Scaffolding dynamically toward change: Previous and new perspectives

This article follows the evolving meaning of scaffolding from the original definition denoting high asymmetry of knowledge and low mutuality of responsibility to various other values on these two dimensions. Parallel trajectories in the development of scientific theories or concepts and the power of scaffolding as a metaphor are suggested explanations for this evolution. Scaffolding is defined for an ensemble as a unit that includes the social and physical context of the activity and any number of interacting participants. Scaffolding within an ensemble can be analyzed by interrelating variability in the scaffoldees’ activity to simultaneous variability in the scaffolders’ activity across time, both tracing an observable “Zone of Current Development”. The interrelations between the scaffolders’ and scaffoldees’ zones distinguish successful from inefficient scaffolding. The suggested definition and analytic framework can be applied to vast variations in scaffolding, including borderline cases that nonetheless shed light on the nature and variability of scaffolding.