Functional Scaffolding and Self Scaffolding Mark H. Bickhard Lehigh University

Cognition and Action Representation and cognition emerge in action systems –Not from passive input processing Therefore representation cannot be created by signet rings pressing into the wax of the mind, or transduction, or induction, or any other passive mode

Construction and Epistemology Representation and cognition must be constructed Without prescience, these constructions must be tentative and selected out if in error That is, an action base for representation and cognition forces an evolutionary epistemology

Recursive Constructivism In complex organisms, constructions are in the context of and make use of prior constructions as resources New constructions can involve variants on or compounds of prior constructions They are recursive The organism can get better at learning in some domain in which it has prior experience

Complex Task Requirements Some tasks may require complex constructions to be able to solve them Constructive complexity makes it unlikely that non-foresighted constructions will happen to hit on the competent construction Constructive tries will be selected out And the task may not be solved

Functional Scaffolding If some of the task selection pressures could be blocked, however, that may make some intermediate constructions viable that would not otherwise have survived Those intermediate constructions, in turn, may make it possible to traverse a trajectory of constructions that ends up with a fully task competent construction The scaffolding blocking of those selection pressures can then be removed

Modes of Scaffolding Selection pressures can be blocked by providing knowledge that the child, for example, does not yet have This is the canonical case in which scaffolding is thought of in terms of providing external coordination, for example, that can then be internalized

Further Modes But selection pressures can also be blocked by: –Choosing simple cases –Moving to idealizations –Breaking problems down into subproblems –Making use of a resource that may not always be available –Etc.

Self Scaffolding And all of these modes of functional scaffolding can be done by the individual him- or her-self Self Scaffolding Which is in internal contradiction on the internalization account –You cannot provide information to yourself that you do not already have

A Field of Development Self scaffolding is a crucial range of skills to acquire It is involved in knowing how to approach problems in essentially all domains –Though it can differ from one domain to another The scaffolding of self scaffolding should be a primary goal of education But standard ways of thinking about education and scaffolding inhibit the recognition of this

Conclusion An action base for cognition forces an evolutionary epistemology Which yields the strong usefulness of functional scaffolding to aid the construction process Which yields the possibility of self scaffolding, an important field of development A field, not itself a domain, because it varies from one domain to another - it is not one unified set of skills