Guidance and Learning

Competence goals 2 and 3:

2. You understand the principles, practices and forms of guidance in vocational education/higher education.  
3. You understand the relevance of the learning process in the planning of pedagogically founded teaching and guidance. 
 
 
Group 5: What are group (or team) dynamics and what collaborative methods or practices can be used in teaching? How can the teaching methods promote students' teamwork skills?

Group 1: How can the vocational/higher ed. classroom teaching methods promote individual learning process and personalized learning paths? What kind of methods can be used?

Group 2: How does the vocational teacher tutor and guide groups (teams)? How does the vocational teacher tutor and guide individuals? What kind of methods can be used and what are common guiding processes?

Group 3: What are pedagogical models? How can they help you to choose the teaching methods? Choose at least one model that you use in your teaching task!

In the second teaching session, group 5 representative started his presentation by showing first the objectives of the lesson, which were:

• The group dynamics

• how do they affect teaching and learning?

• The collaborative methods or practices can be used in teaching in different environments

• The teamwork skills

• How can the teaching methods promote students' teamwork skills?

I liked the idea that he presented a group work sample picture and asked whether we believe team working is effective in learning or not. But I would have liked it better, if he actually let any of us give our opinion :)

What is group work?
I found this definition the most comprehensive:
"Group work is a form of voluntary association of members benefiting from cooperative learning, that enhances the total output of the activity than when done individually. It aims to cater for individual differences, develop skills (e.g. communication skills, collaborative skills, criticalthinking skills), generic knowledge and socially acceptable attitudes or to generate conforming standards of behavior and judgment, a group mind."

In this definition, we see how important it is that we consider this concept a voluntary action. It means that we as teachers cannot force students to be part of any teams or groups. Something which I have learned based on experience is that there is always some students who work better and come up with more creative ideas when they work individually or in pairs. We need to give all students this chance to be able to choose. However, some might need encouragement sometimes to join the groups.

I have seen in class group tasks, some introvert students did not take any benefit from for example discussion activities. Or in early stages of language skill, I needed to ask those students, who do not feel comfortable to talk in front of others, to go outside of the class or even at home, and record their voice on their phone and we listen to it together with other students. This always encouraged my students who are shy to speak opening up little by little when they see other students reactions are not something scary while listening to their recorded voice.

So, it is important to consider students' personality and also their learning styles.

However, when it comes into group working in classroom, it is better that we as teachers decide who works with which group. The reason is that those students who have close connections are always prone into choosing to be together. Putting the students into different groups every time for different tasks teaches them diversity, communication, and compromise.
In my teaching session in OSAO, I asked students to do a role play in pair. This gave my students that chance to become closer to each other, come up to a solution for a problem by collaborative thinking, and also to decide together what the purpose of the task was in the end. They later could present their role play with other groups to get different suggestions from other students also. If the number of students was more, I would rather to assign them into bigger groups and make the given problems to each group more challenging. I might do that in my next teaching session.

Let's get back to Group 5 presentation.

He asked us if we had any good or bad experiences in group working. I decided to say a negative experience which I had in the past regarding group work. Since I used to do things perfectly and fast, I was always the only member of the group who was active, and in tasks which needed to be done in a period of longer time as team project, other group mates took advantage of this habit of mine and let me do everything such as: literature review, gathering information, writing the reports etc. Later, I decided to work on myself and stop being the only one doing things; but, they also knew that presenting the project on time is critical to me. Time was passing and I was worried and stressed. Therefore, I did again everything myself. And everyone in the end got the credit and no one ever mentioned what I did.

This experience taught me not to worry anymore of presenting the most perfect job to the teacher and focus mostly on the enjoying the group work and letting people with different ideas and their own creativity also take part in doing the tasks especially projects. After that I became more interested in managing time and assigning different part of each task to each member of the group and making sure that everyone takes part and is active enough.

Group 5 teacher presented the definition of group/team dynamic.

In this slide, teacher considered team and group as synonym; to my opinion, they are different. A group is a collection of individuals who correlate their individual efforts (Sisson, 2013).

