She also gets the students to consider the search terms that might get results. Once this in done a scaffold is constructed using the established order. Still, in a group setting, students use personal semantic maps and begin to learn to create a collective scaffold of meaning in a way that is meaningful to their cognitive processes -- they learn how to learn, and how to communicate that learning in a classroom environment to the teacher and to their peers. (Grid of Constructs about Learning, 2004)

The teacher then takes the students to the computer room where they search the net for information that pertains to their particular category. They add the additional information that they have found their section of the scaffold.

This adds technical reinforcement and research capabilities to the assignment and introduces the scaffolding process in a non-threatening fashion. "Clay and Cazden (1992) point out two scaffolding strategies in teaching reading: working with new knowledge and accepting partially correct responses. In the first strategy, when a teacher suspects the child does not have the ideas or words needed for a particular text, he/she may explain some part of the story or contrast a feature presented with something he/she knows the child understands from another reading. In the second strategy, the teacher uses what is correct in the student's response but probes or cues the student, so as to suggest good possibilities for active consideration." ("Scaffolding," 2004)

She then sets another small group task: students are to predict what kinds of general information categories they would expect to find on environmental...

These 'expert' are then grouped together where they search for specialized information in their particular category.
Now split apart, and fluent in a general topic area, students are put into groups so they can hash out issues with greater specificity.

Each group is to decide on the order that the predicted information would take. Spokespersons from each group then write down their group's general category areas on the classroom's whiteboard.

By deciding upon the order, students gain a sense of relative importance about different topic areas, as well as learn sequencing.

All the different "experts" are brought together into a home group. This group then has to share their information and complete all sections of the scaffold using full sentences.

Students learn presentational as well as environmental skills, and how to communicate in complete sentences to make issues clear in colloquial and technical language.

The teacher then provides each student with a second, clean typed copy of the original scaffold.

A collective scaffold is produced from the individual scaffolding and every student participant in a collective resulting learning scaffold enjoys all the fruit of the lesson plan's learning contributions by various students.

Works Cited

Grid of Constructs about Learning." (2004) Accessed on October 5, 2004 at http://www.math.uow.edu.au/people/ap_contnt.pdf

Reinhardt, Erica. (May 27, 2004) "Learning cycle." Accessed on October 5, 2004 at http://www.human.cornell.edu/units/dns/extension/youth/sciencediscovery/cornellnutritionresources.html

Scaffolding." (2004) Accessed on October 5, 2004 at http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr1scaf.htm www.uws.edu.au%2Fdownload.php%3Ffile_id%3D6974%26filename%3DA4611G__Spring_2000.University of Western Sydney, Macarthur "Erica Model -- Whole Language Strategies." (2004) Accessed on October 5, 2004 at http://www.uws.edu.au/download.php?file_id=6974&filename=A4611G__Spring_2000.pdf&mimetype=application/pdf