Critical View of Scaffolding Techniques in Teaching and Learning of Mathematics

Scaffolding technique involves changing the level of support for learning. A teacher of more advanced peer increases or decreases the level of guidance or support according to the students’ need for the desirable learning outcome. It is based on social learning which takes place with more capable person’s support or guidance with social interactions until the successful completion of the task. The aim of the present study is to discuss the definitions of scaffolding and its meaning and types of scaffolding techniques. Also, discuss Vygotsky’s theory of social learning of students with teacher and peers promotes their skills and mathematical language development for successful learning, Bruner’s scaffolding for the process of learning to retain the acquired knowledge which lead to discovery learning, Piaget’s scaffolding to make the students to construct knowledge through organizing and reorganizing prior knowledge to the new learning situation. Moreover, the role of the teacher as a system of scaffolds, scaffolding support in the classroom, group learning, scaffolding with critical thinking, teacher’s instructional design, teacher-student interaction, and mathematical modeling to make the process of teaching and learning of mathematics successful.