On the other hand, a team is a group of people who share a common purpose with a number of challenging goals (Hackman, 1990).

In group work, students usually go separately to do their specific task and for the conclusion they combine their section of for example documents into a full task ready for grading. I think the collaboration and learning outcome in group works is not as efficient as team work.

Based on the presented definition by group 5 teacher, group dynamics is a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group (intragroup dynamics), or between social groups (intergroup dynamics).

I believe that, good intragroup dynamic is available in a team firstly when team members trust each other. Consequently, this time will be more constructive and productive. On the other hand, people in a team with poor intragroup dynamic do not trust each other, and this can be disruptive for beneficial decision making and work result.

Teacher presented different factors which influences on a good and poor group dynamics.

In a good dynamic team or group: 

• everyone has a job to do
• group does not move on to the next phase until everyone understands
• group members use helpful and supportive comments and tone of voice
• group members work together
• group members listen to all ideas without judgement
• group values each team members

And in a poor dynamic team or group: 

• there is a competition within and outside of the group
• group members force speed on each other
• group members talk over each other
• group members use judgemental tone or judgemental comments
• one person takes over and does all the work
• one or two always are quiet and do not say anything
• group members are impatient with ideas of others

Interestingly he showed us the concept of Yin and Yang, which are used to describe how seemingly opposing forces are interconnected and interdependent in the nature. There are complementary opposites that, together, create a dynamic, balanced, integrated and interdependent whole. (Group 5 presentation)

I think by mentioning this he wanted to say that a team is not always homogenous and we as teachers need to facilitate and bring those opposite energies together. There are different methods to do so which in a larger category it is called collaborative learning as a method in student-centered approach education system.

The collaborative techniques which he mentioned were for example:

Jigsaw, concept mapping, think-write-pair-share, round table.

Concept mapping

      (concept map English teaching samples)

Students write terms from the course on a large piece of paper

1. Lines are drawn connecting individual terms to indicate the relationships between terms. Most of the terms in a concept map have multiple connections.

2. Developing a concept map requires the students to identify and organize information and to establish meaningful relationships between the pieces of information.

This method has been so far helpful in my field of teaching which is English language, specially in grammar or finding out the meaning of new words by searching for the root and basic structures. For example in finding the meaning of a new word, students in different groups find the connection among all the similar words to the new ones and try to guess the meaning of the root and other syllables of the new word, and finally write down the possible meanings of the word. Then, they compare their conclusions with other teams and justify their results. 

Jigsaw 

One of the most suggested methods in collaborative learning is jigsaw.

According to group 5 teacher, for example if there is reading material (such as background) to be digested before doing an activity, split it up into 3 or 4 self-contained parts.

• Divide the class into the same number of Reading Groups, with one member from each team.

• Give one part of the reading to each team to digest and to prepare to explain to their team.

• Then rearrange the students so that each team has someone who has read one of the self-contained parts, and have each student teach his/her part of the reading to the rest of the team.

This method has been so far the way we are practising in professional teacher program and I have learned and received many good lessons from this.

This method can be a complementary method for the task which I mentioned in concept mapping. I mean, after my students came up with the meaning of the new word, they can be divided into other groups, and explain the way they came up with the meaning and also hear from other group members. In this situations, I usually walk around the class and listen to each group at a time and if necessary answer questions or make clarifications. 

The advantages which I see in this method is that

1. Each student is given a chance to teach to others. And Based on my own experience I believe one of the best ways of learning anything is that you try to teach it to others. This is the way I am learning also Finnish language, eve though, I am not fluent, still I study first and teach the most difficult parts of especially Finnish grammar to some of my friends who are also learning Finnish. And sometimes we figure out some structures together as I try to explain it.

2. The fact that there is no material is a great advantage for some students who have always the tendency in just receiving the information. They will search and read different sources and in between they might also find not related but important information, which expands their knowledge. And they also acquire deeper knowledge in a topic which they are supposed to teach or present.

