I also wondered if you'd come across two (more useful?) concepts coined under the crazily elastic construct of scaffolding in education: hard scaffold and soft scaffold. Look them up. I think these concepts help to clarify what what we're talking about in discussions about 'scaffolding' - which I usually find annoyingly vague!
Another great addition, thanks Kylie! Agree that ‘scaffolding’ as a broad term is often unhelpful. Again, added as a footnote. If you’ve ever considered a role as an (unfortunately unpaid) editor/proofreader, let me know!
I enjoyed reading this, Chris. Thanks. It might interest you to know that chunking in cognitive psychology actually means something different to what it's now widely interpreted to mean in education: mentally grouping details together into LARGER more meaningful clusters of information 😊 https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/psychology/chunking-psychology/
Thanks for pointing this out, Kylie. It seems to connect well with the idea of element interactivity. It’s really interesting to see how the original concepts are transformed when they’re applied to classroom practice – I wonder whether this happens in other domains too. Added as a footnote…
I've always assumed it was an inaccurate understanding of chunking that just caught on! But that's probably a form of unconscious bias - privileging my own disciplinary knowledge (as a psych academic in teacher education). It actually erks me sometimes but I have stopped correcting my students. I tell myself this new conceptualisation of chunking still serves a purpose 😌 I agree with you though! Things like cognitive load and (so called) chunking do seem to be hyped up disproportionately relative to other equally or more important considerations in the psychology of learning.
I also wondered if you'd come across two (more useful?) concepts coined under the crazily elastic construct of scaffolding in education: hard scaffold and soft scaffold. Look them up. I think these concepts help to clarify what what we're talking about in discussions about 'scaffolding' - which I usually find annoyingly vague!
Another great addition, thanks Kylie! Agree that ‘scaffolding’ as a broad term is often unhelpful. Again, added as a footnote. If you’ve ever considered a role as an (unfortunately unpaid) editor/proofreader, let me know!
Ha. I'd be honoured ☺️
I enjoyed reading this, Chris. Thanks. It might interest you to know that chunking in cognitive psychology actually means something different to what it's now widely interpreted to mean in education: mentally grouping details together into LARGER more meaningful clusters of information 😊 https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/psychology/chunking-psychology/
Thanks for pointing this out, Kylie. It seems to connect well with the idea of element interactivity. It’s really interesting to see how the original concepts are transformed when they’re applied to classroom practice – I wonder whether this happens in other domains too. Added as a footnote…
I've always assumed it was an inaccurate understanding of chunking that just caught on! But that's probably a form of unconscious bias - privileging my own disciplinary knowledge (as a psych academic in teacher education). It actually erks me sometimes but I have stopped correcting my students. I tell myself this new conceptualisation of chunking still serves a purpose 😌 I agree with you though! Things like cognitive load and (so called) chunking do seem to be hyped up disproportionately relative to other equally or more important considerations in the psychology of learning.