Scaffolding in teaching: 5 strategies to stimulate active learning
Thomas Courtley
Education Specialist
Scaffolding in teaching is an instructional method by which learning material is broken down into smaller content and skills that fall in the learner’s development zone. Teacher scaffolding techniques prompt learners to actively engage in each step of the learning process. This allows them to practise skills, retrieve information, and receive feedback.
Try scaffolding for teaching in a safe digital environment.
1. Formulate clear learning objectives and expectations
Formulating clear learning objectives for yourself and your learners will help them become more aware of what’s expected from them: 'What do I know, and what do I still need to learn?'
Give LessonUp a try! 👉 You can easily import an existing PowerPoint lesson if you have one. Then, add a slide at the beginning of the lesson that clearly and simply states the main learning objective. An example could be: 'At the end of this lesson you will be able to...', or 'You will know how to…' Students whose expectations are clearly addressed feel recognised and are encouraged to take ownership of their learning.
2. Activate learners’ prior knowledge
As you know, activating prior knowledge creates space for new information. If we don’t review our memories, remembering old information will hinder us from acquiring new information.
Give LessonUp a try! 👉 Add a mind map to create on overview of your students’ prior knowledge, all in one slide. It will not only give you insight on the level of your entire classroom, but each student will feel heard and understood. In a later stage of your lesson you can show students the information in the initial mind map, to make them aware of how much they learnt.
3. Inspire learners with engaging visuals
People are hardwired to respond to imagery. The visual cortex is the largest system in the human brain. Reading is a skill we learn, as opposed to spoken language and picture processing.
Give LessonUp a try! 👉 If you have existing PowerPoint lessons with great images and/or videos you can easily import your existing PowerPoint lessons to LessonUp. Whether you use imagery from existing lesson or search for new pictures or videos, that is up to you. However, always make sure you choose images and videos that are copyright-compliant.
4. Think, pair, share
To encourage a student's learning, it's essential to foster critical thinking and make their thought process visible. A famous technique to achieve these goals is ‘Think, pair, share’.
Give LessonUp a try! 👉 Students are first asked to think about a topic, then discuss it in pairs, and finally share their thoughts with the entire class. In LessonUp you can easily implement a digital open question. Students can then share their ideas in the classroom. The results are saved in each lesson, so you always have access to valuable insights into student learning.
5. Meet different needs in different ways
Each student is unique, and has different difficulties and needs. Slightly differentiating your learning material might be the recipe to stimulate active learning for every student.
Give LessonUp a try! 👉 As a teacher, you can easily create several slightly different versions of a digital lesson to share with your students. The automatically generated lesson reports give you a clear idea about your students’ understanding of a specific lesson. Based on this information, you can customise a lesson with content matching your students’ level and pace.
Interested in ways to help your students become active learners?