3. In my English classes this method always gives my students a chance to learn new vocabularies, and also their speaking skill enhances since they practice beforehand to present their lesson as fluent as possible.

4. In this method, I have seen those students who are not confident enough to talk for large groups have a confident performance in smaller groups.

   The advantage list will be going on and on if I continue writing about them.

However, I can also say that there are some disadvantages in implementation of jigsaw method.

1. If one or two students do not attend the class presentation for other groups based on some reasons, then some information will be missed. It is exactly like a puzzle. All together shape a whole.

2. The time is also a big issue specially in classes with more students.

3. In online classes it is easier to send each group member in different rooms, but in face to face classes there is a chaos sometimes, and it is hard to control the noisy situations.

4. In my classes the group organizing is challenging. I need to consider different factors in assigning each student to different groups. Factors such as: their language levels, personality, hardworking, their relationship together.

5. And as I said before, teacher cannot observe all group at once.

In the end, it is always suggested that students evaluate their group functioning. ‘Debriefing’ is an important component of the learning process and allows individuals to reflect on the process of group learning (Kolb, 1984).

Group 1 main questions were:

Group 1: How can the vocational/higher ed. classroom teaching methods promote individual learning process and personalized learning paths? What kind of methods can be used?

The first thing which I liked about group 1 presentation was that he provided a pedagogical script which showed clearly the objectives of the session in a practical way. 

Then we were given different factors which we need to consider when we want to choose our teaching method such as, learning environment and resources, curriculum teaching goals, administrative and institutional policies, and the types of learners.

I think that regarding the policies in Finland, there is a great autonomy in teacher's part; however the approaches such as learner-centered and competence-based are always highlighted, strongly recommended and applied especially in vocational education. 

Regarding the type of learners, he introduced the VARK Model which indicates that every learner has different styles in learning. 

VARK Model is shaped based on Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). In NLP, neurology, language, and programming are three most important factors in making human experience. (Dilta, 2016). NLP investigates the interactions between how neurological (mind) and linguistics (language) within an individual impact behavior (programming). NLP

In VARK Model learners are divided into:

• Visual learners, who learn more and better when they see for example images.
• Auditory learners, who perceive better and faster if they listen and repeat what they hear.
• Reading/writing learners, who understand better and deeper if they read and write information.
• Kinesthetic learners, learn better if they get involved physically in the tasks and be in more dynamic environments. 

 There are many activities which we can provide as teachers to serve different learning styles. Group 5 representative gave some examples such as:

• Visual: live training, Powerpoint, video library, Demo, webinar, case studies
• Auditory: Live training, lecture, webinar, Podcast
• Reading/writing: live training, quick reference guides, job aids, hands-on labs, case studies
• Kinesthetic: live training, one-on-ones, small group, coaching, hands-on labs, case studies

Additionally is another learning style which our friend did not mention, which is Multimodal Learner. 

Multimodal learners learns are two types; those who learn each skill with different styles, and those who learn each skill with all styles and gather information with all styles. 

In teaching language, it is also important to consider all personal differences and learning styles by providing different activities. 

I suggest visual learners for example do a task in pair; while one describes a scene in the target language, the other one draws it. 

Or for auditory learners, I think it helps a lot if they listen to a TEd talk and then give an oral summary of the talk.

Reading/writing learners' task might be writing a letter to a famous person like author, celebrity etc.

Kinesthetic learners can benefit more for example if they read a recipe while doing it. 

Then, teacher provided effective teaching and learning methods in vocational school. 

• Learning by watching

• Learning by imitating

• Learning by practising

• Learning through feedback

• Learning through conversation

• Learning by teaching and helping

• Learning by real-world problem-solving

• Learning through enquiry

• Learning by critical thinking

• Learning by listening, transcribing and remembering

• Learning by drafting and sketching

• Learning by reflecting

• Learning on the fly

• Learning by being coached

• Learning by competing

• Learning through virtual environments

• Learning through simulation

• Learning through playing games

I really enjoyed this presentation. I learned a lot. The supplementary materials were educative and informative. The video clip, which was presented in the end, explained the personalized learning path in an interesting way; and I believe this anchoring method of providing videos or photos are the best way to fix the information and ideas faster in mind. 

