Differenciation or Scaffolding?

Today we are talking about two important techniques that can be used when we are instructing our students. These are the differentiation and the scaffolding. So we are going to make clear what they are used for and the main features that differenciates them.

Differentiation refers to the idea of modifying the instruction so it meets the students' individual needs and learning styles. Whenever a teacher reaches out to an individual or small group to vary his or her teaching in order to create the best learning experience possible, that teacher is differenciating his instruction.

On the other hand, scaffolding is understood as a process in which the teacher models or demonstrates how to solve a problem and then step back, offering support as needed. When students receive this support while learning something new, they stand a better chance of using that knowledge independently.

It is important to take into account that differentiation is often directed at individual students while scaffolding is done for the entire class. For example, when an individual  student can’t answer a Checking for Understanding question and you rephrase your question from open-ended to multiple choice, you have differentiated for that one student. But when you pre-read a Learning Objective before having the entire class read chorally, you are scaffolding.

Actually, differentiation and scaffolding strategies overlap, but they have the same ultimate goal: increasing student success.