Scaffolded instruction is an instructional strategy where gradual withdrawal of support occurs through modelled, guided, and independent instruction and practice.
Scaffolding enables a student to solve a problem, carry out a task or achieve a goal through a gradual shedding of outside assistance from the teacher. It was first developed by researchers David Wood (Nottingham), Jerome S. Bruner (Oxford) and Gail Ross (Harvard) in their 1976 report, “The Role of Tutoring in Problem Solving”.
By its original definition, scaffolding recruits the instructor as an “activator” whose role is to facilitate a student’s incremental mastery of a concept. Then there is the process of gradually removing the scaffolding that was put into place for the student until they internalise the information. Ultimately, this is how they become a self-regulated and independent learner.
The STARS module of CARS & STARS Online provides scaffolded instruction – signposted in the program as modelled instruction, guided practice and independent practice – that supports student success with the strategies introduced in the CARS module. Students, in simple terms, are shown how to do something first, then guided through doing it themselves, before ultimately being left to do it independently.
The STARS module of CARS & STARS Online is in fact wholly designed around the organisational framework of scaffolded instruction. Each lesson is organised into five parts and each lesson part is integrated with scaffolded instruction and directly and explicitly organised by scaffolded instructional techniques. The STARS module guides students through the learning process. They progress from prior-knowledge activation to modelled and guided direct instruction with peer learning, before turning to text-guided modelled and guided practice, and finally reaching the ultimate goal of fully independent work.
Scaffolded instruction benefits all types of students, including ELLs, while also providing a step-by-step process for teachers that enables them to simply and effectively use the benefits of instructional scaffolding to enhance instruction while also simplifying their own procedures – and enabling them to gradually release responsibility to students for their own learning as they become more adept and confident.
If you are interested in learning more about the CARS & STARS Online subscriptions and how they can help children to achieve better results, then sign up for a free trial to be an integral part of your child’s reading success.