Group 2 main questions were:

How does the vocational teacher tutor and guide groups (teams)? How does the vocational teacher tutor and guide individuals? What kind of methods can be used and what are common guiding processes?

Teacher from group 2 started with a video which we consider that as anchoring technique, where the students get the idea through the context, such as a story, as a result the idea or concept fixes or anchors easier and faster (Bransford, et al., 1990). Based on the story of the video, guiding should be constructive. It is important that we have a plan and know how to apply that plan. In addition, this always needs guide's empathy and attention.

Teacher from group 2 mostly used discussion and collaborative learning techniques, in which students discussed and reflected together on the concept of guiding and shared their conclusions. In the end, they came up with different definitions and techniques in guiding individuals and teams.

I believe that guidance is a vital mean in helping students to find their rout to their goals and develop their potentials. We, as teachers, do not have the only responsibility of teaching. Actually, to make it easier and more efficient for ourselves and students, it is important that we show them values, attitudes and habits.

In Finland specifically, the lifelong learning has became growingly important (Finnish National Agency for Education). Students need guidance from a strategic point of view to recognize their competencies and passions in different levels of their life, education, job, and also life in general. This lifelong guidance program is guided by the Government's Lifelong Guidance Strategy for 2020-2023 (Finnish National Agency for Education).

The Ministry of Education and Culture published the strategic objectives for lifelong guidance in 2011 (European Lifelong Guidance).  There are representatives from different operation sectors in this group, who publish a topical overview of lifelong guidance. Overall, there are 15 regional cooperation groups on lifelong guidance. 

Toni and Vuorinen (2020) say that the cooperation between the educational and employment sections for lifelong guidance and especially career guidance has a long history. This career guiding helps students to improve those skills which are needed to move effectively through learning and finally career. In Finland the Ministry of Education and Culture organize and funds the guidance services, and the Ministry of Affairs and Employment establishes the policies and strategic goals for the Finnish labour market policy. I myself personally experienced both educational and lifelong guidance here in Finland. The Employment and Economic Development Office (TE) so far has been a complementary guidance to my education guidance. And I noticed from the beginning the cooperation between these two systems.

To become guidance counsellor education one might do the postgraduate studies with 60 ECTS. There are two universities and five applied sciences in Finland which offer guidance counsellor education (Euroguidance).

• Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences
• Häme University of Applied Sciences
• JAMK University of Applied Sciences
• University of Jyväskylä
• University of Eastern Finland
• Oulu University of Applied Sciences
• Tampere University of Applied Sciences

This is also the possibility of receiving master's degree in guidance at the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Jyväskylä.

Guidance and Counselling in Vocational Education

In vocational education, each one of the students receives guidance and counseling separately, and based on that guidance, they prepare their personal study plans. This gives them a clear road map for their study journey. The main purpose is to support students while they study, and aid them in acquiring the related knowledge and competency to enter the higher education and employment.

Before any implementation, the agreed guidance and support which is discussed usually between the guide and the student are written in the personal competence development plan for each student. 

The plan which specify the student's career plan is also recorded in the competence development plan at the beginning of the studies which lists the courses s/he is planning to take, and it will be updated by students as they progress. This plan of course, should be related to their career plan. Not just guidance counsellors are responsible for this part, the tutor and teachers also give guidance and counselling (531/2017, 44 §).

I believe that this career plan should continue beyond their studies. At least to know what vision do they have of themselves in for example 10 to 20 years. This will give them the idea of what field of study or what courses do they need to take to get closer to their goal. However, based on my teaching practice observation days, I noticed that many students just are there to spend time. Even though, they have a study plan, still they wait to finish vocational studies; then they start studying in a university as soon as they know what is their passion and dream job. Well, I think they will be disappointed when they do not get accepted in their chosen university, if they do not show the good result from previous studies and they might lose the competition with other students who knew already what they wanted and tried hard for submitting a good background study to the universities.

