How Students Construct Scaffolds by Using Drafts for Solving Tasks

Abstract

Modeling is considered a key process in teaching and learning today. However, the transition from collective educational modeling to the use of the model as an individual tool is not investigated enough yet. The purpose of this study is to discover and qualitatively describe the phenomena of construction (reconstruction) of own instruments by schoolchildren in a situation where there are no external requirements for modeling. The article describes the proactive use of a draft in solving two math problems by 508 schoolchildren from twenty 3—10 grades of one school and 160 schoolchildren from three other schools using different programs. Analysis of the content of children’s drafts shows that the effective solving a problem is possible if students use the model they previously have studied and also transform and individualize the sign-symbolic form of this model ( thus “translating” the model to “their own language”) . The initiative in using a draft is largely determined by the way of previous learning.

Keywords

• learning task
• modeling
• draft
• trial action.