Mike Saunders
4342700
Learning in theory and practice: Analysis of Bruner’s theory of
scaffolding in transferring ICT knowledge to practical application.
PGCE International: Bangkok 19 Cohort
XX4PI2: Understanding Learning
Marking tutor: Helen Toft
Word Count:3096
1
Learning in theory and practice: Analysis Bruner’s theory of
scaffolding in transferring ICT knowledge to practical
application.
Table of Contents
Introduction
3
Theories of Education
4
The application of the theory
6
Observation and reflection
8
Conclusion
9
References
10
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Introduction
I have been teaching IGCSE ICT curriculum for three academic years, it has been necessary
for me to plan and prepare students for their end of term exams, as the sole teacher of the
ICT syllabus it has been important for me to have a framework in order for me to develop
students’ knowledge and skills in ICT, while the syllabus provides some structure to my
lesson planning and preparation, as a teacher I need to provide a guided approach to the
students understanding of the topics covered so the students can develop a higher level of
understanding to answer examination style questions, due to the 60% of non-native English
speakers in my classes there are common areas of difficulty with some of the complex
concepts associated with computing, these need to be addresses by examining different
learning theories and teaching approaches. In this essay I will discuss the effects of using a
scaffolding approach to teaching and how it can help students use their prior knowledge to
develop their practical skills, I will also consider how ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development)
can be used to help students to become independent thinkers and learners.
The first section will look at the use of a scaffolding approach as proposed by Wood, Bruner
and Ross (1976) I will discuss how it can be used to help build students’ knowledge thought
the paper, while considering the social constructionist method of teaching developed by
Vygotsky within ICT.
The second section will examine the application of this approach, describing the activities
and tasks delivered in my IGCSE ICT lessons and how this approach will align with the
assessment objectives provided in the syllabus outline.
The third section will provide the observations from the lessons and will reflect on the
student’s ability to use prior knowledge to solve a practical task, I will assess the
effectiveness of the constructivism approach on how well the student completed the task
based on the assessment objectives.
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The fourth and final section my conclusion will summarise the effectiveness of a scaffolding
application in ICT and refer to the different theories used to form my conclusion.
Theories of Education
Bruner’s theory was influenced by the social constructionist Vygotsky who suggests students
learn best through social interaction or when they are in a social environment, by
constructing meaning through collaboration and exchange of ideas the application of both
theoretical input and practical knowledge, schools provide an ideal place for this type of
learning where different social and cultural interactions occur daily (Hammond, 2002).
Students learn through exchanging ideas and sharing their prior knowledge to negotiate
with others in order to solve a problem, some claim that the changes in our technological
advances such as social networks, online games, and the connected world we now live are
changing how students think and learn (Gettler, 2010).
Students can take control of their own learning process and reflect on their prior knowledge
effectively becoming experts in their own learning. Students should capable of constructing
their own learning which in turn would increase a student’s knowledge and understanding as
Porcaro (2010) stated that teachers have to cover structured curriculums in preparation for
their exams, so if we left students in control of what they learn they might miss important
concepts and knowledge in order for them to be able to pass their exams, if a teacher has a
class of 25 students they cannot teach them individually and cater for each students
learning styles or needs and follow the curriculums aims and objectives.
Collaborative learning uses a constructivism approach by providing learning activities based
on real world context, constructivism engages and stimulates students, if a teacher divides
a class into teams the students could maximise their learning and that of their classmates.
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Students can learn from each other to form their own opinions, two or more students
sharing ideas to complete a practical task.
‘Collaborative learning is based on the idea that learning is a naturally social act in which
the participants talk among themselves. It is through the talk that learning occurs.’
(Gerlach, 1994). Some students find collaborative learning difficult as they are overwhelmed
with the demands of team work and can fail to engage in the activities, (Brewer and Daane,
2002) suggested that for constructivist learning to work in a classroom environment ‘the
classroom must be risk free so students can question, exchange points of view and be
actively involved in the discourse.’ (p417)
Vygotsky developed his concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which shows
students can learn more from the presence of a teacher or someone with more knowledge
than themselves, as mentioned by Cole, M (2009), as Vygotsky’s work was translated and
retranslated several times from Russian to English some of his work might have been
misinterpreted.