The Finnish National Agency for Education states that having a good guidance criteria develops and ensures the quality of guidance.

“The aim of the criteria is to promote the high quality and diverse range of guidance as well as to ensure the availability of high-quality guidance for children and adolescents, regardless of their place of residence and circumstances. Furthermore, the criteria are used to ensure the equality, quality and availability of guidance services for pupils and students throughout Finland.” ( The Finnish National Agency for Education)

In a vocational guidance model which is proposed by Professor James Sampson three levels are needed to be into consideration when guiding students for the future career.

                    Parts of career planning (Sampson, 2011)

In vocational guidance system the base of the pyramid is students' self-knowledge of their interest, passion, values, and skills, and considering the reality of their chosen job in the countries market. For example for those international students whose Finnish language is not advanced, and they do not have any plan regarding improving it professionally, it seems unrealistic if their goal is to become for example schools policy maker and make the connection with other Finnish educational settings, where the main spoken language is Finnish. However, there is always exceptions, but the reality keeps the students in the right path of choosing whatever suits their skill, passion and values.

In the upper side of the model is decision making and motivation. Guides do not need to tell exactly the students how to be a motivated learner or what to choose, but they can show them different options and potential possibilities which each choice bring to them.

Guidance is given both individually and in groups.

Guidance in group is those services that school or any educational settings provide to a group of pupils. Even though, the group guidance is a group activity process, the primary purpose in group guidance is to help each individual in the group to solve their personal issues and make the necessary adjustment to facilitate the challenges. In this way, each student gain enough knowledge related to the problem of his/her life in a group setting (Thakur, 2015).

Actually, at the general upper secondary level, in Finland's educational settings, counselors, group advisers and teachers offer guidance according to their professional roles. This guidance is also provided fully in vocational education and training (euroguidance)

During my teaching practice, the counselor in OSAO, Business Unit, stated, the scope of Group Guidance in vocational setting includes many problems and issues for example:

• Problems in regards to educational courses, plans, curriculum, and programs
• Problems of career choices in the setting of facilities gained
• Different occupational issues which sometimes occur in hand-in contexts
• Personality and social problems and issues
• Job practice placement and adjustments

As I mentioned earlier, I had the chance to do my teaching practice in Vocational School, Business Unit. Therefore, I received some information from unit's counselors on how they provide group guidance in their context. The scope of techniques and activities are wide and I name and explain here a few of them.

The first one which is usually provided in the beginning of the school year is Career Talk.

Career Talk and Conference

In this technique, professionals in different fields present information to the students of the group through lecture or seminars whether face to face or online. This interaction between real professionals and students gives effective and most practical impressions on the students, since firstly, they receive information directly from experienced person in the filed and secondly, they have the chance to ask questions and clarify their doubts in relation to the career.

In these conferences, experts and experienced persons from vocational setup give suggestions about vocational plans, choices, and careers to the students. Therefore, students collect first hand information about different careers and gain broader perspective on various job opportunities.

Career Corner

In this technique, students receive various books, pamphlets, or posters related to concerning career information. This technique alongside the last one, gives more knowledge of the career background and employment opportunities as the result of career index literature.

Digitalisation of guidance

Due to the phenomenon of digitalism in education, guidance and counselling are in the process of change. And this guidance can be provided through various online or offline digital platforms. The role of ICT in guidance services has increased and thus has a wider range of digital tools, including social media and mobile technologies (Kettunen, 2017)

In Finlnad, guidance in digital format is being used by for example HAMK University of Applied Sciences and OAMK University of Applied Sciences.

Specifically, HAMK University of Applied Sciences started an online, competence-based Guidance Counselor Education Program in 2016. The program has been extremely popular, and in 2018, nearly half of the applicants primarily applied for the online education program (Pukkila & Parkkonen, 2018). One of the practical examples of digital counseling is OAMK e Counseling. eCounselling is a service portal that includes both eCounselling and eGuidance services for students. Students can contact Academic Affairs via online chat, which is presented on Oiva, Study Guide and Tuudo as well.

