Promises and Challenges of Scaffolded Instruction

Abstract

Scaffolded instruction refers to teachers (a) challenging students to engage in tasks that they are unable to complete independently and (b) providing the support needed to enable students to share the teachers' understanding of the tasks and successfully carry them out. This article addresses the potential and the challenges of scaffolded instruction within the context of an exploratory study of the implementation of mediated collaborative problem solving. This model of instruction for self-regulation was implemented by the author with two groups of students, most of whom were experiencing reading difficulties. The model and its implementation are described and suggestions for making scaffolded instruction manageable are made in the areas of planning, attention to student characteristics, and use of a routine or metascript.