Shaping Vs Scaffolding - Essay Example

The term scaffolding as protracted in the views of Embo et al., (2014) entails attempts put together with the intention of operationalizing the processes of teaching within the confines of proximal development. Contrarily, Smith et al., (2015) continue to expound that the distance between students may do with or without any help, hence used to provide an explanation to the participatory and the social nature of learning and teaching. Scaffolding as intuited in this case provides a description of support that is granted by an adult to a little child with the sole objective of helping a child increase his/her performance and independence in learning.

In other words, an adult may opt to ask a question during the process of book reading to help scaffold to a single child from the other. In this regard, it is essential to note that scaffolding is primarily suited with the essence of breaking tasks that are not whole by making them complete. On the other hand, shaping is an alternative term that is used in providing an instructional approach to the manner in which children learning that is directed towards breaking down and integrating information as well as skills in a manner that is within their means to understand (Pattison, 2018).

Beginning with the smallest component, it is essential to note that the shaping method of learning allows adults to teach their children each and every part of a given task until they get to a mastery level. In this regard, it is essential to note that the combination of shaping and scaffolding methods plays a vital role in maximizing both learning and teaching within a class setting (Mintz & Tal, 2018). Given this, it is essential for caregivers and educators alike to be sensitive to what children can achieve and cannot with the intent of understanding what they can do and not achieve.

It is equally important that the selected models of shaping and scaffolding remain important in selecting the methods that suit the needs of the children, efforts that empower the children and not frustrate the children. Conclusion As protracted in this paper, a combination of the techniques of shaping and scaffolding enables adults to specifically identify the tasks as well as the elements that turn out to be complex to their children, thus enabling them to learn and apply the learned elements within the larger tasks in entirety.

Given this, educators and parents need to choose effective models of shaping and scaffolding in selecting the methods that suit the needs of the children, efforts that empower the children, and not to frustrate the children.