It was this concept that Bruner developed his theory of scaffolding. (Wheeler, 2014). I
should point out that Vygotsky did not clearly state what the form of social interaction would
be in assisting the learner in the ZPD (Bunce, 2010). Research has provided an insight into
the implications Vygotsky’s ‘zone of proximal development’ has within an educational
setting, for example in a classroom environment. A study composed by Bunce, (2010),
investigated the implications that the ZPD has on classroom-based learning. It is argued
that collaborative work within a class room has positive cognitive and social outcomes
(Foley, 2002).
Wood et al. (1976) described it as ‘a process that enables a child or novice to solve a
problem, carry out a task or achieve a goal which would be beyond his unassisted effort’
(Wood et al., 1976, p. 90), while Bruner defined the use of scaffolding as the different
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stages a student takes in order to carry out a task so they can concentrate on the new skills
they are learning, he further expanded on this by suggesting scaffolding is a process of
setting up the task so the student would initially find it easy and become successful and
then slowly withdrawing support so the child becomes skilled enough to carry out the task
on their own. (Bruner, 1983, p. 60).
While trying to define scaffolding as an approach for teaching, there are several
interpretations as to what the term scaffolding means. Verenikina advises that ‘scaffolding
does not provide educators with clear and definite guidelines…to achieve successful
teaching’ (2008, p. 162), you could also question why Bruner used the term scaffolding as
teachers have different views on what scaffolding is.
Wood (1989) discusses how the lack of support or instruction could lead to doubt of what
the student needs to do to complete a task which could result in tasks not completed or
simply abandoned altogether.
Some theorists have suggested the concept of scaffolding has been misunderstood in the
context of education which has led to ‘the scaffold, in some cases, has replaced the building
it was meant to support in that the method becomes more important than the learning or
the evidence generated’ (Bevins and Price, 2016, p. 22).
The application of the theory
Within the syllabus Cambridge specify that students should be able to ‘apply knowledge,
understanding and skills to a variety of situations, selecting and using a range of ICT tools
efficiently to critically analyse problems and produce effective ICT-based solutions to solve
them.’ (Cambridge IGCSE syllabus, 2018, p. 33), this suggests the need for higher level
thinking in the application of their ICT knowledge. Reiser (2004) recognised that by
deconstructing tasks into smaller tasks it could help students become more focused and
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encourages self-monitoring of their work, as they complete each of the smaller tasks they
are building on their knowledge in smaller stages while working towards the main task.
One of the issues with this type of approach is the time needed to carry out these tasks
while trying to follow the course content which tends to be a content-laden curricula (Bevins
and Price, 2016).
The ICT curriculum states that the first eight units are covered in order before proceeding
with the other fourteen units, these units are content heavy and provide the theory behind
ICT and how we make use of technology today. The syllabus itself provides a scaffolding
approach to teaching, in that each sections discusses past and previous sections and how
they are interlinked in our modern connected world, as the students move from one section
to the next they are drawing on previous systems and processes, slowly building their
knowledge of ICT.
I have found the use of Socrative (an online questionnaire system) to produce multiplechoice quizzes is a great way to check the student’s level of understanding and help to build
their knowledge and higher-level thinking skills. At the end of the theory lesson, I give the
students a multiple-choice quiz based on computer hardware and computer components.
While the quiz provides the students with a score, it also provided me a method to assess
what they had learnt and address any areas that needed additional clarification. Another
online quiz based system I use in the classroom called Kahoot which provides a competitive
and engaging activity for students to answer questions based on what they have learnt
previously, this system awards 1st, 2nd and 3rd podium which I find encourages the students
to use their higher level thinking abilities to do better next time, it also provides me with a
method to assess my students ability to memorise and recall information they have learnt
previously.
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Observation and reflection
I always start a new topic with a classroom discussion, where I introduce the topic,
emphasising the keywords and concepts and relate to areas they have covered in previous
lessons and how they connect to the new topic, I ask students to make notes during the
discussion, I go through a Q and A session to clarify any of the key points before asking
students to complete the questions in their workbooks.
During my observation of the students working through the questions, I note some students
working in small groups to clarify their answers while others work independently using the
notes they have made previously. What I find interesting is the independent workers usually
provide better answers to the questions which would suggest they were paying more
attention during the discussion and Q and A session, while the group workers tend to have
identical answers that sometimes are off the mark.
‘Proponents of collaborative learning claim that the active exchange of ideas within small
groups not only increases interest among the participants but also promotes critical
thinking’ (Chand, B. 2018 p.7215)
During my second lesson, I mix the students into different groups so that each group has
one person who works well independently so they can provide more informed answers and
help the other students in the class, it’s interesting to watch the better informed students
explain the correct answers and discuss why something does not make sense this shows the
students using ZPD to better understand the topics covered, For the last lesson of the week
I split the students into two teams and give them questions based on what they have
covered, the team that answers all the questions first and gets the most correct answers,
get a credit for each member of the team, students love to compete as an observer I am
fascinated by the logic, higher level thinking and rational being applied in order to answer
the questions, I will offer guidance if needed but leave the students to get on with the task
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themselves. (Chand, B. 2018 p.7215-7216) suggests there is evidence that shows students who
work in a cooperative team retain information and achieve higher level of thinking abilities
compared to an individual learner, this shared learning approach provides students with an
opportunity to share ideas and become engaged with their peers which in turn will help
them to become critical thinkers, he suggests students learn through experimentation, by
trial and error they are left to find their own methods for learning and understanding and
draw their own conclusions.
Vygotsky’s theory of ZPD helps teachers gauge the development potential of their students,
by giving students work that pushes them beyond their current abilities, by discussing the
problems within a social group they gain a better understanding of the topic being covered
and have a better sense of achievement by the end of it.
For the practical lesson students were provided with all the components required to build a
computer, I divided the class into smaller groups of four students, they were given limited
instructions from myself, I explained the purpose of the activity was to build a computer
using the hardware provided, whilst observing the practical lesson and the students’
progression on the task it became evident that the previous theory lessons had enabled the
students to reflect on what they had leant previously, by using the notes they had taken
they could identify the different components and where they were used inside the computer,
this allowed the students to carry out the task without requiring any assistance, they were
using a higher level of thinking in a number of ways, they applied prior knowledge to a new
situation to complete a practical task, they used their notebooks to reflect on what they had
learnt previously and updated their notes while carrying out the practical task to further
expand their knowledge. Also, the use of multiple-choice questions based on the activity
provided a grade for the students, while the answers enabled me to assess each students
understanding of the theory while the practical skills test showed the students using a
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higher order thinking, critical thinking or deep learning and logic by using prior knowledge in
order to complete the task.
In another lesson I might consider pairing or grouping different students based on their
abilities to see if would benefit their learning, by pairing or grouping students of different
abilities in this way could help improve the student’s confidence and knowledge; as one or
more students would help to mentor the other(s) they would be helping each other to gain
an understanding based on their own prior knowledge of the topics covered.
Conclusion
The use of a scaffolding approach to teaching IGCSE ICT, to assist students in
understanding some of the complex concepts associated with computing are plentiful.
The structured approach to delivering the ICT content to the students has proven to provide
the learner with a higher level of understanding and better student performance. While
working through these lessons, it was important that students were in their ZPD, by
splitting the class into smaller groups they could discuss and reflect on their prior knowledge
and debate ideas with the rest of their peers. This encouraged students to reflect on their
own analyses. Davis (2000) describes how encouraging students to be self-directed is an
important aim of the scaffolded framework, the scaffolding here is in the form of reflection
on what students have previously learnt, which increases the students’ knowledge of ICT
and encourages the students to plan and use reflection for future activities and become selfregulated learners. One of the biggest challenges was creating the groups based on the
mixed abilities of the students and also the mix of non-native English speakers
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