Assembly of certain classes of bacterial and animal viruses requires the transient presence of molecules known as scaffolding proteins, which are essential for the assembly of the precursor procapsid. To assemble a procapsid of the proper size, each viral coat subunit must adopt the correct quasiequivalent conformation from several possible choices, depending upon the T number of the capsid. In...

This study examined and organised comments made by teachers participating in a variety of learning communities in order to sort a list of recommendations for future development of webbased teachers’ training taking into consideration possible trajectories of web powerful technological innovations. The comments are organised under a theoretical framework of professional scaffolding.

It is well known that introductory physics students often have alternative conceptions that are inconsistent with established physical principles and concepts. Invoking alternative conceptions in the quantitative problem-solving process can derail the entire process. In order to help students solve quantitative problems involving strong alternative conceptions correctly, appropriate scaffolding...

Two studies documented and evaluated parental scaffolding of 3and 4-year-olds' spatial communication. In Study 1, children gave directions to parents about locations of objects. Three-year-olds gave ambiguous directions more often than 4-year-olds, and parents used directive prompts more often with 3-year-olds than 4-year-olds, Study 2 compared the effectiveness of parental prompts in a control...

Many pedagogues have argued that learners should shape their own learning experience whilst tutors should facilitate this process of knowledge construction. Digital environments have been often used in an attempt to scaffold learning in these innovative learning settings. However the results obtained have been mixed both in terms of learning achievements and learners' satisfaction. We argue tha...

Much attention has been focused on the role of teachers and curriculum materials in scaffolding learners. However, a growing area of focus is on the potential of computer software to provide cognitive support for learners engaging in complex intellectual activities. A substantial amount of research and development in this area, particularly at the University of Michigan, has focused on scaffold...

The didactical metaphor of scaffolding has become so ubiquitous in the rhetoric of education researchers and practitioners, that its meaning has become diffuse, its theoretical rationale unquestioned, and its pedagogical operationalization vague (Pea 2004). We submit that scaffolding is a victim of its own popularity: its adoption by multifarious and even competing theories of learning has rend...

Scaffolding is a widely used educational practice in which directed instruction gradually decreases as student competence increases—resulting in increased independent learning. This research introduces and evaluates an MR-based system for technology-mediated scaffolding in anesthesia education. Through merging real and virtual objects, the system addresses a vital problem in merging abstract an...

Intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) are highly effective at fostering learning gains across a broad range of educational domains (VanLehn, 2011; Woolf, 2008). Tutorial planning is a critical component of ITSs, controlling how scaffolding is structured and delivered to learners. Tutorial planners operate at multiple levels, including the macro-level (e.g., selecting problems for learners to solv...

We describe a pilot study that explores whether or not medical students can understand visual representations of expert thinking. This research builds upon our previous work in developing a methodology to support knowledge elicitation and knowledge validation in the ill-defined domain of medical case-based instruction [1]. Second-year medical students were assigned to one of two feedback condit...