In Professional Teacher Education program which we are attending, we have the chance to have digitally signed documents through Peppi. For instance, I had access to all the forms which I needed during my teaching practice. Tutors and other academic staffs were available in case we needed help or advice. Specially during Pandemic, this gave us a great chance to stay safe and not feel stressed over being exposed to the public. OAMK also has provided this possibilities for students to discuss matters concerning studies and the students' lives, challenges with other students and counselors in VALTTI and OAMK Facebook group.

In addition, me and my classmates talked about different aspects of guidance and counselling in TEAMS. 

I interviewed and asked questions which were already provided by our tutors. I also shared my opinion, experience and ideas on my own field of study. The questions which we answered were:

1. What are the most typical guiding and tutoring situations in your field and educational level (higher education/ vocational secondary / 3^rd sector)?
2. What is the purpose of guiding / tutoring / scaffolding – and how is it different from "traditional" teaching?
3. How does one prepare to guiding situations a) as a teacher? b) as a student?
4. Name at least three guiding methods and elaborate when they are most useful!
5. Discuss the challenges of guiding and tutoring - are there ethical, practical, personal or institutional issues that should be considered?
6. Why do you think that the role of guiding and tutoring has increased? (Consider learning trends, shifts in educational system, changes in working life, globalization...)

Group 3: What are pedagogical models? How can they help you to choose the teaching methods? Choose at least one model that you use in your teaching task!

We were the last group presenting our topic related to pedagogical models and teaching methods. My group attended Teams' meeting and discussed about our pedagogical model and the methods we were going to imply in our teaching session. We decided by relying on the more recent pedagogical model of Constructivist (student achievement, engagement and well-being) , choose Flipped-classroom approach, Interactive-participative method, Reflective discussion, and Anchored-instruction.

Lets see what is a pedagogical model?

I firstly went through the pedagogical model mindmap which was already presented to the participates as a section of Flipped-classroom method.

Then we discussed openly on which model and why, when, and to whom we choose that model in our classrooms. (It actually was an interesting discussion.)

While I was preparing the content of my class, in my research path, I found this simple, practical, and not linear model in Victorian educational institution website.

This Pedagogical Model describes what effective teachers do in their classrooms to engage students in intellectually challenging work. It provides an overview of the learning cycle and breaks it down into five domains or phases of instruction: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate.

In this model, each of these five domains are all elements of another complete model of teaching. They are not separate and self-contained parts. Students have this autonomy to move through all domains in some lessons; however, in other lessons, teachers decide to switch between domains based on students' needs and personal study plans.

Engage

Teachers know their students well and engage them in building supportive, inclusive and stimulating learning environments. Teachers motivate and empower students to manage their own learning and develop agency.

Explore

Teachers present challenging tasks to support students in generating and investigating questions, gathering relevant information and developing ideas. They help students expand their perspectives and preconceptions, understand learning tasks and prepare to navigate their own learning.

Explain

Teachers explicitly teach relevant knowledge, concepts and skills in multiple ways to connect new and existing knowledge. They monitor student progress in learning and provide structured opportunities for practicing new skills and developing agency.

Elaborate

Teachers challenge students to move from surface to deep learning, building student ability to transfer and generalize their learning. They support students to be reflective, questioning and self-monitoring learners.

Evaluate

Teachers use multiple forms of assessment and feedback to help students improve their learning and develop agency. They monitor student progress and analyse data to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of their teaching practices, identify areas for improvement and address student individual needs.

How does the pedagogical model which we follow affect our teaching methods?

Actually, teaching methods can be used within various pedagogical models. Teaching methods determine the approach a teacher uses to achieve learning objectives. In my field of study that is Teaching English as a Foreign Language, the scope of teaching methods is wide. For instance, Direct method, Silent method, Communicative languageteaching etc.

In my teaching session in Propeda, I introduced four different teaching methods which are in association with costructivist pedagogical model as samples.

