Show and tell
Scaffolding practices in lower secondary social science classrooms
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21345541 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nora Elise Hesby Mathé (0009-0003-7493-3380, University of Oslo, corresponding author), Anders Stig Christensen (0000-0002-4935-901X, UCL University College) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 58 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 318-337 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-04 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Curriculum Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0272 • E-ISSN: 1366-5839 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00220272.2024.2378315 |
| OpenAlex | W4401044938 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 26 |
Inquiry and teaching with high levels of student activity are central to social science education, and research has shown the importance of scaffolding and other expressions of supportive structures in teaching (Christensen, 2021; Mathé, 2020). Nevertheless, there have been few studies documenting how actual teaching takes place and whether a teacher’s activities support the work of their students. This article, part of QUINT—Quality in Nordic Teaching, drew on video observations from 16 lower secondary social science classrooms in Denmark and Norway. We began by using the Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observation (PLATO; Grossman, 2019) to identify the extent of teacher scaffolding practices. From this, we analysed the scaffolding to understand what kinds can be observed in social science education, with a specific focus on inquiry-based teaching. Although we identified scaffolding in a minority of lesson segments, what we did observe was related to a number of skills and strategies, both generic and specific to social science education. We concluded by identifying the strong potential in developing scaffolding practices related to social science inquiry further, before discussing implications and opportunities based on our findings
Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Scaffold · Science education · Social studies · Sociology · Teaching method · Computer Science · Educational Strategies and Epistemologies · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy · Psychology · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
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| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |