Scaffolding online historical inquiry tasks: A case study of two secondary school classrooms

This paper examines the different dimensions of scaffolding for online historical inquiry based on a case study of two secondary-two history classes from a neighborhood school in Singapore. The data collected for the study include video and screen captures, focus group interview, digital artifacts, and students’ survey. Using sample transcripts and observation extracts, the authors discuss how the different scaffolds facilitate students’ learning and how the students interact with the scaffolds to achieve a better performance. The fixed scaffolds in this study include written prompts and argumentation template; while the adaptive scaffolds include questioning, modeling and peer interaction. The findings indicate that these scaffolds have benefited the students in each step of the online historical inquiry. The analyses suggest that the different scaffolds working as a system may have helped improve lower secondary students’ online historical inquiry skills. Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.