ABSTRACT
The scaffolding model for teaching and learning proposed that the process resembled a system of supporting structures, which enabled a joint construction to occur such that the child over time became competent and independent at completing the task. As with any construction involving scaffolding, the development occurred because the supporting scaffolds were systematically used and then taken away. The researchers argued that teachers’ scaffolding of students’ enquiries into water quality in river systems needed to be informed by the specific difficulties apparent in the error patterns. Over reliance or over emphasis in instruction may create knowledge and skills which are limited to the original conditions of the scaffolding, and consequently the transfer and generalizability of that knowledge is limited. The act of highlighting is often done by the reader. There are some studies in which the highlighting has been done either by a expert person such as the experimenter or a teacher, or in early studies using a ‘yoked control’.
