I am offering ten principles for writing material for educational courses. The fourth principle is about scaffolding explanations.

1. Principle 4
Scaffold explanations
Glenn Martin
March 2017

2.  Ensure that explanations are scaffolded
appropriately for the student cohort.

3.  The concept of scaffolding is that
the materials provide sufficient
explanation and assistance to
enable students to acquire
concepts or perform tasks.

4.  Students should receive as much or as little
support for learning as they need.
 Don’t explain things your audience already
knows.
 Don’t explain things your
audience doesn’t need
to know.

5.  The materials should exhibit a progression –
scaffolding is provided in the earlier stages, ,
and students are gradually given more
autonomy (removing
the scaffolding) as they
gain confidence.

6. Appropriate scaffolding is
created firstly through good
structure – breaking the course
materials into logical sections,
giving clear descriptive headings
to sections, topics and sub-
topics.
This helps students to plan their
work, and allows them to skim
over topics they already know.

7.  Break material down into
chunks – the idea of a chunk
is that it is to some extent a
standalone piece – a concept
or a step, for example.

8.  Each new topic or section, should begin with an
overview of the material, including structure,
learning outcomes and estimated study time.
 At the end of each topic or section, a summary
ensures that students have identified the key
points.

9.  Explanations should show
knowledge of the field and
evidence of some research.
 Paragraphs should be clearly
organised and logically
sequenced.
 Visuals should contribute to
understanding of the text.

10.  Language should introduce technical words
appropriately and address students directly.

11.  Explanations target the “zone of proximal
development” of your students, which is “the
distance between what students can do by
themselves and the next learning they can be
helped to achieve with competent assistance.”
• - Eileen Richmond