Chapter 15 page 377
Preteaching needed knowledge and strategies. One option is to teach students essential
background knowledge and strategies before they begin group work. For example, a teacher might
introduce students to argumentation strategies before having students carry out a constructive controversy.
Task decomposition. A second scaffolding method is to decompose the task into smaller segments.
For instance, Group Investigation accomplishes this by breaking the investigation tasks into the six stages
presented in Figure 15.6.
Cognitive prompts. Cognitive prompts are questions or cues that remind students to think about
certain issues or to use particular strategies. The question stems in guided peer questioning (see Figure
15.4) are examples of cognitive prompts. In guided cooperation methods, following the cognitive prompts is
the very purpose of the task. In contrast, when cognitive prompts are used as scaffolds for complex tasks,
the purpose of the task is not to follow the prompts but to solve a larger problem (such as finding out how
different Native American tribes differ). The cognitive prompts are used to support students as they try to
pursue this larger task.
Barbara White and John Frederiksen (1998) successfully used a variety of cognitive prompts in
science lessons with sixth graders. One set of prompts that they used focused on how to design, carry out,
and interpret experiments with moving objects and forces (see Figure 15.10). The overall goal of the
students’ work was to develop explanatory models of forces and motion. The researchers specifically
prompted students to focus on experimentation processes that they knew to be difficult for students.
Figure 15.10: Cognitive Prompts for Conducting Experiments
For each experiment, you need to do the following:
- Create a plan with:
A sketch showing how you will set up the experiment.
A description of what you will do and how you will
measure the velocity of the ball. - Do your experiment.
Record your data in a clear and organized way.
Record any problems you had in doing your experiment. - Analyze your data and present your conclusions.
State any laws you discovered that predict and describe
what happens
Give an explanation for why this happens.
Explain how your results agree or disagree with what
you predicted would happen when you stated your
hypotheses. (White & Frederiksen, 1998)
These cognitive prompts direct students to engage in key cognitive processes
needed to design, execute, and interpret experiments.