Project-based learning (PBL), Flipped-classroom, Anchored instruction, and Jigsaw technique.

As an example I choose PBL method to point out how constructivist ideaology is behind this teaching method.

In PBL method:

• The instructor requires content area expertise and pedagogical competence
• Instructional design is learner centered and flexible
• A central question(s) or problem focuses and provides the catalyst for learning
• Teaching and learning objectives are explicit
• Learning tasks are authentic and engaging
• Instruction is mediated and integrated
• Promotes critical reflection and higher-order thinking skills
• Continuous assessment and monitoring of learning 

This method is what I have witnessed the most in OSAO while I was doing my teaching practice. For example in OSAO Business unit, they have this marketing course, where students come up with business ideas in teams. And in the end, after working on the planning, marketing, accounting, and advertising they will attend a competition to see which business will be introduced as the best worked-on and attractive one in the whole Finland.

What is Uskalla Yrittää finals?

Uskalla Yrittää finals is a nationwide entrepreneurship championship of the JA Company program. It gathers JA-companies from all around Finland to compete for the national championship and a place in the European final. The finalists are chosen from all over Finland in regional semifinals (UskallaYrittää).

In this journey, teachers are acting as business coaches. They do not teach, however they do scaffolding. They use variety of instructional techniques to move students progressively toward stronger understanding and ultimately, greater independence in the process of learning and presenting their project.

Scaffolding and Guidance

To explain the role of teacher in scaffolding, I have this example. Imagine that you buy a furniture from a web page. The product arrives at your door. It looks nicely and neatly packed. All pieces are there. But there is no instruction on how to assemble it. I have experience on building something without a proper guidance. It feels overwhelming to me. I assume the role of teacher the same as that instruction paper in the furniture box.

Scaffolding in education is an instructional methods teachers apply to guide students in solving problem and offering support as they need it.

When a construction team builds a house, they use scaffolding as support to both themselves and materials. As soon as each section is completed, and they no longer need the support, they remove the scaffolds. This is exactly what I noticed that teachers in OSAO business section were doing. The teachers did not teach there. They support the students in finding their own unique way of presenting their start up business to the judges in Uskalla yrittää competition project. They never told students how their logo or web page content should include. They were trying firstly to present as many samples as possible, then answer all the questions which students were asking regarding their own content or logo. Then, as students internalize the necessary knowledge and experience and show signs of understanding, teachers gradually remove the scaffold. Of course, this is only one small example of how teachers act their part as guides.

Scaffolding is different based on goals, lessons and students.

In my English teaching classes, I break up the learning into chunks to move slowly into the whole picture.

As an example, in teaching grammar, I provide as many samples as possible, then the students come up with the general point of the grammar lesson. In the old times I remember our teachers used to write the whole grammar on the board e.g., Past tense: Subject + verb (regular or irreguler) + object. Then we built many examples based on this rule. Which makes us to miss many exceptions and confuse them with many other tense formulas!

Scaffolding in education is built on the idea of a zone of proximal development, first theorized about in the 1930s by Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky. The zone of proximal development (ZDP) is the distance between what students can accomplish on their own and what they need help with (Vygotsky, 1978).

The presence of a teacher, as a knowledgable other, is a key element of scaffolding and helps students move the zone of proximal development. They help students develop new skills, using scaffolding techniques to build on what students have already mastered.

Reference:

Bransford, J.D. et al. (1990). Anchored instruction: Why we need it and how technology can hel p. In D. Nix & R. Sprio (Eds), Cognition, education and multimedia. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.

SAMPSON, J.,P., & WATTS, A., & PALMER, M., HUGHES, D. (2011). International Collaboration in Translating Career Theory to Practice, Journal of Employment Counseling,37(2). pp. 98-106.

Toni, A., & Vuorinen, R. (2020). Lifelong guidance in Finland : Key policies and practices. In E. Hagaseth Haug, T. Hooley, J. Kettunen, & R. Thomsen (Eds.), Career and career guidance in the Nordic Countries (pp. 127-143). Brill. Career Development Series, 9.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.