of maturation, functions that
> > > will mature tomorrow but are currently in an embryonic state. These
> > > functions could be termed the buds or flowers of development rather
> > > than
> > > the "fruits" of development. The actual developmental level
> > > characterizes mental development retrospectively, while the zone of
> > > proximal development characterizes mental development prospectively."
> > > - L.S.V.
> > >
> > >
> >
> >



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